For many decades the Church has understood itself as an organization. But, what if it’s not? What if the Church is actually an organism? In my own church, the “Body of Christ” image is prominent, helping us understand ourselves as a community and guiding the structure of our life together.
The image comes from Paul’s pastoral letters to the early church. His use of “body” (sōma) is complex and multivalent, but it always refers to a physical body. As a Jewish-Christian writing in Greek, Paul describes the body as an individual physical reality and as a being in relationship to others, including the divine. The literal and figurative implications of the image emerge from this linguistic complexity.
For a twenty-first century American Christian like myself, it is challenging to strip away the layers of individualism and independence so typical of our culture–and reflected in our faith communities–to embrace Paul’s more nuanced description. But if Paul’s image is rooted in the concept of a physical body, an organic system, we can draw on our firsthand experience of the human body and how it functions. We can also look to the natural world for examples of other bodies and systems all around us, revealing the individual and communal dynamism Paul describes in his letters.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12, NRSVUE)
For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. (Romans 12:4-5, NRSVUE)
Paul’s image describes both individual self-understanding and relationality to other members. It also illustrates how all members function together in unity and common cause: a dynamic interdependence essential for all to flourish. Each member is autonomous and unique, and experiences themselves most fully through relationship with other members of the body, all working together for the life of the whole and the common good. Within this organism, all energies create and reinforce belonging and mutuality. Through its many and varied gifts, it interacts with the world outside the body.
The lens of living systems theory helps me to flesh out the intricacies and nuances of Paul’s image for the church today. Margaret Wheatley was one of the first to apply this lens to organizations.¹ And while this framework is complex, even a brief exploration of its principals enriches the “Body of Christ” image and its implications for the church.
At the heart of living systems theory is autopoiesis: the ability of life to organize and create itself. It is one of life’s fundamental processes for growth and change; highly interrelated and interdependent, each part contributes to all others in a common goal: LIFE. This is so deeply true that it is sometimes impossible to distinguish individual parts.
Within a living system, adaptation is prompted when the organism discerns that change is the only way that leads to life. It is essential to surviving and thriving. The field of biomimicry confirms that life creates the conditions that lead to life. Living systems that can maintain their integrity in disruption can self-organize to a higher level of complexity, enabling it to navigate the present context.
Even amid change, a living system maintains its core identity through generous information sharing across the whole system and between different systems. An acorn will not become a dandelion to survive; it will adapt to a changing ecosystem, but still grow into an oak tree. So too, a church will maintain its “churchiness” even as it changes how that is embodied. Many new expressions of Church are emerging in the world today, from forest church to pub church.
A living system is connected to a larger environment or ecosystem, which also helps shape its identity. Because it has permeable boundaries, an organism communicates and partners with the larger environment, creating a dynamic equilibrium. This is a source of vitality and resilience because the system is continually creating adaptive capacity that can be drawn on as needed to support co-creation and co-evolution through reciprocal partnerships.
What could it mean for the church to embrace this living systems perspective of the “Body of Christ”? The Church could shake off the confines of patriarchy and capitalism and truly become a healthy organism: self-organizing, interdependent, alive with innate potentiality and transformative capacity, embracing a natural life cycle without fear.
In my church, this is embodied in many ways. Our leadership structure is rooted in the unique gifts of the leaders, so that rather than filling predetermined positions, leadership roles come and go as needed. Decision making is communal, inviting feedback from all members. Worship and missional activities are dynamic and fluid, but their importance to our shared identity remains essential.
The image of a healthy body or living system provides hope for the Church in an age of institutional decline. The disruptions of the current religious landscape invite people of faith to discern appropriate adaptations that lead to more life. Attuned to the cycle of death and renewal, an individual community coming to the end of its life cycle can take steps to seed new possibilities.
Individuals seeking a place of belonging and purpose can offer their unique gifts in a system where they are embraced as essential to the flourishing of the whole, not forced to fit into an old model, confined to an obsolete role. Stewardship is expressed in sharing the fullness of one’s gifts for the common good, rather than limited to a dollar sign. As churches reach across permeable boundaries, they’ll find partnerships that lead to meaningful cooperation and mutual sustainability. Leaders will embrace change as necessary, knowing that the core identity of God’s church remains, even as the system adapts in ways unimagined by previous generations.
Additionally, as we understand the Church as the “Body of Christ,” a way opens to deeper connection with the earth and more meaningful commitments to the living systems we rely on every day. The shared life within the Church reflects the deep wisdom and reciprocity at the heart of all creation.
The “Body of Christ” truly alive is a vibrant, living system, not static and mechanistic, but an inspirited embodiment of the living Christ in each generation. When the body is healthy, the entire system and the surrounding environment become more stable and creative. When members actively participate, they generate greater health, resilience, and sustainability. When they nurture relationships and cooperation between systems, they create an environment in which all life can flourish.
We are the “Body of Christ;” we are a living system, an organism, breathing, growing, and adapting to more fully love the world God loves so much.
¹Margaret J. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World. Third edition. (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2006).
Cover photo credit: Manuel Barroso Parejo
