Fractals

I would have never guessed in 10th grade that geometry would play such a vital role in church development. And while I believe I did the worst in geometry than any other mathematics course, this has proved to be a very valuable lesson: Fractals.

In colloquial usage, a fractal is...

a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole". The term was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning "broken" or "fractured".

In church development usage, a fractal is...

a quality whereby each subdivided part of the church is a reduced copy of the whole.

In other words, each part of the church, not matter how small or large, contains all the essential parts of the church. It means that all parts of the church, whether it's our Sunday morning service or a service project, whether it's the worship team or a family ministry team, they all contain all the essential elements of our church. It means that every part knows what the other parts are about, and what they are doing, because we are all serving the same mission- connecting with God, people, and the world.
For us this will mean that as we develop we will need to make sure that each part of the church, even as it grows and matures and takes ownership for it's area of responsibility, will continue to serve our larger mission. It means that someone can jump into any part of our church, and will immediately know what the whole church is about.

The entropy of church development seems to take the various ministries of church in vastly different directions. Now while variety and diversity are great, there has to be a common thread, nay, a common gigantic thick rope that everyone sees, knows, and holds on to, holding the whole church together. Far too many churches find themselves in a place where staff members have very different methodologies and even theologies of ministry. People get into positions of leadership so they can try to usurp and redirect the church. Or simply put, the youth program is completely disconnected from the larger church ministry.

In fractal church development, we will grow into a diversification of ministries, but each of those ministries will be a part of the whole. Simple put, the youth ministry at Connections,
like all ministries at Connections, will be about connecting with God, people and the world.

Profound? Not really. But in practice in will make a profoundly different outcome in the development and continuity of Connections Community Church.