Organisation or Transformation?

Organisation is OK, but it's not the goal of the Church that Jesus came to build. He set his life on transformation. I'm not even sure he gave much thought to how his band of merry men would be organised at the outset. In the gospel accounts it seems more like he just got on his way and collected people as he went. It's a beautifully uncomplicated way to live.

I'm not against organisation. I would rather have it than chaos, which I don't think is a particularly good thing, but I also see that there is no life in a clean stable. I'd rather have some mess around and lots of transformation going on. After all, transformed lives are what this is all about.

This perspective is a challenge to many churches, which pride themselves on excellence. Once again I think excellence is a wonderful value to aim for. We should seek to glorify God by doing our best in all things, but if we are squeezing out life as we do it we have utterly missed the point and we need to go back to square one again.