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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Organic Leadership is coming soon

My newest book is about to arrive. I keep trying to make the UPS truck stop at my house with sheer mental determination, but alas it drives by without a stop. One of these days it will deliver the goods, but I doubt my iron will alone will be the cause.

I can't imagine ever losing the anticipation for this sort of thing. I wonder if the authors who write tons of books get a little blasé about the newest arrival. I wonder if Stephen King is ever surprised..."Oh yeah, I forgot I wrote that book."

Organic Leadership
is a follow-up to Organic Church. After OC's release, some people thought it provoked many questions but didn’t supply enough answers, so in OL I begin to answer some of those questions. This new book will not be enough. It is not that I haven’t thought through the issues in depth, but I can fit only so much in each book. This one is already longer than any other book I've written yet. I hope this one both answers questions and also whets appetites for more to come in future works. Three books will follow this one, continuing my effort to flesh out the concepts of leadership and its role in organic church movements. So this is the beginning of the conversation, not the totality of it.

Organic Church cast the vision for a new expression of God’s people in this world—healthy, holistic, and spiritual families that reproduce naturally. An organic church is a vibrant spiritual family that is on mission together. Such churches usually begin with changed lives, meet in the places where the seed was originally planted, and reproduce naturally and more easily than traditional churches because they are simple in structure.

The fully devoted followers in the organic church, who are able to reproduce themselves, are indeed the foundation for both organic churches and organic leadership. That is why I wrote Search & Rescue before writing this book on organic leadership. In Search & Rescue I set out to capture the imaginations of ordinary Christ-followers and challenge them to live lives that are heroic and sacrificial for the sake of Christ’s kingdom.

In this new book I wish to build on the foundation laid in the previous books and address how healthy, growing disciples can emerge naturally as leaders right where they are. That is basically what organic leadership is all about. What is consistent in both Organic Church and Organic Leadership is my belief that the kingdom of God is relational, spiritual, and natural—without all the artificial stuff we tend to use to prop up our ministries today. It is not necessary for people to work as professionals in the church to make it happen. When church and her leadership are natural and organic, they reproduce spontaneously and movements will result.

2 comments:

hoekstra family said...

Looking forward to learning more from you in the new book. My wife and I were at the Greenhouse in Grand Rapids back in March. That was a great weekend for us--you and Brad were a great encouragement and God has led us into our first simple, organic church with neighbors. Only God knows where it will lead.
Thanks for all you do.
Peace to you,
Mike (and Jennifer)

Anonymous said...

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also it's lust; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1st John 2:15-17