Organic Leadership

Book Review.
Cole, Neil. Organic Leadership. Leading naturally right where you are. Baker Books. 2009.
Comment. Henry.
This book is sequel to “Organic Church” by the same author. There is strong push-back on many commonly accepted practices by conservative/traditional churches. I believe at times it is too harsh if not unfair. E.g. Pharisaism is a result of church tradition. He does not say these practices are wrong but his attack is aggressive. What is presented is not new but in the current context of today’s church environment it is challenging. Endorsements speak of Neil’s courage and clarity with which he confronts the need for change.
In his foreword, Reggie McNeal points out that the present missional movement is a shift from church based to kingdom based priorities. This shift must be reflected in the leadership of the church. Kingdom leaders will have an influence that goes beyond the church.
The institutionalizing of the church spawns two serious problems. Individuals look to the church to have their needs met. God is limited to what happens in the institution. The solution is not doing away with the church but creating a freedom within the church. Leaders must always be prepared to deal with dangers of power, possessions, and pleasure.
“I have always sought Christian unity but not at the price of servitude.” Martin Luther. The blame for modern “pharisaism” (58) is placed squarely on tradition. To use the author’s own words, “Perhaps I was a little too pointed and aggressive.’ (77)
There are six ways presented on how leaders keep their congregants in the dark, e.g. being “gatekeepers for God”. (79) Spiritual authority must flow from Christ (the head) to leaders and not through a chain of command.
There are many dichotomies in church culture that must be dealt with, e.g. secular vrs sacred, clergy vrs laity, members vrs adherents, parachurch vrs local church, etc. There are parachurch organizations that are considered parasites of the church. The church has actually ‘out-sourced’ spiritual responsibilities. A church that is run like a business will die.
When it comes to finding leaders “recruitment sucks”. (132) There are very few examples in scripture of finding leaders this way. Leaders need to be developed from within, grown “organically”. (140) Successful leaders are recognized by faithfulness, fruitfulness and finishing well. Five factors are identified that are part of finishing well.
In the kingdom of God leadership takes on an upside-down model. Leadership is influence. Here are five types of authority listed in order of their strength, “positional, expertise, relational, moral and spiritual”. (177) Delegated authority is compared to distributed authority. Christ is our example of “downward mobility”, (184) e.g. incarnation and execution which was followed by exaltation. Incarnational leadership is being and living Christ-like.
Developing leaders involves mentoring, a one on one activity. It cannot be done in a classroom with curriculum.
To maximize life you must embrace death, e.g. a life producing seed. Only under rare circumstance should pastors be paid. This is not a job. By way of conclusion Neil draws parallels between organic leadership and organic churches.