Is it possible to create a perfect organization?
Is there such thing as a perfect person—or institution?
Other authors and thinkers such as Andrew Root and Ted Smith have done great work explaining the anti-institutionalist milieu of our time, building from the foundation of Charles Taylor’s seminal work. For those unfamiliar, Taylor’s efforts in short (at least as I understand it) is that culturally, (North) America has moved from an age where institutions were essential to one where the individual is the ultimate authority, and being one’s unique self, rather than serving an institution, is the ultimate.
In a recent Future Christian podcast with Ted Smith, we talked about his book The End of Theological Education which though is meant to speak to the challenge facing seminaries and divinity schools in this current context, also does speak profoundly to the challenges facing almost all institutional churches in America (perhaps more broadly Western Civilization). Smith’s premise is that whereas in pre-Revolutionary war America, churches largely functioned on what he calls a “standing order” system, meaning churches were supported through the state via taxes and such, that dynamic shifted to a different organizational model now known as the “voluntary association” where people chose willingly to belong, support, and contribute to the organization or church specifically.
More, Smith makes the case (and certainly Root does as well) that this model is dying. It should be obvious to most anyone paying attention that people (especially younger people) have basically zero interest in sustaining an institution. In the podcast, Smith uses the examples of his parents who were proud to serve on the Building and Grounds committee for their church. Good luck today finding anyone under the age of 50 who would not balk even at the word “committee.”
I want to add as an aside, I think its important there to emphasize that what is dying is not the church per se, and by that I mean neither the universal church (aka the body of Christ) nor I believe the ekklesia, the gathered community of believers, is dying. Rather, what is dying is a sociological, contextual, organizational model unique to our current time and place. The church, whether one thinks of it as the body of Christ or the gathered community of believers is not dying. The church, I believe, has been and still is, God’s primary vehicle to bring redemption and reconciliation to the world.
Even still, I am not sure this new “model” of individual authority/centricity (and I’d add that Scott Thumma in his interview also emphasized this as the new model/trend) is the best, most faithful model. Again, to my point about ekklesia, I think physical, gathered community does matter. And second, I think that Christianity is about mutual self-sacrifice and ministry to others (not in a self-loathing sort of way). So, I balk a bit at what seems to be an uncritical shift toward baptizing individualism as somehow a sign of spiritual revival. And, this suspicion comes out a bit in my conversation with Smith.
Yet, in our conversation, Smith seems to recognize my unease and made some intriguing statements. He said that he is “ambivalent” toward this new model, much as he is toward the old voluntary association model—and more—he states that as someone from the Reformed tradition, he recognizes that everything is “shot through with sin.” This is quite the statement. Relatedly, in his book Leading Christian Communities, author C. Kavin Rowe adds this; “Hierarchies, no less than any other indispensable form of structuring human life, are susceptible to gross evil a any time and in all places.”1 Though these statements aren’t exactly the same, Smith and Rowe seem to agree that all human efforts trend toward sin.2
Broadly speaking, there seems to be an attitude within Progressive Christianity these days that it is indeed possible to create the ideal institution, even maybe the ideal society, if we find the right person to lead it (not a straight, white male), build in the right culture of safety and inclusion, and then work hard enough to make it happen (there’s a book I just finished that makes this point).
I must here add another aside and say that there is TONS of historical precedent for the suspicion of straight, white males. There are countless examples of such men behaving terribly and not recognizing their own privilege nor their own abuse. Furthermore, I do think creating healthy, inclusive cultures is ESSENTIAL for organizations. And, I would frankly add, maybe I am wrong. Maybe it is straight, white males who are simply the problem.
But this is where I come back to Smith’s statement about humans and groups of humans (aka organizations) being “shot through with sin.”
I am of the opinion (at this moment, and I may be wrong, and my opinion might change) that the perfect organization or institution does not and cannot exist this side of eternity (however one wants to interpret that eschatalogically).
This is again not to say that we should not try to find and cultivate good leaders, especially diverse leaders. This is not to say that we should not try to enact and sustain healthy organizational cultures.
But, and I think this is what I am really trying to emphasize here, we cannot create a perfect institution.
This is obviously a more traditional take, and one that I find myself even internally balking at slightly, but I think this understanding has important implications. First, we can offer grace and forgiveness when mistakes are made—though importantly not acceptance and acquiescence. Second, we can recognize there’s no perfect model that will solve all our problems—much like a mistake churches make when they think getting the “right” style of worship will suddenly bring an influx of people. Third, we can recognize its ultimately on God, not us.
And, this last point to be is the most important. Working from Root’s points about modern society (and often the church) acting as if God doesn’t exist, we in the church can be especially susceptible to acting as if individual and organizational flourishing is dependent entirely on our efforts alone. Not only is that expectation quite exhausting and overwhelming, its also not theologically correct in my opinion.
To repeat my foundational premise; there not nor will there ever be a perfect organization or institution this side of eternity. Our ultimate hope is on the redemptive work of God through Jesus Christ. And so we wait with anticipation (even longing as the Apostle Paul might say) for that day or moment or whatever (again, I’m not obsessed with eschatology) for when God’s kingdom will finally come. Yet, we do not wait idly, for we recognize the “now and not yet” of God’s kingdom, recognizing God has given us a part to play, even now.
C. Kavin Rowe, Leading Christian Communities, 79.
I’ve written in other posts about the hesitancy to call anything these days sin or even a human failure. Indeed, it seems like every mistake we make can instead be ascribed to a “trauma response” or the fault of addiction.