The Open Source Church

One of my favorite websites is theooze.com. The founder of this amazing resource is Spencer Burke, a former pastor of nearly twenty years, who decided in 1998 to utilize the accessibility of the internet to provide a place where ideas and conversations could be shared about the future of the church. In his mini-biography titled From the Third Floor to the Garage Spencer eludes to a subject, which is the center piece of this article, known as “Open Source” in terms of the church. That got me thinking; primarily because I have a background in computer programming and knew that he was referring to a rapidly growing phenomenon in the software world that has been spearheaded by an operating system known as Linux.

It is Open Source that powers the success of Linux and other similar software projects…and this revolution in technology just may be a perfect metaphor for where the church will find it’s greatest breakthrough since the days of Luther. A Brief History of Open Source Open Source refers to the model of building a better software application by making the programming code accessible to the public for review, criticism and most importantly additional programming. In other words, the program is built by the continual input of anybody who can contribute to it. New ideas are constantly added, existing features are improved and over time the very best ideas possible are integrated into the application. The constant inflow of collaboration builds on what has been laid before, literally “line upon line”.

This approach goes directly against the model of corporate software companies (i.e. Microsoft, Apple, Sun Microsystems, etc.) who fight tooth and nail to preserve their “secret recipes” of programming code with more intensity than Kentucky Fried Chicken ever dreamed of. Software codes are hidden, like top secret military plans, from everyone. Everything, including ideas, is copyrighted and monitored by leagues of lawyers chomping at the bit to declare a copyright infringement violation against a competitor or an upstart company. What’s more is that these Open Source programs are not only accessible to the public for change, they are offered to the public for use absolutely free. In other words, these programs are better than their corporate counterparts and they don’t cost a dime. They are constantly evolving; changing, becoming better…and people are contributing their ideas for free. There is no way to deny that this Open Source phenomenon is more powerful than any programmer, or R&D team could ever accomplish. The synergy of thousands of programmers putting their very best in to this program has left traditional software in the dust; or as Thomas Goetz put it in his article Open Source Everywhere from the November 2003 issue of Wired Magazine: “Get ready for the era when collaboration replaces the corporation.” On the forefront of the Open Source movement is Linus Torvalds and his Linux operating system. In 1991 Torvalds was a computer science major in Helsinki who decided at the age of 21 to try an experiment. He created the kernel for his operating system and then wrote one of the most famous emails ever, which he posted to a Newsgroup that focused on Unix/Minix operating systems:

Message-ID 1991Aug25.205708.9541@klaava.helsinki.fi From: Torvalds@klaava.helsinki.fi (Linus Benedict Torvalds) To: Newsgroups: comp.os.inix Subject: What would you like to see most in minix? Summary: small poll for my new operating system Hello everybody out there using minix-I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby; won’t be big and professional like GNU) for 386 (486) AT clones. This has been brewing since April, and is starting to get ready. I’d life any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won’t promise I’ll implement them :-) Linus

The result of this email post? Thousands of programmers responded to Torvalds call – this allowed him to build the first version of Linux, which is still growing exponentially after 12 years. Linux, which is still under constant development…has reached nearly 6 million lines of programming code to date. It is so reliable that when the U.S. Government decided to build the fastest computer on earth, the Tetragrid (a network of four super-computers capable of performing over 13 trillion calculations per second ), they designed it around the Linux operating system…not Microsoft Windows, thankfully. It isn’t just free software hounds and governments looking to Linux as a major force in the future of the software industry. Big name corporations, including Dell and IBM, have poured millions of dollars into developing hardware products designed exclusively for use with Linux. In addition, the open source products available today have revolutionized the technological strength of third-world countries where hardware is cheap but corporate software is almost unattainable. It seems that almost overnight, these developing nations are as strong technically as most US corporations…if not more.

There are other Open Source programs out there as well. A web server application known as APACHE is used on nearly 70% of the world’s servers that make up the Internet, the programming language PERL which has dubbed the duct tape of the Internet due to its ease of use by web developers, and SENDMAIL a program that most of the planet’s email is routed through . Open Source is spreading beyond just the world of software. Wikipedia.com is an online encyclopedia that is currently made up of 150,000 entries. Users log on to the sight and can edit existing entries or add new ones. Suggested changes are reviewed by a team of overseers who verify facts and figures…if your changes/additions are acceptable and improve the quality of the encyclopedia you’ll see your work posted online. Again, this encyclopedia is free for public use, unlike Brittanica.com which costs users $60/year or $699.00 for the (insert loud gagging noise here) paper version. The goal of Open Source is to produce the best product possible, without the hang-ups of corporate oversight and legal burdens. Ideally, those contributing to the project are looking to the betterment of society and those who will be using the product. This is seen by the fact that those who are contributing rarely receive any compensation for their time and work. The reward is in achieving a better product, not receiving a healthy paycheck. The question is: Are there things we in the church could learn from this modern day model? Is The Church The Best It Can Be? Is there anyone who wouldn’t answer ‘NO’ to that question? Probably not. But the real need is not in recognizing that we aren’t where we should be, but understanding why and what can we do about it.

What is it that prevents us from presenting the best that the church can be to the world? That is a huge question which cannot be answered in a short paper such as this one. Nor, would I dare to say that becoming an Open Source Church is the one solution that will push us over the top. Yet within that model, of constantly building upon the past through collaborative effort in order to make the future better, we can examine a few things that may be a piece of the bigger picture that moves us towards our best. So…here are a few things, which in my humble opinion are preventing the emergence of the Open Source Church: Insecurity And the number one answer is… To put your “stuff” out there for public critique, evaluation and change takes a tremendous amount of self assurance. If having people tell you that things could be better and this is how they can be better makes you uncomfortable then you are going to have a hard time living the Open Source model. One of the things Linus Torvalds is best at, according to Gary Rivlin, is “separating the idea from the person suggesting it”. In other words, we have to understand that it is nothing personal when your idea is dragged into the light and examined from every angle and found to be flawed. Besides, sometimes it’s the flawed ideas that have something in them that moves us towards a more perfect solution.

In the Open Source model the goal is achieve the best possible idea and use it to produce the best possible product. When you attempt this goal in a collaborative setting there is no room for taking things personally. Insecurity has to be left at the door, and the greater good of the community your product is serving takes center stage. Satisfaction With The Way Things Are From a Christian perspective we have to value the best means of reaching our world, even if that means sacrificing the sacred cows of church structure and evangelism upon the altar of progress…despite the cry of those who don’t want to leave familiar and comfortable behind. We’re Not Aware That Things Could Be Different Leadership That Doesn’t Want To Lose Control What Does An Open Source Church Look Like?