When the people kings are leading are sheeplike it’s easy to lead.  It’s easy to get those people to do what the king wants.  This is not a tribe.  When kings rule with an iron fist and work to maintain the status quo everything seems good. People are managed, not lead.  They are treated like serfs, because in fact that is what they are.  In a kingdom or empire, people do the bidding of the king.  They are not allowed to impart change, the rules are set by the king, and only the king can change them.

Or at least that is what most kings think.  In fact it may seem impossible to make change happen, but it isn’t.  The stable world that the king has set up is not real.  It is only an illusion.  As soon as people choose to not be lead by the king anymore, they can revolt.  It may not be successful, at first anyway.  But in time the revolt will lead to change.  Today people can lead a revolt again kings without much effort really.  When you find a some leverage, you will be able to shake the stability of the king.

Most kings are narcissistic, and they think that they can’t be removed from power.  That may be true too.  They may continue to be king, but they just won’t have any people.  If your tired of feeling like a peasant, and are ready to change some things in your life, break free, find some people like you on the fringe, and go form your own tribe.  And don’t be surprised when others start to follow.  When a real leader shows up, the revolt will begin, and the king and his kingdom will come down.  If you don’t believe me, just look at the number of revolutions that have taken place throughout history lead by people who were regarded as nothing more than riff-raff by kings.  Enjoy your revolution.

Ms. Palin has leverage. She can say anything she wants and people follow. There are people who believe that she can take them where they want to go. Whether she can or not is yet to be seen, but because of leverage she is going to get the opportunity. What you need to realize is she created the leverage, not the other way around. People are looking for someone to lead them, if you speak out, you will be the leader. All you need is an opportunity. Chances are that if you see a need in your community or tribe for leadership in a certain area, that is all the opportunity you need. And if you move you will have all the leverage you need to lead.

The other thing Ms. Palin has is an ability to connect her tribe members. She gives them something to talk about, and a way to talk about it. She doesn’t organize every little group of followers, but she provides the context of the conversation. Whether it be in a book, speech, or interview, she is connecting her tribe members. Likewise you when you begin to lead, you will need a way to connect others. Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings have a website called TheGodjourney.com. They have a weekly podcast, a blog, and forums to connect their tribe members. As a result people all over the world are connected to one another discussing relationship with God outside of performance based theology.

There has never been a better time in history for people of any education, ethnic, or cultural background to lead. There are opportunities for you to create leverage, and connecting people has never been easier.

There is one set of rules that for many people come from their consciences. Some people may refer to this as rules from God, or some other source larger than themselves. These rules have no need to be written down. We just know them. Like lying, stealing, or murdering are wrong and we really don’t need anyone to tell us these things, even though there are written laws that do. These rules can and often are broken by every single person on the planet.

However when it comes to tribes, not only do these instinctive rules apply to what we do, but so do the rules of our particular company, church, or organization. But who makes the rules for these tribes is what is important. Making rules is more fun than following them. As the leader of your tribe you are establishing rules, whether you know it or like it. A tribe I belong to doesn’t like organized religion, however, we have rules just as that tribe does. One of those rules is, we try to avoid talking about the people who attend to traditional religious practices. That is a rule, and when one of us steps over the line leaders are often around to help correct the course of our thoughts and conversation. There may not be anything written down, and it may not be a verbal correction, but simple body language and tone of voice may be enough for correction if the leader is well respected.

When you make rules for your tribe, written or otherwise, make sure there is some flexibility in how those rules are established. Sometimes rules make sense for a certain period of time, but then other times they are no longer valid. We must remember we need the trust and respect of our fellow tribe members to function properly, when we put constraints on how they behave or function we are asking them to trust us. As a result we need to be very careful and considerate when establishing rules for our tribes. Without trust and respect we have nothing, and our tribes will not last very long.

Anytime that we choose to follow a belief blindly, we are in danger of becoming a tribe that is dangerous.  Hitler was a charismatic leader who had a great vision for his country.  The only problem was his belief structure about how to achieve that greatness was filled with murderous intent.  Many of his fellow countrymen grabbed ahold of his beliefs and followed blindly.  As a result he lead his country on path of destruction that ultimately devoured him, his country, and ripped a hole in all the nations on earth.  Unfortunately the legacy of his beliefs are still felt by many people on earth today.

While most tribes are not as destructive as the one that Hitler assembled, they can have a localized legacy of pain and emotional breakdown.  I have seen many people who have been a part of churches, companies, and even families who have been left in the wake of a belief system that required its members to follow along blindly never questioning the belief structure.

A tribe that does not allow input from its members is always in danger of falling into this trap.  When beliefs are too limiting or extremely exclusive they can be dangerous.  This is not to say that beliefs aren’t limiting or exclusive, but tribes need to be aware of who they are excluding.  If you have a tribe that says Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream is the best, that is their belief.  That could exclude certain people who prefer Hagen-Daaz or Blue Bell, but it doesn’t exclude members based on what type of Ben and Jerry’s someone might like.

Be aware that just because you belong to tribe, doesn’t mean that you have to follow or lead blindly.  You do have a mind and your opinions do matter. If they don’t, consider finding a new tribe or starting your own.

By faith I mean that next step that belief takes that moves into action. Faith is all about action. Not just doing something to do something, but doing something that has purpose. In the case of the tribe that I am a member of, my belief in Jesus causes me to pursue a relationship with Him. I don’t just believe that I should have a relationship with Him, I am purposed to be intentional in that relationship. My faith in that relationship is not based on situations, but on the fact that I know He is ever present and ever pursuing relationship with me. But passion and purpose are not enough to hold up a tribe, it also requires respect.

Respect is that deepening part of a relationship that can only come through contact with other tribe members. True respect results from being willing to prefer other tribe members over self. Respect is not about selfishness, but instead about giving. If tribe members begin to function with respect for one another, you will see a tribe that is passionate, purposeful, and unstoppable. They can affect change by just being in existence. They will be a light shining in the darkness, and others who are on the fringes of society will be drawn in to find out how to be a part of that group.

That doesn’t mean that just because a tribe has belief, faith, and respect it will be something positive. Gangs are tribes that have all of those things among its members, even if they are a bit more volatile than most. Don’t assume that because you get together to share a common passion that you are making a positive impact. I have seen many a tribe do nothing more than be passionate about ripping others. I have even lead some of those tribes. When we do these things with others remember that we should guard our hearts, and keep our minds toward Christ in all things.

People who encourage you to set goals are not leading you anywhere. They are trying to help you manage your life. To often that management is motivated by fear, the fear of failure. Leaders however share a vision of the future with you. If you believe in that future you have a chance to pursue it. That future may include greater relationship with your spouse or children. It may be a future full of possibilities. But what a leader won’t do is push you into that future. Their value is not measured in whether or not that future actually takes place exactly the way you see it, but that in the end the hope that future represented to you is actually fulfilled.

What’s the point?  The point is that stuff that used to happen locally took 30 years to get around the globe, now something that happens locally can take 30 seconds.  The world is not as big as we thought it was 30 years ago, and now it is really small.  You don’t have to be a politician or a dignitary to have influence worldwide.  You don’t have to be a rock star to change the world.  You can do something right where you are, in your own community, in your own neighborhood and the next thing you know people are doing similar things everywhere.  Like the General’s chicken, it taste different, looks different, and is served different in almost every location.  But that doesn’t matter so much, the point is General Tso’s chicken is available.  It doesn’t matter if your tribe looks different, acts different, or is different.  As your group develops share the experiences of that group.  Whether in a blog or on facebook.  Let others know that the world is not as big as they think and that others are seeking relationship with Father and his people just like them.

That is not necessarily true for all Christian organizations mind you.  Some of them are pretty benign.  That is to say they are boring.  This like the situation above has caused problems.  People want to feel they belong, like they are going somewhere.  So why do people stay in these type churches?  Because they see no point in trying or maybe they are trying to hide.  Either way they are basically people without hope.

I don’t want to spend time dealing with either of those groups of people.  Instead I want to focus on a group a people who are waiting to be energized.  They are waiting on someone to open up the lines of communication.  They are waiting to become a tribe.  Not a church, but a community.  Not an organized religion, after all we have a central figure who we rally around in Jesus.  Instead we need an environment for people to feel comfortable about building relationships and learning how God is working in other members of the tribe.

So how does this happen?  It happens because you are going to make it happen.  You are the one who can lead tribe members in your community to a place of relationship.  What has stopped most of you from doing it is you’ve been waiting for permission.  Well you don’t need permission.  You have a Father who is looking to help you build those relationships.  Don’t wait, start a movement in your community.

I want to help energize you.  Those of you who like me have been sitting on the sidelines going, “Now what?”  You are almost uncomfortable with the idea of doing nothing, but your afraid that if you start something it will just become another church.  I feel you.  I hope that in the these ideas you find something that encourages you to seek Father.  You will find out quickly I am not interested in empire or kingdom building.  Revolutions don’t establish kingdoms, they overthrow them.  I want to help you establish a tribe fashioned after the relationship that we have with Jesus.

Kingdoms are built around a king who is all powerful.  While I understand that God is in fact all powerful, He has done some things to show how He is willing to limit the use of that power out of respect for His children.  Kingdoms and their kings also have noble families.  People who are given rights and authority above and beyond the common man.  Again this is often associated with the clergy or minister in churches where people are told that they are “called” by God to serve His kingdom.  While I do not question the sincerity of their claim, some people in that capacity have a tendency to overplay their supposed role.  Others are quiet content to simply serve in their local church without personnel empire building.  And then of course in a kingdom you have the commoner, or serf, or peasant, or whatever name you may choose to apply to the lesser folk.  These people basically serve two purposes.  One a source for collection of taxes and two as soldiers to do the dirty work of the king.

Now while if you look at the traditional, congregational church those parallels may make sense, I would like to suggest something else.  The Tribe.  A tribe has leaders just like Jesus.  A tribe has different responsibilities throughout, not unlike ministry.  And most importantly a tribe is made up of people.  The difference between a tribe and a kingdom is, in a tribe if there is not mutual trust and respect among its members, the tribe will perish.  Hunters are no more or less important than cooks or gatherers or medicine men.  Chiefs depend on warriors for the protection of the tribe, but warriors depend on others defend their homes while away in battle.  Human tribes throughout history have not been perfect, in fact some have been down right vicious, but so have kingdoms.  However, Christ has given us all an opportunity to live in relationships where trust and respect can be readily available to all who live in relationship with Him and His followers.

I want to spend my time talking to you about becoming a tribe where you are, with people in your own community.  At times you may be a leader in that local tribe and at times you will follow.  Admittedly I will be spending a great deal of time talking about leadership but I will talk about being a regular member of the tribe as well.  I hope you enjoy finding your place in the Tribe.

For more information about Tribes, check out the page “What is a Tribe?”.