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Korean leaders have been asking me to document how a prophetic/apostolic ministry can operate without building a large organizational and hierarchical structure, as an alternative to the power based structures they have ended up leading. American funders are confused as to how without significant resources we have been able to catalyze over 213 organizations, churches, denominations, development agencies in the slums, ministries among the marginalized, transferring millions to the poor each year, while we remain poor, live in a Decile 1 neighborhood, and have a miniscule organizational structure. Their questions confuse me, for in my naiveté I have simply sought to follow the models of Jesus the poor one, who renounced positions of wealth, of Paul the apostle, who was as poor, yet making many rich.
Their questions presuppose that ministry to the poor and subsequent transformation of poverty has to do primarily with wealth transfer. Jesus could have done that. Could have come as welfare king of Israel. He came as servant among the poor. Their questions presuppose agreement with Peter Wagner that an apostle is a wealth accumulator and works from a position of power. Paul disagreed. He chose powerlessness.
In 1981, I wrote Companion to the Poor, where I clearly showed that the scriptures showed that from the choice of incarnation and powerlessness comes much fruit. Thirty years later those statements now are evidenced by the fruit. I do not think that this mystery can be interpreted in management terms for my friends who have wealth and power, although Tom Peters and other experts have increasing moved in their thinking away form centralized bureaucracies and controlled organizations. How do I explain the result of: "Live among the poor, preach the gospel, the Spirit of God will visit you, seeds will sprout and become great trees”.
I will foolishly try and you will be frustrated with the attempt. Some things are only understood by doing. Urban Leadership is an organizational nucleus for Viv Grigg's catalytic ministry that preceded postmodernism, but uniquely has responded to the Gen X then postmodern generation. From the age of 14, I began to initiate ministries. Over the years that has speeded up to about one every three months. I attribute this to remarkable actions of the Holy Spirit and a sensitivity to his voice. He promises to reveal himself to those who go where he goes. The gifts mix seems to have developed from pastoral/ administrative/ evangelistic to prophetic / apostolic. The capacity to see both vision and implementing structures meshes a spiritual sensitivity coupled with an intense intellectual study and research/publications regime learned from my father that integrates and voices the visions of partnering groups.
In secular terms, operational style seems to be a capacity to model a response to a need, to envision the future structure and strategy to meet that need, give insight into values that sustain a missional community for decades, articulate a response and an inspiring goal, gather leaders into loving and committed teams around this response, define the structures needed with them, identify and release the vision to this leadership, and release the work.
Critical Organizational Principles for Success
This model of Gen X/postmodern catalyzing and releasing is in stark contrast with an older generation of missions structures. Some operating principles are:
· Identification with workers among the poor requires modeling identification with the poor, simplicity and sacrifice. Each year the organization passes on what it receives to the poor, not seeking to build large equity or resources. The office is donated to the daughter movement each time Urban Leadership moves on to catalyzing the next movement.
· Creating communities of love. Whether this is in a churchplant, mission-plant or network, the central gifting has been to create loving relationships around shared goals and momentum. This kind of seed multiplies.
· Speed of multiplication in order to evangelize and transform as rapidly as possible. The aim is 50,000 to reach 2 billion. Speed is dependent on the core Urban Leadership organizational structure remaining efficient yet small, by decentralizing ownership and admin through daughter or partner organizations. Increasing admin responsibilities of ULF beyond core functions is counterproductive. Thus the organization grows and contracts as each movement is birthed and spun off. We give it away again and again. Relocation to each country facilitates speed.
· By prophetically calling, apostles, pastoral leaders and administrators surface. The works that have failed through the years have been because no apostolic leader moved forward to carry that vision. I generally don't initiate a new work unless a leader is in place around whom to build.
· Partnerships growing out of that love, enable affirmation of related but diverse visions, accelerate such visions through existing structures, through synergy, shared learning, increased accountabilities, crossover of best case models and ideas. My remaining as a catalyst without major infrastructure more effectively generates partnerships of equals than a process of delivering a program from a powerbase.
· Chaos as a characteristic of entrepreneurial catalytic leadership vis-à-vis the order of managers of systems. In the context of chaos, partners pick up various roles to complete processes, eventually making Urban Leadership a non-essential player. This is in strange contrast to attention to rigid attention to goal-setting, financial and legal requirements - these are part of the mandate to manage physical resources well.
· Urban Leadership remains in a prophetic/apostolic role in the leadership mix till the new structures are stable, the directions fully established, the leadership functional. Sometimes 1, sometimes 20 years.
· Releasing Creativity: Every work, every movement, will develop with a different combination of these principles.
· Sensitivity to the Spirit at all phases is critical. Apostolic leaders will also have major weaknesses that may destroy the processes their gifts help create, so cautiousness in sustaining enough authority till these areas of weakness have checks and balances within the emergent structures is critical.
· Having said all of this, the global nature of these movements requires me to sustain a simple structure to cover travel, consultations, to fund a few embryonic development projects and to initiate each new work. As a board we have identified that as ideally six associates living by faith /admin/editorial staff at a level of US$300,000 per year.
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Servants to Asia's Urban Poor
Incarnational mission with communities in the slums of Asian cities, and five bases in Western nations
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Servants was formed over five years through Viv's mobilizing a movement of youth in New Zealand, recruiting a core of 25 workers, defining and publishing the vision, structure and values, and passing over leadership to an apostle, and a home base administrator
Servant-Partners is a US equivalent. In this case Viv had to develop it three times, two times recruiting a core of leaders, getting 30 to the field each time, imparting a value system, then moving on. The first leader then died, the second faced conflict with te board. In the third case Viv was able to work alongside an apostle, who took the vision, values and structure and remolded it for his existing people. All this took 20 years. Now 70 workers in 8 cities.
Kairos took only one year, as Viv co-labored with an apostle, who caught the vision, could recruit the workers and was able to follow through on the models provided. Now 350 workers in slums of 12 cities.
Vision for Auckland: built team, did research, defined vision, published, but despite pulling back, leadership did not emerge for 4 years. Now Vision NZ has followed through with the vision.
The Encarnacao Alliance took 10 years to build momentum, the grassroots training developed from 2002, with core modules constantly being written and rewritten, the vision for 50,000 workers developed in 1989, was collectively owned in 2004, defined the core team by 2006,
The Encarnacao MATUL training commission took six years to build and will result in publication and delivery of 15 courses from 2007
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