In Defense of Decentralization

So, in a previous article, I laid out a few options for restructuring the ELCA. They were all more decentralized than our current structure. Folk had critiques, mainly suggestions of political naivete on my part. There seems to be a consensus from those who cared to engage that decentralization of authority and power is innately racist and dangerous.

Perhaps that is a blind spot for me. I was strongly influenced by the book The Starfish and the Spider. The way the book highlighted aspects and examples of decentralization really struck me as a true reading of many of the phenomena shaping our society today, and the very ethos of our world since the advent of the internet.

So, I want to give a bit of a defense of, or at least further engagement with, decentralization in the context of the conversation about restructuring the ELCA.

The Bible:

The formation of Hebrew Scripture occurs in response to the monstrous centralized power of the Babylonian Empire destroying Jerusalem and recentering the remaining Judean power in Babylon (essentially, they captured everyone who could read and write and put them in one place). These exiles produced sacred scripture that:

-praises 12 tribes that would unite under a God-inspired leader (Judge) when trouble brewed… even as they critique that decentralized mode of governing as fundamentally chaotic.

-praises a centralized kingship, even as they name it as a rebellion against the rule of God.

-describes a hoped-for right ruler as a “son of man”, over against multiple the monstrous kingdoms. Humane rule is the telos of power.

For that matter, the New Testament is not exactly smitten with centralized authority and power:

-God shows up in human flesh far from the center of power, both Jewish and Roman. He rejects the trappings of power as temptations from Satan, and shows what true authority looks like by a faithful subversion of that power. The Gospel is that the rule of God has come near—not far off, not a distant authority figure, but God is here in the muck.

-Roman power, the focusing of economic, social, and military power to the whim of the emperor, looms over the entirety of the New Testament. Mary and Joseph have to make an awful trek to Bethlehem because a single person called for a census. The Roman Empire crucifies the Humane Messiah—Jesus. The way all power swirls around the singular figure of the emperor is heavily and fantastically mocked by John the Revelator. On the other side of the coin, Paul uses his Roman Citizenship as a get-out of jail free card when he gets in trouble.

America:

The bulk of folk’s critique of decentralized power and authority in the ELCA as innately racist came from American history. The argument goes the Confederacy was a Confederacy of States instead of United States. Additionally, racists used the framing of “States Rights” to uphold Jim Crow.

Honestly, I think this is a shallow reading of American history. It agrees with the central premises that both the Civil War and the Civil Rights movements were about states rights. I’m not conceding that point; I think both moments in history were about the so called “right” to own humans and the choice to create and maintain a racial underclass. There were both centralized and decentralized forces that did that. There were Governor’s and Mayor’s Offices from which laws that entrenched Jim Crow came, as well as local societal mores that refused to budge. Then there is the Klan, arguably a very high level centralized conspiracy to keep black folk down!

On the other side of thing, anti-racist work took both grass roots and centralized forms. While states leaving the Union can be seen as a decentralized act, it is worth noting there were also counties who refused; we have a West Virginia for a reason! That too was a decentralized use of power and authority.

If you look at the history of the Civil Rights movement, there are powerful centralized organizations keeping the pressure on the bigots. But you also have some amazing grass roots actions that were rejected by the centralized civil rights organizations yet did work that needed to be done. For a time, every Civil Rights action in Florida was done by one guy. So too, organized labor for the poorest of the poor was often a decentralized dissent against the racial caste system and the vestiges of slavery, not a diktat from on high.

For that matter, the ultimate example of centralized powers that keep racism and reactionaries in check, lifted up as the main reason we need to reject decentralized power, is a strong executive and a muscular supreme court, who are willing to buck precedent for the unprecedented chance to protect all of America’s citizens. Would the same folk who uplifted these sacred centralized institution uplift the centralized unfootnoting of our immigration and customs enforcement by executive order, or the latest choices by the supreme court around abortion, affirmative action, and environmental protections? Is housing that much power in so few hands innately a good?

ELCA:

              One last place to look is at the ELCA’s last major crisis. Would Bishop Rohrer’s abusive mistreatment of Nelson Rabell have been helped by the centralizing or decentralizing of power and authority in the ELCA? My reading of the situation is that a decentralized force, the constant pressure of Leah Schade’s blogging, had a positive impact, but the decentralized nature of this church “Three expressions, one church” made it hard for people in authority to act.

Bigger Picture:

However the ELCA reconstitutes itself, whether we’re a radically flat denomination going forward, or become a hierarchy that is the envy of Rome, I hope we focus on the why of the structure. After all, while some synods do match state borders, ultimately, Pastors aren’t Mayors and congregations aren’t towns, Bishops aren’t Governors and synods aren’t states, and our Presiding Bishop isn’t the President and the ELCA isn’t the USA. We’re not accepting a structure for its own sake, but so that it will best allow us to faithfully share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed with our neighbors near and far.