Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – Learning from Ants: The Possibility of Missionary Swarms
1. Parachurch versus Church
I am not making a statement about which—the agency or the church—is better. Humans are not ants, and we use multiple forms of organization. I believe both churches and agencies can make a significant impact among the unreached. Agencies generally have more experience at doing this than modern churches because they have been doing it longer. Both can do it better than they have in the past. Both, I think, can benefit from swarming concepts. But most important, both should spend more time concentrating on improving what they do rather than concentrating on how they are the “best” or theologically “correct” option.
2. Nationals versus Expatriates
Swarms recruit from where there are workers, and send workers to where there are none. Locals obviously find it easier to bridge the cultural divide; however, they are not always the best choice. Expatriates may have certain advantages, but they are not always the best choice either. Swarms use what they can find—whether it is a local or an expatriate.
3. Professional versus Lay Workers
Workers should be trained, and trained well. It is better to give workers adequate salary and resources than insisting each work to raise his or her own support from distant sources; however, I know there are powerful arguments for self-support. An ant colony finds all its own support from the land where it is placed. Every ant within the colony works to provide for every ant—the ant-makers, the ant-foragers, the ant-defenders and the ant-workers. The old saying “One for all and all for one” fits them well. Perhaps it would be best to look at a continuum. Ants progress from infant to supported nursemaid to bi-vocational colony-builder to self-supported and supporting forager. Could this be done in missions as well?
4. Big Structures versus Little Structures
This is not about complexity of structure. Ant colonies can be every bit as complex as pyramids or skyscrapers—they are just less noticeable and more mobile. Some ant colonies, as we read, are massive. Some ant colonies are in small little cracks on the sidewalk, but no less integral.
5. Mission versus Non-mission
Swarming does not exclude things like business as mission, medicine, development, crisis response, humanitarian relief, etc. These are important parts of being a blessing. There is clearly a place for this within the concepts of a colony and a swarm.
Moving Forward
I would like to propose an ongoing discussion—through chats, articles, comments, blogs, whatever—about these concepts and how they might be better implemented. When ministries are being launched, how might we make them more like ants from the start? How can we define our mission and principles in such a way that everyone clearly understands them and signs on? How do we decentralize power? How do we give individuals authority, yet with safeguards to prevent its misuse? How do we better enable basic communication? We need to have some simple ways to say “food here” or “danger there.” Maybe this can be done via cell phone SMS, maybe by email or maybe at a morning meeting. The more complicated the system, the less likely it is to be used; ants just “use their noses.” How do we better interact with others so that we form super-colonies? How do we get away from partnerships that must be formalized, and into simple cooperation? How do we identify the best places for planting new swarm colonies? How do we logistically get people there?
In that vein, next month I am going to begin with some research I have done on swarms. I will identify seven specific features of swarms, and the properties that can help make your group more swarm-like.
Endnotes
1. Garrison, David. Church Planting Movements. Richmond, Virginia, USA: International Mission Board. Found online at: http://www.imb.org/CPM/Chapter3.htmhttp://www.imb.org/CPM/Chapter2-Bholdari.htm
3. Ibid.
4. Barrett, David and Todd Johnson. 2001. World Christian Trends. Pasadena, California, USA: William Carey, 59, Global Diagram 41.