The historical record is consistent: churches organized around centralized hierarchy and clergy control stagnate, while churches organized around decentralized, member-empowering, direct-God-experience models grow.
Hendricks calls this the populist model. Flat organization, frontline ownership, informal culture, local adaptation. Not a strategy preference — a structural pattern that repeats across centuries and denominations.
The denominational failure mode: bureaucracy accumulates, doctrine gets guarded by gatekeepers, members become passive recipients rather than active participants, cultural adaptation slows to a standstill.
The populist success mode: leadership releases control, members take ownership of mission, the church adapts to local culture because local people are driving it, outsiders feel welcomed before they understand the theology.
This matters theologically for Unificationists: Divine Principle calls the current era the “age of believers’ responsibility.” God no longer acts directly through clergy hierarchy — he works through ordinary faithful people acting with full responsibility. Populism isn’t just pragmatically effective. According to DP, it’s the model the age demands.
The question for MNFC isn’t whether to be populist. It’s whether to acknowledge what that actually requires organizationally.