We Need Revolutionaries

Last updated on: May 24, 2016 at 11:58 am by John O'Keefe

We Need Revolutionaries 2016-05-24T11:58:50-05:00 John O'Keefe

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I’m pretty sure this will not come as a shock to many who know me, but I’m of the mind that no one working from inside the Institutional Corporate Church can truly speak with a revolutionary voice, and bring about meaningful change. I honestly believe it’s impossible to seek revolutionary change while you’re vested the status quo of the institution you seek to change. If you’re so deeply connected within the institution that people within the institution will hear your voice, you are too invested in the institution to truly seek change. But the problem comes when you realize that revolutionary change is needed, but those inside refuse to hear the voices of those outside. So, where does that leave us? How do we change, when voices inside the institution are too vested in the institution to honestly seek change? How does the institution change when the voices inside are not offering anything of value? When should inside ears hear the outside voices?

I know, I know, how can people on the outside truly know what is needed? After all, they are not truly “one of us.” True, and believe it or not, that’s a very good thing. Revolutionary change will only come when we hear the voices of those outside the Institutional Corporate Church. Those who can speak a prophetic word, those who are open to the Divine, while understanding the culture we live in. To bring about change, we need revolutionary voices. Those who can hear, speak, lead, and live the word of the Divine, outside the Institutional Corporate Church. Revolutionary change only happens when those who have nothing to gain, or lose, from the institution speak out, and are given the opportunity by others to truly be heard.

Sure, I can hear some people say, “We have a great number of radicals in the Institutional Corporate Church speaking about change.” They’re right, we do. But I am not speaking in terms of being a radical; I am speaking in terms of being a Revolutionary, and there is a big difference.

A Radical advocate change based on the current structure, and seeks minor changes that will allow for some surface alteration to what is currently happening within the institution; without truly having an effect of the overall structure of the institution. They may have an extreme point of view, but the changes they seek usually work within the current structure. Their focus of change may be to help others within the institution, but their first love is the institution. Radicals have a mind for change, within the system; they have a love for the institution.

A Revolutionary, on the other hand, seeks alterations at a core level, the institution itself has no value. They may have been part of the institution at one point, but are no longer vested in the institution. They strive to change the institution based on the love they have for people the institution can affect. Revolutionaries have a heart for change, and no love for the system.

Jesus was a revolutionary, he wasn’t seeking to reform Judaism from inside the system; he wasn’t here to bring about radical changes, while keeping the system intact. His approach was a revolutionary approach to redefining faith, redefining how we connected to the Divine, redefining how we connect with each other, and to redefine the entire system; Jesus was not a radical, he was a revolutionary.

Today, we need to hear the voices of those who have the same heart; today we need to listen to the revolutionaries.

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