Out of the wilderness it comes.

It's a pesky little pest, known for making people feel uncomfortable, itchy and annoyed. Once you've been bitten by this critter, you know it, and you'll assault yourself with scratching in a desperate attempt to find relief.

We're talking about the flea, here. The human flea, to be exact. Scientific name: Pulex irritans. You can't claw yourself out of a flea infestation. You need a flea dip.

John the Baptist was a kind of a human flea in the hair of his people. Coming out of the Judean wilderness, he proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. His challenging words made people feel terribly uncomfortable, and no doubt some were annoyed by his unusual appearance, and by his itchy and socially unacceptable clothing of camel's hair.

He was a Prophet irritans.

But no amount of scratching could remove the discomfort created by his words. He spoke a nagging truth about the need to repent, so people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins (Mark 1:5).

Relief came only through a flea dip in the river Jordan.

According to business author Charles Handy, there are two kinds of organizations in the world: Elephants and fleas. Elephants are large corporations, religious institutions or government bureaucracies -- organizations with deeply ingrained ways of working and behaving, allowing little scope for individuality or self-expression. Elephants are often inflexible and unable to change when conditions in the world suggest they should.

Think of the religious organization of the Pharisees and Sadducees back in first-century Judea. These spiritual leaders thought they were "living large," based on the fact that Abraham was their ancestor (Matthew 3:9). What elephants.

A human flea, on the other hand, is more like John the Baptist. A flea can be a single person working alone or, possibly, a small group of people. The flea's life is about more than just work, it is about flexibility to see the bigger picture and to keep life in its proper balance. Fleas take control of their lives and maximize their abilities, without being stifled by bureaucratic organizations or those that are clinging to the past.

Charles Handy believes that fleas are becoming increasingly important in the business world, as they are able to work more efficiently and often more effectively than the elephants. They have speed on their side, as well as flexibility; sometimes creativity and certainly motivation. They may have completed the project and be moving on to the next while the elephant is still meeting to put together the project team. (Review by Martin Payne, "The Elephant & the Flea," Pool, Winter 2002, www.poolonline.com/books/books30.html)

So, what are we? An Elephant Church, or a Flea Church?

This is not a call to put away our comfortable Christmas sweaters and replace them with camel's hair. Nor is it a recommendation that we serve locusts and wild honey at all our holiday parties. Nancy and I have other plans for our Christmas Coffee. But there is a lot to be said for the flea-like behavior of John the Baptist, especially if we want to join him in preparing the way of the Lord in our world today.

John, you see, felt free to speak the truth to the people of his day, using his unique power of expression to call men and women to repentance. He embraced the authority and responsibility that had been given to him by God, and did not worry about how he would be accepted by the religious elephants of Jerusalem. He came out of the wilderness and offered the innovative idea of a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, a life-changing event that proved to be so much more significant than routine attendance at traditional temple services. And most important of all, he pointed people to the coming of Jesus Christ, the one he saw as being much more powerful than himself. "I have baptized you with water," proclaimed John; "but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit" (Mark 1:8).

That "John the B" was quite a flea. His innovative approach allowed him to move faster, jump higher, and have a more profound effect on religious life than all the elephants around him.

The very same can be true for us.

As a community of faith, we can discard some of our elephant attributes and behave more and more like fleas, if we wish. This means being willing to hop around in the wilderness for a while, as John did -- a wilderness that can be the source of real spiritual creativity. It means moving from a focus on church maintenance to a focus on Christian mission, and changing from a culture of control to a culture of permission-giving. As a flea church, we should operate in a way that allows greater individual expression, and that gives people permission to serve God in a variety of ways. As a flea church, we can spend less time meeting in committees, and more time equipping each other to put the good news of the gospel into action in the world. Fleas certainly enjoy being together, and they see the value of church attendance, but they don't put all their emphasis on spending time in the pews -- instead, they focus their attention on the ideas and actions that arise out of worship and have a positive impact on others. We are already experimenting with this flea-like permission-giving approach with our Web Team, our Children of Chernobyl Team, and our Jubilee Team, and we are getting good results.

To be a flea church is not to be irritating and annoying. Instead, it's to be free and truthful and innovative and faithful to Jesus Christ.

Rick Warren, the senior pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church in Orange County, California, believes that people respond to responsibility, and they thrive and grow when you trust them. "But if you treat people like incompetent babies," he warns, "you'll have to diaper and feed them for the rest of your life."

The key to unlocking Christian creativity is to give people authority with responsibility. Real authority, combined with responsibility. Warren is convinced that people are always as creative as the church structure allows them to be. At Saddleback, each lay ministry group is assigned a staff liaison, but staff people tend to stay out of the way of church members who have been turned loose to do ministry.

Warren discovered the importance of this approach very early in his ministry at Saddleback. At the beginning, he and his wife Kay helped with every job in the church, from cleaning bathrooms to hauling sound system equipment. He often worked fifteen hours a day for the church -- and loved every minute of it.

But by the time Saddleback was just a few years old, Warren found himself running out of energy. The church had grown to several hundred people, and he was still trying to be involved in every aspect and detail of the ministry. Warren was burning out, physically and emotionally.

At a midweek service, he confessed to the congregation that he was exhausted, and that he couldn't continue to lead the church and be involved in every aspect of ministry at the same time. He went on to say that God didn't expect him to do all the ministry -- the Bible was very clear that the pastor's job is to equip the members for THEIR ministry. He said, "I'll make you a deal. If you agree to do the ministry of this church, I'll make sure you're well fed." The people liked the deal, and from that point on the congregation focused on performing the ministry of the church, while Warren concentrated on feeding and leading. After making this decision, Saddleback exploded with growth, exceeding 10,000 people in worship attendance. (Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Church [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995], 388-389)

That's a lotta fleas!

A Flea Church like Saddleback gives people real authority, combined with responsibility. It turns church members loose to perform their ministry in the world, after making sure they are well fed and well led. It gives people the chance to make a real contribution with their lives -- something that everyone, in a unique and personal way, is anxious to do. It grounds its ministry in the work of folks who have speed on their side, as well as flexibility, and it takes full advantage of the creativity and motivation of individuals who have been given permission to do Christ's work in the world.

But doesn't life in such a church get chaotic at times? A little uncomfortable and annoying, with so many fleas jumping around?

This is a danger, yes. But it's only a problem if the fast-moving fleas of a particular fellowship lose sight of their unifying mission: Preparing the way of the Lord, and pointing people to Jesus Christ.

Remember that John the Baptist was a flea, but he was not obsessed with his own activity. Instead, he moved and jumped and spoke and baptized with the goal of preparing others for the coming of Christ. We can do the same if we keep Jesus at the center of our mission projects, youth programs, fellowship events, worship services, church school classes, music programs, evangelism efforts, holiday parties, Bible studies, and small group meetings.

With Christ at our core, we don't have to jump around aimlessly. We can be fleas with a focus, individuals with a unifying vision for our energetic activity, people who point others to Jesus in an inviting and non-irritating sort of way.

United in ministry, we fleas can make a real impact. One that even an elephant would envy. Amen.

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