Going Tribal

Seth Godin, the crème de la crème of bloggers and the author of a book entitled “Tribes”, states that a Tribe is a group of people that come together for a common interest or cause.  A tribe can be any size and their interest can range from a group of people that trade stamps together, to diehard U2 fans.  Tribes usually start out small, but if it is a great tribe it usually grows into something great – something of which people take notice.  

And this is what sparked my curiosity of the term “tribe” and the connection it could have with the church.  It is my view that Jesus Christ started the greatest tribe ever.  He started out with twelve men and turned his tribe into one of the biggest tribes anyone has ever seen.  But when a tribe gets to big, can it lose the main reason why it became a tribe in the first place?  We have a Church on every street corner; you’d think we are in competition with McDonalds. 

It is my opinion that many have lost their passion to be in this tribe, we call the church.  I’m sure they joined for good reasons:  like to save their spirit from eternal hell in the after life or maybe some joined to feed the poor or help the sick.   However isn’t it funny how after a while we can get sidetracked and lose focus on the main agenda of the tribe.  Let’s face it, if we the church are not fulfilling the “Great Commission”, which is the tribe’s mission statement – then we are not helping the tribe grow in the right way.  Christ never stated anywhere in the Bible, at least not what I have read – that once your in this thing for a while you can take a leave of absence or pass the torch over to someone else.  But isn’t that the attitude of so many Christians (though I would question if they really are Christians with this attitude) we know.  I can hear them now saying, “I’ve put my time in, it’s time for someone else now” or “God hasn’t called me to serve, but to be a student of His word”.  PLEASE, this kind of talk makes me want to vomit!  You would never walk up to you’re boss at work and say well I’ve put my time in, I am just going to show up to work everyday and just watch everyone else work.  NO, you would be fired.  Man aren’t many Christians lucky that God is not like that!

If we are to truly be a church — a body of believers — a tribe, – each one of us have to pull are own weight to make “this thing of ours” (quoting from Tony Soprano) great.  God wants workers.  We have no time to rest.  There will be plenty of that when we get our reward.  However for now let us labor and get our hands dirty — for we know our labor will not be in vain. 

As for me, the tribe I want to see us become is special.  It is worth fighting for, losing sleep over and working until I am tired – because my tribal Leader did the same for me.  There are still far too many that are not yet in the tribe that need to be.  I just hope my other fellow tribesmen feel the same way.