The Starfish and the Spirit: Unleashing the Leadership Potential of Churches and Organizations (Exponential Series)

The Church talks a lot about making disciples, but rarely do they have or demonstrate a clear path for the development of disciples. Ford & Wegner not only define discipleship, they use the starfish as a metaphor and lay out a a 5 point journey that is a clearly defined discipleship journey. This is on my list as a top recommendation when coaching church planters.

The reason for the 4 out of 5 stars is that The Starfish and the Spirit powerfully makes the case for a “starfish” ecclesiology. However, I believe it is extremely weak on implementation of the strategy proposed. I believe the focus should be on discipleship. The organizational structure should follow from making disciples who make disciples. My thinking is presented in the following paragraphs.For about the past three decades I have been pretty intensively exploring reform of the institutional church. Prior to that time I had done a doctoral dissertation in how information flows in organizations and, more specifically, how institutions would change with the increasing use of computers (read that digital technologies). There is a large body of literature regarding the process of change in organizations – how to make the attempted change successful.I have developed a range of changes that I have come to believe that the institutional churches need to make in order to make it more aligned with the concepts that Jesus put forward and that Paul sought to implement (read that spread to the rest of the world). The domains I have explored are ecclesiology, christology, missiology, soteriology, theology, and bibliology.When I first learned about the upcoming release of The Starfish and the Spirit I was really excited. My hope was that this would be another strong voice providing meaningful input to needed reforms of the institutional church.Almost 25 years ago I first learned that churches, for all practical purposes, had not been intentionally making disciples. That realization followed from studying the work of Dallas Willard and, more specifically, his The Divine Conspiracy. There have been some notable exceptions to that finding - for example the people associated with Discipleship.org – are working to train leaders to make disciples who make disciples.The focus of The Starfish and the Spirit is on ecclesiology (read that as how one does church – how one organizes the church). There are sections on “A Culture of Multiplying Leaders” and “A Culture of Multiplying Disciples.” They are really good but they appear to be afterthoughts in support of the proposed organization structure.My thesis is that the greatest challenge we face as followers of Jesus is in making disciples who make disciples and that the focus should be on growing the people who commit to following Jesus to become more Christlike. When the institutions are focused on that (read that as a focus on Jesus – front and center) then the leaders emerge and then the structure becomes like a starfish. It appears to me that the presentation is bass ackwards. What is presented is really good but the focus and the order is not the way Jesus did it and is not a successful strategy.I do have a quarrel with the use of the word “multiply.” My quarrel comes from my scientific background. We are in a pandemic so I believe that most people are receptive to what I have to say. When one makes disciples who makes disciples, starting with a few, we have what is referred to as exponential growth (like a virus). It is not multiplication. The plot of disciples as a function of time starts out relatively flat and then takes off and is very steep. See the Exponential Growth wiki. This is what happened in the first 300 or so years of Christianity – before the Constantinization of Christianity. During this period that were dealing with orthodoxy but the focus was on orthopraxy. We need to focus on making disciples and then we will have a movement. It will be organized like a starfish.

The Starfish and the Spirit Copyright © 2021 by Lance Ford, Rob Wegner, and Alan HirschFord, Lance; Wegner, Rob; Hirsch, Alan. The Starfish and the Spirit (Exponential Series) (p. vi). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.I’m not sure that Paul would have used the image of a starfish to picture the church, but it certainly is a thought-provoking image for this look at the church by Ford, Wegner and Hirsch. Especially powerful is the recurring emphasis on DNA.The starfish can be cut in half and reproduce itself because the DNA of the starfish is in each cell. As the author’s say on page 74 “Through the structure starfish, may we see circles multiply, each carrying the DNA through the entire body, connected and structured organically as a living system.”Scattered throughout Pennsylvania are ruins of settlements that ceased to exist when the founder died. There are also church buildings that are but empty shells because the DNA of that congregation was not replicable.This book is a good reminder that the church is meant to reproduce. We need more donkeys and fewer mules when it comes to church movements.Many movements are spider like in that there is a central hub and all movement, every activity moves out from center. Once the hub is destroyed the movement dies.I documented this in my Doctoral thesis project within a specific church movement but there seems to be a widespread idea that leadership must be centered on one person or one small group and everything flows from that hub.In The Starfish and the Spirit the writers emphasize the importance of shared leadership and giving permission to for people to exercise their gifts without micromanagement.The authors quote an article from Harvard Business Review that says something about the starfish model:New power operates differently, like a current. It is made by many. It is open, participatory, and peer-driven. It uploads, and it distributes. Like water or electricity, it’s most forceful when it surges. The goal with new power is not to hoard it but to channel it. P. 23Lance Ford and Rob Wegner both share sad stories of their ministry in spider organizations and the emotional pain caused by spider bites.In my 50 years of ministry, I can only recall one experience that even resembled the starfish. However, my commitment in ministry was to model the idea of shared leadership and each person exercising the gifts God gave them.The authors write about movements that are transitioning to the Starfish. As I read this book I imagine my ministry was more like a spiderfish than a starder but we were moving in the right direction and maybe a new generation can continue the transition.(See pages 16 and 17 for more on transitions.I would encourage the wide distribution, reading and study of this book but I would be remiss if I did not raise one concern. Although I believe all members of the body should contribute their gifts to the body, I have a concern about an unquestioned commitment to APEST (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, Teachers) The authors promote the idea that all these gifts are given today and there are individuals who possess each gift.Given the definitions they give for these gifts on page 100 and following I can see the validity of these gifts. However, I do not think the descriptions they offer are necessarily how the original Apostles and Prophets viewed their gifts. But once again what a discussion this could generate. And we certainly need to take a good look at ourselves and the church.I was given a proof of this book through Netgalley.com with the expectation I would read it and offer a review.

I came to the end of this book as a missional leader, both desperate to finish to gain everything that the authors had to offer, while simultaneously despairing at the volume of knowledge and profound wisdom that its pages contained. I feel like I either now need to read it all again to have any hope of implementation because it demands nothing less, or to dismiss it all for the sake of having a quiet life. I wish I had read this book 30 years ago.

A thoroghly biblical, no-nonsense book about how the Body of the early church operated, and how the Institution of the church today generally doesn't. It's a positive rather than a negative book, and rooted firmly in the New Testament. For anyone tired of being asked, "How many do you have in your church?" where bigger numbers mean greater success, it's like a breath of fresh air. Whatever your church background, if you want to make disciples who make disciples, and see all, not just a few of your congregation engaged in the work of the Kingdom of God, buy this book and be open to God speaking into your specific situation. It might just open a door in your thinking that you will find hard to shut.

I've been reading lots of material around these kinds of subjects (APEST, discipleship, servant leadership, equipping, releasing people to thrive in their God-given vision, multiplication...) for some time and this brings it together. I'm only half-way through but there have been so many 'yes, that's what I've been saying'' moments that's it's been very encouraging to see them written down clearly. There is a lot in it though so I think I'm going to have to keep referring back to it over the months and years to come.I only wish I could have a hard-copy instead of Kindle as I'd like to see the diagrams at a larger size and be able to easily flip back and forth through the book, which I find much easier with a real book.

This book is brilliant. Not only is it grounded in Scripture and the way of Jesus, but it’s a futuristic and prophetic treatise on ways the church needs to and can become more adaptable, so that we are more effective in our mission of making disciples.

Destined to become one of the great kingdom works of the 21st century, Ford, Wenger and Hirsch have produced a love letter that if you respond with your whole mind, soul, heart and strength (for that’s what it will take), you will see the fullness of Christ manifest and His kingdom come.Compulsory reading for anyone in kingdom leadership.