What do you do when you experience a disappointment in something? Hirschman answers that question in his famous 1970 work, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty<\/i>. Humans tend to leave an organization or speak up and attempt to change an organization when we think things are not working the way they should. The invisible hand, or context (al a Adam Smith) in this, is of course one\u2019s loyalty to the organization. For Hirschman, in economies the default is to leave when the profit is sinking, but when it comes to politics, people tend to use their voice and protest. Besides loyalty, the availability of other options, the size of the exit door, and perception that a complaint will be listened to and implemented all play a factor in weather a person fights or flights. Given the current declining membership in many local churches in my tribe within the United States, I was eager to read this book to discover some solutions to our dwindling numbers. I suggest that besides exiting and voicing, within the context of loyalty, churches should introduce entering (incarnation) and embracing (adoption) within our context of exile.<\/p>\n
The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood! (John 1.14 The Message<\/i>)<\/b><\/p>\n
This term we have been challenged to discern different authors\u2019 assumptions about humanity. The human who Hirschman describes is a person who acts purely on self-interest. It is probably why he looks up to Oxford Alumnus Adam Smith (cha-ching). Inspired by his trip to Nigeria and studying the decrepit train system there, Hirschman concludes that it made more sense for customers to leave the trains and use private trucks instead. This maximized efficiency and profits. However, it also left the government owned train system in a state of perpetual disrepair. He also uses other examples like public education in the United States to prove his point.<\/p>\n
I am wondering though, if churches should be set up to be filled with little-Christs who model the incarnation of Jesus instead of customers acting on self-interest. The Incarnation is an entrance to a derelict and run down human condition. One could make the case that God used his Voice and Exit option, but due to his Loyalty to His Creation, the Son ENTERED. I think it is also very informative (and should be formative<\/i>) when Paul says in Philippians 2 that Jesus didn\u2019t just enter our world, he entered as a slave. And that is not all, Paul says Christians should copy this. Where Hirschman assumes a humanity of self-interest, Paul challenges humanity toward self-emptying.<\/p>\n
The world that Hirschman describes is one based on self-interest and self-gain; perhaps the American Dream. Jesus\u2019 vision for the church is a group of people who \u201chelp others get ahead\u201d (Philippians 2.4 The Message<\/i>). What would a church focussed on incarnational self-denial look like?<\/p>\n
Embrace The Church as Family<\/b><\/p>\n
Many of us were impressed and moved by Krish Kandiah. Mainly using texts and thoughts from Ephesians and Philippians, Krish not only debunked several myths about the gospel and adoption, he made a strong case that churches should use the language of adoption and family to describe who we are and what we do.<\/p>\n
Hirschman describes a humanity of consumers who seek out goods and services. This thinking works in the marketplace and in politics. For me, it just doesn\u2019t translate to church. One of the reasons why some churches are declining is because they are full of people who are consumers of religious goods and services. Maybe they focus on church as an event. The person who thinks this way might say, \u201cI go to church for the worship.\u201d \u201cor message.\u201d \u201cor for the Eucharist.\u201d For this person, church is an experience. For others, church is about a person. You can spot these people because they constantly talk about their church with reference to the pastor. For example, \u201cI go to ___(insert famous pastor\u2019s name) church.\u201d Thirdly, many people describe their church as a destination. \u201cI go to ____ (insert popular church name).\u201d<\/p>\n
When looked at as someone\u2019s project, experience, or location, people behave the way Hirschman describes. This is probably why so many current books on small groups tell pastors that we have to have small groups to close the back (re: exit) door. However, what if we started to describe our churches with the language of adoption and family? That would change everything!<\/p>\n
Exile is Our Context<\/b><\/p>\n
As Hirschman aptly points out, loyalty is the invisible magic that informs the interplay between exit and voice. For the Christian in the United States though, we would do well to admit our exile. Things just aren\u2019t the way they are supposed to be. Jeremiah and Jeremy Crossley help us with this. Jeremiah 29 imagines a humanity in exile working and praying for the peace and prosperity of the city. Vicar Crossley is doing exactly that in his work at St. Margaret\u2019s. He is leading his church, beyond just listening to voice<\/i> and experiencing exit<\/i>, but he is embracing exile.<\/p>\n
My vision for the church I lead is to copy Jeremy Crossley. Yes exit is a reality and I need to wrestle with the why of exit. I could do well to listen better to those courageous enough to stay and vulnerably offer their voice. However, for the Hub to grow and thrive, I want to welcome the entrance of Jesus and his promise to not simply build His church, but to come in and dine with me and I want to pursue a picture of family and speak the language of adoption all within the context of exile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What do you do when you experience a disappointment in something? Hirschman answers that question in his famous 1970 work, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. Humans tend to leave an organization or speak up and attempt to change an organization when we think things are not working the way they should. The invisible hand, or context […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[675,251],"class_list":["post-9779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dmlgp6","tag-hirschman","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}