Post-Institutionalism

This article was originally published on Newsvine.com here to an audience of secularists, naturalists, hindus, etc. It is my deep feeling that what the world needs now are "post-Christian" followers of Christ.

A few years ago I really believed in the power of institutions. My experiences as a student, as an athlete, and as a church member were positive. Over time however, I have seen a rapid decline in the effectiveness of institutions with a corresponding increase in costs to manage. I began to notice that there were lots of people on the “outside” of these institutions. It would be easy to dismiss these “outsiders” as a fringe element, but the number of people who are losing out to institutionalism is growing at a rapid pace.

We often hail the greatness of our political, social, business, educational, and religious institutions. True greatness does not lie in building and protecting institutions, but in building and protecting people, families, and communities. Institutions stay “pure” by purging the “impure”. Families on the other hand, stay pure by integrating and building health and wholeness into each member.

The post-institutional era is about building organically through family and community structures with wholeness, collaboration, and good stewardship in mind.

Think about it. A political candidate thinks about issues in terms of reelection, not problem solving. A church starts a new marketing campaign to boost membership so that the budget will balance. Rather than thinking about building wholeness into individuals, they are thinking about institutional preservation. Business? Why is Google doing everything they can to avoid the institutional pitfalls that IBM and Microsoft have fallen into?

Close the Door Behind You

To demonstrate the “purge mentality” of institutions I will tell a quick story. In 2002, my family and I moved to Dallas, TX. Through the invitation of a neighbor we started attending a local church. The stated goal of the church was to provide a community for “healthy” families. I pondered that statement and wondered how many people that excluded from this community.

As time progressed I felt a need to serve in the church. I signed up to manage the parking lot before services and help seat people once they came inside. One Sunday, I was put in charge of the “overflow” section. If the front section of pews fills, a divider is pulled back and folding chairs are setup up to accommodate the “overflow”. In order to dissuade people from sitting in the overflow section prior to the front section filling, plastic tape was strung around the chairs barring entry. I was situated in front of the chairs to make sure no one sat in the overflow section until the appointed time.

I looked across the section of chairs to a young man who had jumped the tape blockade and taken a seat in the back row. This was an affront to the overflow section. Not only that… he was wearing an Ozzy Osbourne T-shirt! I walked over and sat down next to him. I said hello. He said hello in return. We talked for a while about how stupid it was to have an overflow section that was blocked off by tape. He could tell that I was “cool” and really didn’t care if he sat back there. He started telling me that he had fallen on rough times and that his parents had thrown him out of the house. I told him that sucked and it sounded very “unchristian”. He agreed. Right about that time, my neighbor (the one that invited us in the first place) came over and said, “mbrennan, what are you doing sitting in the reject section?” Nice… A couple minutes later, this older guy in a suit came over looking very embarrassed. Referring to my new Ozzy loving friend he said, “He’s probably high on God knows what!” It turns out that the old dude was Ozzy man’s dad. Nice… I said to the old guy, “Hey, we’re fine. We’re having a great conversation. Cool out.”

You see, Ozzy’s mom and dad were institutionalists. The institution had failed to reform their son so it was time to purge. They prayed to God that no one witnessed their unhealthy family. Shiny veneer with a black inside.

This was one of the great examples that showed me this truth. It bears repeating:

True greatness doesn’t lie in building and protecting institutions, but in building and protecting people, families, and communities. Institutions stay “pure” by purging the “impure”. Families stay pure by integrating and building wholeness in each member. The post-institutional era is about building organically through family and community structures with wholeness, collaboration, and good stewardship in mind.

So rather than building up Ozzy, we purged him.

Conclusions

So how will the post-institutional world impact you? Do you find yourself looking at problems that absolutely cannot be solved by the government or some other non-responsive institution? Have you noticed that the cost of health care and education are rising, but the quality is falling? There is no lack of intellectual capital, financial capital, and ingenuity to solve many of our problems. The question is are we willing to give ourselves to our own communities? Are we willing to engage our communities and bring non-institutional solutions to our most pressing problems? Many of us are stuck on the couch or by the computer decrying the failures of Washington, the UN, and the World Bank. At some point, the gross failures of institutions will lead to greater action among social entrepreneurs. Common citizens will take matters into their own hands. Some already have.