Tyler's comments reminded me of a lecture that John Westfall, who was the senior pastor of Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church with Cathy Burkholder(Tucker), gave when he visited our Presbyterian Polity class in 1997. John taught that every institution has a life cycle marked by the following progression of characters.

Barbarians

The barbarians are the bold message bringers who in their passion for the gospel will knock down barriers of class, geography or race to share the word. They are messy and dangerous. They make things happen.

Builders

The second to come onto the scene are the builders. As the groups grow that the barbarians began, logistical and structural needs arise. The builders love the message and they build institutional structures to help the barbarians and the group they created.

Bureaucrats

The third group to arise are the bureaucrats. They love the institution that the builders created. They are welcoming of the message so long as it isn't destructive or messy. They recognize the danger of the Barbarians so they chain them up to protect the institution. They are good at running the institution but they have forgotten why the builders built it.

Royalty

The last group to arise are the royalty. The royalty care only for their power. They coerce the builders to create structures that enforce their power, but the builders may leave entirely out of lack of inspiring vision. The royalty court the bureaucrats to lead the institution in such a way as to cement their authority. At this point, the institution has been largely perverted from the purpose for which it was created.

Westfall's solution

John's solution to this was to enter an institution and look for the barbarians. He would unchain them to do the ministry. Then he would look for the builders who would be inspired by the barbarians and support their ministry. He would then shield these two groups from the unhealthy attempts by the bureaucrats and royalty to thwart them for the institution's good and their own power.

We asked if there was any hope for the bureaucrats and royalty. He said his hope was that they would fall in love again(?) with Jesus Christ, love him and his message more than the institution or their own power and join the barbarians and builders.

Thanks for posting this, Bill. This is a helpful typology. I regularly run into the temptation of wishing that there were more people like me in my communities. Thankfully the image of the body in 1 Corinthians exposes that temptation for the lame fallacy that it is. Over and over again, I'm brought back to the issue that we need each other in the Church. To function as a healthy body, I think we need to clearly express our expectations, our dreams, and how we're accountable to each other, and most importantly, how we can all participate in the kingdom together.

Oh wow- this is fantastic. Beautifully done with brevity and clarity. I'm impressed....thank you for posting it.

I'm glad you two appreciated this. It is limited and overly simplistic, but I think it captures some important truths, and some warnings for all of us who lead and work in institutions.

Good stuff. Reminds me of that old lighthouse illustration . . .