The Metaphor

During this period of research and reflection, my wife and I began to perceive the church through the metaphor of metamorphosis.  Unattractive caterpillars must go through a period of becoming before they are beautiful butterflies.  Likewise, most local churches must undergo metamorphosis in order to become missions-mobilizing.  Most churches, self-absorbed and self-concerned, are like caterpillars, consuming most of their resources for their own personal growth and development.  A significant and concerned minority of churches, however, have entered the pupa stage.  These churches, seeking spiritual vitality, are rethinking theological and spiritual foundations and changing structures and methods to reflect the purposes of God.  Others are going through a metamorphosis to become butterfly churches.  Drawing nectar from God and from their Christian community, they spread God's pollen from place to place where it germinates to produce fruit and seeds.  In their own fallible ways these churches have been able to understand and prioritize the purposes of God.  

As my wife and I interviewed Christian leaders throughout the United States it became apparent that most churches are caterpillar churches.  These churches are by nature consumers using their growing wealth and resources for personal growth and development.  They are self-absorbed and self-concerned seeking to meet immediate felt needs.  They are able to crawl only in the earthlies, unable to fly into the heavenly realms where all spiritual blessings dwell (Eph. 1:3ff).  They do not have a heart for personally preaching good news to the poor and proclaiming freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and release for the oppressed (Luke 4:18-19) although they give lip-service to their desire to do compassionate ministry.  While needing and sometimes desiring spiritual metamorphosis, they are usually frightened by it.  

A significant and concerned minority of churches that we interviewed are entering the pupa stage.  These churches are questioning their purpose for existing and desiring to become more like God.  They are seeking to develop a biblical theology of missions and ministry, which defines their identity and shapes their being.  Realizing the purposes of God helps them move from self-centered nominalism to spiritual vitality.  Rethinking theological and spiritual foundations and changing structures and methods to reflect the purposes of God creates immense discomfort.  It is, therefore, not surprising that churches making this transition frequently shrink in size because those desiring to continue as consuming caterpillars depart.

A growing number of churches have gone through the metamorphosis to become butterfly churches.  The nature and identity of these churches are vastly different from those of caterpillar or pupa churches.  First, they draw nectar from God and from their Christian community.  These churches have developed the spiritual resources to both understand and prioritize the purposes of God.  Second, because of their spiritual resources, they are able to spread God's pollen from place to place resulting in the germination of fruit and seeds.  They know that the world is lost without Jesus and have prepared themselves to carry the saving message of the cross both locally and globally.  Third, these churches might be called missions-mobilizing because the purposes of God have become incarnate in the life of the church.