Occupy: Is it a Spider or a Starfish?

I am not sure if you have read the book "The Starfish and the Spider:  the Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations." The basic premise of the book is that if you cut the head of a spider, it will die, but if you cut off a leg of a starfish, it will grow back.  It's quite an interesting concept, one that many terrorists cells have made good use of....


I have been watching the movement of "Occupy" with great interest.  Yesterday, there was an article in the Seattle Times entitled, "Can Occupy protests last without leaders?"  People debated back and forth as their opinions ranged from comments from a country sheriff in Minneapolis who wonders why each day the leaders are different people, and the protesters themselves who say that the decentralization is deliberate and this is how other movements have started up.


The academics are studying it and noting that leaderless organizations allow for people with very different backgrounds to to come together in a broad message without having to agree with a lot of fine details and sticking points.


Observations at the different camps are that the protesters have organized "work crews" and that people are demonstrating leadership, without needing to carry the title.


I find all this refreshing.  I long for more of this movement in the church.  We've had a lot of spiders, but not nearly enough starfishes.


I wonder what it would be like for people to gather because they KNOW their message of Jesus' redemptive work and resulting outcome of kingdom activity of healing, deliverance, provision, peace and unity is worth giving their lives to.  How would this change the landscape of life and faith?


I wonder if we have trained Jesus followers to "wait for the leader to show us the way."  And, in the waiting, we get bored and allow other life things to distract us and fill up our time.


I wonder how much we have abdicated the role that God gave to Adam.  He told Adam "to go forth and multiply; and to rule over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and the animals on the ground." That sounds like pretty exciting work to me:  important, vital and fulfilling.


As the Lord spoke to Adam, he speaks to us. 


We are to do the same.  We are to go forth and multiply and bless the world.  We are to find solutions to the challenges on the earth, and to do it in partnership with the One who Created the earth!


Missio Lux stands on the precipice of a new day. I am being moved to California away from the people who have given their lives to help build Missio Lux.  Increasingly, I am understanding that I need to be removed geographically because God created Missio Lux to be a Starfish....one that replicates out of the life that is being walked in partnership with God for his kingdom.


How do I feel about this?  Excited....I anticipate that as we walk out this shift, we will see the presence of starfishes become much more prevalent!