in creating amplifying feedback – ‘to understand networks is to understand self-organization’ (Chiles and Meyer, 2001, p. 83). Lichtenstein and Plowman (2009, p. 623) note that amplification is more likely to be present when leaders and members of a system encourage multiple interactions between individuals. Some theorists have gone so far as to suggest that organizations exist primarily in the conversations between their members (Shaw, 2002).
The multiplication of networks has been a key piece of the fresh expressions jigsaw. Between 1989 and 1996 Challenge 2000 was a central player in the Disciple A Whole Nation (DAWN) initiative to plant 20,000 churches in the UK by 2000. The unrealistic nature of these goals and lack of funds strongly contributed to its demise, but Challenge 2000 brought church planting on to the agenda of virtually all the denominations and spawned a number of formal and informal networks.
Through the 1990s and since, Anglican ministers Bob and Mary Hopkins (not least through their training courses and mentoring) have been at the centre of a variety of networks that have accelerated the flow of information about new contextual churches. The Hopkins played an important role, for example, in encouraging the Lincolnshire-based Ground Level Network to be instrumental in planting around 20 churches by 2011.
Networks with a significant impact include Urban Expressions, part of a looser Baptist church-planting network, Church Army’s network of pioneers, the networks encouraged by Canon Phil Potter in the Anglican diocese of Liverpool, which has developed one of the most strategic approaches to fresh expressions in the UK, the blah network hosted by CMS (formerly Church Mission Society), the learning communities formed by St Thomas Crookes in Sheffield and by the Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) network of church plants, the Co-Mission network in London, the missional orders described below and many others. In addition are a host of informal networks, ranging from gatherings of pioneers that have a short but fruitful life to those who follow a specific blog.
The Fresh Expressions team has sought to encourage networking among pioneers. The initial assumption was that these networks would be quite stable and durable, with something of the flavour of St Thomas Crookes’ and HTB’s learning communities, whose members share their knowledge. The ‘Round Table’ of Anglo-Catholic practitioners probably comes close to this. But experience has shown that while durable networks are helpful for some, church founders often rely on well-established personal networks for emotional support and collect information about pioneering from fluid, episodic and fleeting relationships. Networking may be just as important as networks.
Thus the annual national Break-out conference of pioneers is beginning to play a critical role in enabling practitioners from different backgrounds to broaden their range of contacts. Through such gatherings, church founders can keep extending their networks rather than be limited to their existing ones.
Amplification and the individual
Amplification works at the level of the individual in several ways. Stories of what others are doing can inspire and give legitimacy to individuals’ own ideas, creating a bandwagon effect by persuading more people to join the trend. They can also challenge unhelpful preconceptions. ‘I thought fresh expressions were about cafe church. Now I see that you have to listen to the context first and that a fresh expression can take many different forms.’ As a result, would-be founders make fewer mistakes and their initiatives are more fruitful, which encourages others to get involved.
Stories that spread good practice are an especially important form of amplification. In a complex world, individuals either do not have the time, or the motivation or skill to assess – perhaps by trial and error – what will work in their contexts. ‘We’re making it up as we go along’ may feel exciting for cutting-edge pioneers, but can seem daunting to those coming up behind. Usually people prefer to imitate others – ‘it works for them, it will work for me’ (Kandori, Mailath and Rob, 1993, p. 31; Dietz, Burns and Buttel, 1990, pp. 159–60). Stories are welcomed as an easy way to learn.
Yet this desire to imitate is problematic where context makes a big difference. If the context is not the same, what worked for them (such as a published evangelistic course) may not work for me (perhaps because attendance at organized meetings is erratic). To help avoid unreflective imitation, the Fresh Expressions’ Share website has sought to draw from pioneers’ experience themes – illustrated with stories – that can guide good practice (www.sharetheguide.org).12 Harnessed through general principles, the experience of others is thus amplified. This makes it easier to pioneer a contextual church and increases the probability of getting it right, which – in a further amplification – is likely to persuade more people to have a go.
It seems that there has been considerable amplification in terms of bandwagon effects, and a fair amount in terms of the ‘I hadn’t realize that’ kind of learning. Through Share, training courses from several stables, the Church Army Sheffield Centre, publications and other vehicles, there has been some embrace of helpful methodologies, especially the importance of listening to context, but the spread of good practice remains a challenge.
Amplification has involved
spreading stories;
a central team that could act as a megaphone;
explicit support from church authorities;
the multiplication of networks;
spread of good practice.
Recombination/self-organization
In the Lichtenstein/Plowman model, a third group of processes involves recombining the system’s elements to reshape the organization. This is self-organization because it is not controlled from the centre but reflects a multitude of decisions by individuals and groups. Self-organization occurs when new ways of doing things challenge and then replace existing approaches.
Old and new attractors
Unpacking this, complexity theorists often use the term ‘attractor’ when describing self-organization.13 Put simply, an attractor can be understood as something that attracts support. Systems are organized around an attractor, which are ways of doing things that over time have gained support. Emergence occurs when a new attractor, a new way of organizing, gathers enough support to challenge successfully the existing pattern of organization, an old attractor.
Before the new one replaces the old one, the two attractors compete for a while. During this period, the system is no longer stable, dominated by one attractor, one pattern of behaviour. It has been destabilized by the early appearance of an alternative approach, the new attractor. The landscape looks confusing and individuals are uncertain about the future.
Three outcomes are possible. The old attractor wins, or the new one does or the system slides into chaos. In the first and second, once one of the attractors has prevailed, the system in theory returns to stability. In practice, in our fast-changing world another attractor is likely to be on the horizon, offering a new challenge, so that the system never feels completely at rest. In the third outcome, the system slips into chaos because the rival attractors tear the organization apart – perhaps (hypothetically) fresh expressions exit a denomination en masse, leaving it seriously weakened.
Theorists describe how one attractor replaces an existing one in various ways.14 A common notion is the ‘edge of chaos’. This is a situation where the old and new attractors are in competition with each other – the system is unstable. The outcome of the rivalry is unclear. The system could lapse into chaos, or one of the