Renewing Cities Through Missional Tribes

by Jon Tyson

I KNOW, I KNOW

At this point, some may be cynical that informal urban tribes can offer any hope for restoring social capital and creating common good, let alone become a foundational community through which God can release kingdom renewal into our world. But consider this: culture today is rarely formed around official institutions, but rather through varying networks of trusted friends through whom we share experiences, relationships, ideas, successes, failures, celebrations, and milestones. These urban tribes could be the most natural and trusted way the gospel can move through a city. When I reflect on the way we have planted and grown our church in New York, it has almost exclusively been through tribes. We haven’t done any marketing, handed out any freebies, or begged people to come to our services. Almost everyone who has been reached through our church has been reached through tribal groups. People still show up as individuals, but increasingly they are showing up together, community already formed, seeking to infuse Christian spirituality into an already existing network. These loose, interconnected networks often have surprising reach in a given community, with each tribe literally cross-pollinating with dozens of other members of other tribes. These networks spread through the relational fabric of New York and filter into almost every social category and industry imaginable. Watters’ thoughts about tribal connections across a city seem to be coming true:

How might these urban tribes form a network across a city? These networks rely heavily on weak ties...the shadow ties, people we don’t know yet, but people who will come into our lives within a year. Certainly, when I looked at my life, it became very clear that I managed my life in the city by utilizing my network in the city. It really is the way we navigate city life. This is valuable to the individual, but how is it useful for the community at large? The shadow tie is the social science equivalent of dark matter. It creates a force that’s difficult to see but holds everything together.⁹

Michel Maffesoli drives the point home in his excellent work The Time of the Tribes.¹⁰ As he documents the effects of postmodernism on urban groups, he states that tribes are “more than a residual category of social life, they are the central feature and key social fact of our own experience of everyday living.”11 He claims they now form an “underground centrality” to a city’s life, pulse, and community.

This dark matter, or these lose connections, are often the real relational capital needed to see a movement spread through a city. Sociologist Rodney Stark notes that one of the major reasons that the early Christian movement was able to spread so quickly through the vast expanses of the Roman Empire was its decentralized, relational networks that enabled the gospel to spread organically from one group to another in natural, holistic, and integrated ways.12 In other words, the early followers of Jesus were able to bring together their existing networks, norms, and values in such a way that when they were converted to Jesus, something arose in their social experience and the kingdom of God flourished and moved through their midst. I believe that the rise of urban tribes today presents a unique opportunity for the church to capitalize on these networks, to regain social and kingdom capital for the renewal of our cities and world.

As followers of Jesus, we know that when we come together in his name, he is in our midst. We also know that he has promised to be with us always, even till the end of the age. What would happen if believers were able to organize their tribes — their networks, norms, and values — around the teachings and mission of Jesus and see a resurgence of the gospel spread from tribe to tribe?

ORGANIZING TRIBES?

This begs the question: How does an urban tribe form? How do you start something that is in its nature organic? Typically, people gather around ideas and needs, and over time become a functioning tribe. Seth Godin states, “A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea...A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”¹³ He goes on to say, “Leaders, on the other hand, don’t care very much for organizational structure or the official blessing of whatever factory they work for. They use passion and ideas to lead people, as opposed to using threats and bureaucracy to manage them.”¹⁴ Consequently, one of the simplest ways we have been able to form “missional tribes” at our church is by organizing people around need and passion.

The needs of the world are visible all around us, and people in today’s culture are taking their own initiative to respond. Philanthropy is a new cultural value. From the (red) campaign to community service, from serving the poor to redeeming the inner city, from green movements to sustainable business, people are longing to be a part of something greater than themselves. Richard Rohr says, “Our ordinary lives are given an extraordinary significance when we accept that our lives are about something larger. I do not need to be the whole play or even understand the full script. It is enough to know that I have been chosen to be one actor on the stage. I need only play my part as well as I can.”¹⁵ Nearly everyone is passionate about something, and when followers of Jesus center their lives on a kingdom cause, powerful things can happen.

Empowering people around need and mission not only nurtures the communal nature of tribes, but it takes the kingdom of God outside of the walls of the church and into the networks, norms, and values of our culture. The kingdom begins to spread in small but potent ways and work its way itself into the social fabric of our world, doing a powerful work of renewal. Gathering people around mission lets the heart of God intersect with the people of God and the needs of the world, releasing the kingdom into the culture.

Let me give an example. A couple of years ago, a few people in our community noticed that the commodification of Valentine’s Day was getting worse and worse. As believers with a heart for the city, they started to think about whom this was hurting the most. They realized that for women who have been victims of abusive relationships, this was probably a day of great pain. These two leaders, one an accountant and another a designer, went to the local battered women’s shelter and asked if they could do something special for these women to redeem the day. This idea of redemption spread from group to group, until the plan began to take shape. They would partner with all the people in their networks who worked in the fashion industry to get sample clothing and products from the top designers in the city and work with makeup artists and hairstylists to get cosmetics and product. They networked with chefs to make first-class food, children’s workers to stage a show for the women’s kids, and a host of people to be willing to serve. They rented a loft in Soho and put on one of the most impressive displays of serving you can imagine. Women were weeping as they got to choose new clothes from the city’s top designers for job interviews. Tears were running down their cheeks as leading make-up artists gave them consultations on presenting themselves and looking their best. They were literally speechless as they were served incredible food and pampered for the first time in years. People from outside of our church community, through all of these overlapping networks, got involved and donated time, resources, advertising, and space to make this night a reality. In fact, a new tribe has formed that puts on this event every year and meets to plan and dream and act on behalf of these women. This is a kind of social capital, infused with love and vision, that when released into the culture at large, becomes kingdom capital with the potential to transform people, communities, and the world.

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Comments

Andrea McCourtney

I am a young adult recently graduated with a major in Anthropology and Counseling. I spent my time at school studying African tribe’s and animistic religious belief systems costumes, values, and art, that I might understand them in making the gospel relevant to their lives. While living in America and seeing the shift in generational values and the churches disconnect with our age group, it is unbelievably refreshing to hear someone approaching our generation anthropologically! We should get to know our generation, like the love of our life we have been waiting for. How she thinks, what she feels, what she needs and how she sees the world! She is Christ’s love, and by extension, Ours. Thanks for the site, and yall’s passion.

Chris Hadsell

This is a really compelling article and speaks to some major questions I have had about community and faith. Practically speaking, how do we organize a tribe around a cause and keep it organic? As we all know 'the church' wants not only quick results but also the control/credit for what takes place. This sort of thing takes time and doesn't lend itself to having the church logo alongside. Is it just a matter of courage that organizationally the church will "make it" if it doesn't receive the credit? I love the thought... the courage to care less about the institution and more about the people, gospel and world change.

thanks for this article, it struck a deep chord with me.

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