The High-Synergy Culture Jesus Taught

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Burlington Northern Railroad was forever changed by the culture Jesus taught. Nobody suspected the underlying factors. Not even the key players realized that they were applying God's cultural laws.

The trucking industry was gobbling up Burlington clients and establishing itself as the rival everybody loved to hate. Everybody, that is, except the seven insiders who began to look at the competition as an ally to be won rather than an enemy to be defeated. They suspected that large truck trailers could be transported piggyback on flat cars at enormous benefit both to Burlington and to its trucking competition.

The idea was hotly contested by upper management, but this was no ordinary group of people. Each member had talents which complemented those of every other member, and their belief got stronger as together they carefully calculated the potential. They recalled at certain stages that "the numbers would just blow our minds."

As time progressed, this small group developed into a high-synergy, high performance team able to synchronize enough talent and energy to overcame high-level opposition and seize the railroad opportunity of a lifetime. It not only built a brand new billion dollar business for Burlington, but in the process literally changed the face of commercial railroad transportation.

The fact that an effective high-synergy team performed flawlessly to reach an objective is interesting, but far more interesting is the fact that this team influenced overall synergy at a very high level. It literally replaced a low-synergy, competitive, mutually-harmful arrangement with a high-synergy, cooperative, mutually-beneficial one. The result brought benefits to two industries far greater than anybody could have ever imagined.

Similar benefits within the Christian community are waiting for similar action. We only need that special team which can seize what may well be the ministry opportunity of a lifetime.

Teams of this kind often go way beyond what seems possible. This one exceeded the railroad's most optimistic expectations. Even the team members were amazed at what they had accomplished, and they were, of course, all promoted to powerful positions within Burlington. But their greatest reward was the rare opportunity to be a part of a high-synergy team. One of the members summarized the unanimous feeling, "Most people don't ever have the opportunity to work on a team like this. I had never been on one before, and I haven't been on one since. But I sure do want to do it again."

Of course, the odds are he never will. True high-synergy is extremely rare on this planet, and the life-changing benefits of participation on such a team is something most people will never have. Fortunately, Christians can have it because our Savior, the creator of high synergy has given us some user-friendly directions. He has also given us just the vehicle we need to spread its use to others.

As all media continue to converge at the doorstep of the Internet they will form a new mass-media platform. This platform will become a marketplace for culture, and it can become a marketplace for high-synergy Christian culture. This gives Christians an opportunity the likes of which we have never seen before and may never see again.

Unity vs. Diversity

Our fellow inquirers came from everywhere. They came to see and hear L'Abri's founder, Francis Schaeffer. They came because they had questions and he had answers. Logical, clear, convincing answers.

Huemo Sur Ollon, Switzerland, the home of L'Abri seemed to attract just the right combination of seekers and Christians to generate lively discussions. Today's topic reminded me of the mountains of L'Abri rising in breathtaking splendor from their foundation far below us, and, like the mountains, it was drawing me in amidst cloudy white patches and majestic streams of sunlight.

I'll never forget what Francis said that morning. It was about the nature of God. I can't remember his exact words, but I'll have no problem reconstructing the essential content. As he began to speak, his voice was quiet but ringing with conviction. "The Trinity is not a problem; it's an answer. You may stumble over it. You may think it stupid. You may say, ‘There’s just no way, one simply does not equal three.’”

"But let me tell you this, I could never, never be a Christian if it weren't for the doctrine of the Trinity."

With this introduction, he had me. I was suddenly a blotter, soaking up images that sent my mind speeding in new directions--directions that would later cause my faith to soar. He went on, "Philosophers are struggling with a huge problem. It's a problem that's as old as eternity past and as new as tomorrow morning. It will never go away, and whether you recognize it or not, you can't live without facing it.

"Your solution, if you have one, will hinge on your answer to one question. Is the universe one or is it many; is it a unified whole or some kind of plurality; is it a monism or a pluralism? The assumption has always been that it can't be both, and, of course, it can't on the low level of things, but on the high level of personality, it's creator can be both. As a Christian, you have the only answer that works.

"It's an answer that comes not merely in abstract thought, but also in the person of the Creator Himself. The universe at it's foundation is both singular and plural because its creator is both singular and plural. "If He weren't, He simply could not be God. His primary characteristic of love requires communication independent of any created being. The fact that He has always engaged in love and communication makes God the infinite reference point that gives true significance to our human love. Three seems to be the perfect number. Two would only allow for reciprocity and four would seem too far removed from unity."

As I reflected on this, I began to put together the facts as I saw them. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are perfectly unique, separate, and autonomous while at the same time they are perfectly united and perfectly one. They are always in agreement, not through control but through freedom.

Each chooses what the others choose. Their decisions are totally independent and totally free yet always of one accord. Each chooses the highest benefit, not just of the other two, but of the triune whole. No selfishness-unselfishness dichotomy is possible. No win-lose or win/non-win decision is ever made. All decisions are mutually beneficial and, of course, in perfect harmony with love, truth, beauty, goodness, justice, and all the divine attributes.

Most Christians recognize the importance of growing in personal Godliness, and most of us know something about the process of being individually conformed to the image of Christ. The operative word is individually. I, the individual, become like Christ, the individual. But how do I became like Christ, the organization?

As Trinity, He is certainly our organizational standard of excellence, our cultural Archetype. Could it be that we have not yet fathomed the significance of Jesus prayer in John 17:22, "that they may be one, just as We are one?" Perhaps we can start to grasp some of what He meant by observing how marriage partners deal with the problem we are considering.

These Two Shall Become What?

In looking at mental health, psychologists have discovered a rather amazing contrast between the kind of love you find in the marriages of healthy as opposed to less healthy individuals.

Less healthy partners can become one, but as they do, they weaken their individual identity and the merge itself usurps their freedom. Healthy partners, in contrast, become one and at the same time strengthen their individuality. As their unity increases, so does their identity and their freedom. Such marriages might accurately be called holy matrimony because in some small way they reflect God's Personhood.

Here we start to get an inkling of the difference between a low-synergy and a high-synergy relationship in this most basic of all communities. In a low-synergy marriage, unity is achieved by coercion, and coercion destroys freedom. Thus unity devours the rights of diversity. By contrast, in a high-synergy marriage each partner experiences a paradox: the more unity they achieve, the more freedom and diversity they enjoy.

But how can diversity increase unity? It must always operate through the miracle of mutual advantage. By doing this. it can achieve unity as the natural result of free choice. No coercion is needed. Thus freedom and unity enhance each other and form a process that tends to make people grow healthy. And healthy people in turn have a greater capacity to choose unity.

This is true because they read reality accurately, make good judgments, and desire to do what they judge to be right. Thus they find themselves in agreement by separately arriving at the same conclusion. Their unity is stronger because it does not threaten individual identity. On the contrary, it enhances it. Thus both unity and diversity flourish simultaneously while healthy personality and high synergy reinforce each other.

In discussing how the Triune God solves the problem of unity and diversity, we are not talking abstract theology. Each of us has to deal with our own version of this problem in all our relationships. But we gain the greatest advantage if together we each develop a personal relationship with this wonderful Being and allow Him to conform our collective relationships to His collective relationships.

Unfortunately, all Christians are not equally conformed to His Personhood. Consequently, even Christians may create organizations in which unity and diversity are in conflict. We have, in fact, grown to accept this conflict as normal. But it is not normal. We are all designed to live in a high-synergy culture where unity and freedom are not in competition.

Such a culture would be easier to develop if we could pick all healthy, God-like people. Like healthy marriage partners, these people would find themselves in agreement by separately arriving at the same conclusion. Their unity would be strong because it would not threaten their individual diversity. But we cannot select healthy individuals ahead of time to from our culture, but we can for our team. We can also help fellow Christians develop Godly personalities. It is extremely urgent that we begin now to reestablish in each of our churches the culture Jesus taught.