Keywords
faith-based organisations
Johannine Community
How to Cite
Abstract
While the church is often colloquially described as one of the world’s most resilient institutions, a literary review into the concept of organisational resilience reveals a lack of theological reflection about such resilience. Many churches and Christian Faith-Based Organisations operate in vulnerable, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments where they engage in building community and environmental resilience as part of integral mission. In light of such work, the noted lack of theological reflection on organisational resilience contributes to a further silencing of these organisations’ identities in their action and reflection on resilience. Consequently, this article aims to inspire theological reflection on organisational resilience by engaging in a theologising process in which a thematic analysis of the ethics in 1 John is brought into conversation with contemporary organisational resilience research. The article places spiritual and physical life at the centre of the Johannine community’s purpose and at the heart of what their organisational resilience, if they had used such a term, ought to protect. The article argues that 1 John’s emphasis on love, justice and flexible discernment systems sustained by the Spirit and supported by clear boundary setting against destructive forces fits well with the characteristics identified as contributing to organisational resilience within contemporary research.
References
Anderson, P. N. (2014a). Moving the Conversation Forward: Open Questions and New Directions. In R. A. Culpepper & P. N. Anderson (Eds), Communities in Dispute: Current scholarship on the Johannine Epistles (pp. 276–288). SBL Press.
Anderson, P. N. (2014b). The Community that Raymond Brown Left Behind: Reflections on the Johannine Dialectical Situation. In R. A. Culpepper & P. N. Anderson (Eds), Communities in Dispute: Current scholarship on the Johannine Epistles. SBL Press.
Bennema, C. (2017). Mimesis in the Johannine literature: A study in Johannine ethics. Bloomsbury T&T Clark.
Bhamra, R., Burnard, K., & Dani, S. (2015). Resilience: The Concept, a Literature Review and Future Directions. In R. Bhamra (Ed.), Organisational Resilience: Concepts, integration and practice (pp. 3–30). Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Boin, A., & Eeten, M. V. (2013). The resilient organisation. Public Management Review, 15(3), 429–445. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2013.769856
Clarke, G. (2008). Faith-Based organizations and international development: An overview. In Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations: Bridging the Sacred and the Secular (pp. 17–45). Palgrave MacMillan.
Clarke, G., & Jennings, M. (Eds). (2008). Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations: Bridging the Sacred and the Secular. Palgrave MacMillan.
Comfort, L. K., Boin, A., & Demchak, C. C. (2010). The rise of resilience. In L. K. Com-fort, A. Boin, & C. C. Demchak (Eds), Designing resilience: Preparing for Extreme Events (p. 384). University of Pittsburgh Press.
Culpepper, R. A., & Anderson, P. N. (2014). Introduction. In R. A. Culpepper & P. N. Anderson (Eds), Communities in Dispute: Current scholarship on the Johannine Epistles. SBL Press.
de Bruijne, M., Boin, A., & van Eeten, M. (2010). Resilience; exploring the concept and its meanings. In K. L. Comfort, A. Boin, & C. C. Demchak (Eds), Designing resilience: Pre-paring for Extreme Events. University of Pittsburgh Press.
Deacon, G., & Tomalin, E. (2015). A history of faith-based aid and development. In E. Tomalin (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Religions and Global Development (pp. 68–79). Routledge.
Deneulin, S. (with Bano, M.). (2009). Religion in Development: Rewriting the secular script. Zed Books.
Dong, B. (2023). A Systematic Review of the Organizational Resilience; Literature and Fu-ture Outlook. Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management, 8(3), 86–89. https://doi.org/10.54097/fbem.v8i3.7728
Dunn, J. D. G. (2009). New Testament Theology: An Introduction. Abingdon Press.
Freston, P. (2015). Development and religious change in Latin America. In The Routledge Handbook of Religions and Global Development (pp. 141–155). Routledge.
Gregg, S. (2000). Playing with Fire; Churches, Welfare Services and Government Contracts. Issue Analysis, (14). www.cis.org.au/publication/playing-with-fire-churches-welfare-services-and-government-contracts/
James, R. (2009). What is distinctive about FBOs? How European FBO’s define and operationalise their faith (Praxis Paper No. 22). INTRAC. https://www.intrac.org/resources/praxis-paper-22-distinctive-fbos-european-fbos-define-operationalise-faith/
K. Eisner, R. (2010). Building Disaster Resilient Organizations in the Non-Government (NGO) Sector. Journal of Disaster Research, 5(5), 503–508. https://doi.org/https://www.fujipress.jp/jdr/dr/dsstr000500050503/
Kim, K., Andrew, S. A., & Jung, K. (2021). Building resilient organizations: Organizational resilience as a network outcome. International Journal of Public Administration, 44(15), 1319–1328.
Kinzig, W. (2021). Christian Persecution in Anitiquity (M. Bockmuehl, Trans.). Baylor University Press.
Koester, C. R. (2013). Rethinking the Ethics of John: A Review Article. Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 36(1), 85–98. https://doi.org/101177/042064X13495133
Kołodziej, D. J., Żak, K., Rydzewski, R., & Zatoński, M. (2025). Organizational resilience and its contexts – a systematic review of the literature. Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology, Organization and Management Series, (207), 251–272. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.29119/1641-3466.2024.207.14
Kutsch, E. (2023). Towards a paradox mindset. In Organisational Resilience: Navigating Paradox-ical Tensions (1st edn, pp. 1–23). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003083115/organisational-resilience-elmar-kutsch
Lieu, J. M. (2008a). I, II & III John: A commentary (1st edn). John Knox Press.
Lieu, J. M. (2008b). Us or You? Persuasion and Identity in 1 John. Journal of Biblical Litera-ture, 127(4), 805–819. https://doi.org/10.2307/25610156
Lieu, J. M. (2014). The Audience of the Johannine Epistles. In Communities in Dispute: Current Scholarship on the Johannine Epistles (pp. 123–140). SBL Press.
Lin, P. (2018). Countering Mission Drift in a Faith-Based Organization: An interdisciplinary theological interpretation focused on the identity formation of World Vision. Evangelische Theologische Faculteit.
Marshall, I. H. (2004). New Testament theology: Many witnesses, one Gospel. InterVarsity Press.
Mitansha, M., & Potangaroa, R. (2025). Exploring the Interplay Between Individual and Organisational Resilience in the Construction Sector: A Comprehensive Analysis. Sustainability, 17(16), 7229. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/su17167229
Mitternacht, D., & Runesson, A. (Eds). (2006). Jesus och de första Kristna:inledning till nya testa-mentet (1st edn). Verbum.
Olsson, B. (2008). Kommentar till Nya Testamentet: Johannesbreven. EFS-Förlaget/Verbum För-lag AB.
Parsenios, G. L. (2014). First, Second, and Third John. Baker Academic.
Pinheiro, R., Frigotto, M. L., & Young, M. (Eds). (2022). Towards resilient organizations and societies; a cross-sectoral and multi-diciplinary perspective. Palgrave MacMillan.
Roos, P., Juvet, T. M., Corbaz-Kurth, S., Benzakour, L., Cereghetti, S., Fournier, C.-A., Moullec, G., Nguyen, A., Suard, J.-C., Vieux, L., Wozniak, H., Pralong, J. A., & Weiss-brodt, R. (2025). Protecting oneself while supporting the organisation: A longitudinal explorative study of healthcare workers’ coping strategies and organisational resilience processes in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Safety Science, 181, 106702. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2024.106702
Santos, A. Y. P., & Spers. (2023). How to measure organizational resilience? Validating a simplified model. Revista de Administração Mackenzie, 24(6), 1–32. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-6971/eRAMD230007.en
Sider, R. J., & Unruh, H. R. (2004). Typology of Religious Characteristics of Social Service and Educational Organizations and Programs. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 33(1), 109–134. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764003257494
Skinner, C. W. (2020). Ethics and the Gospel of John: Toward an Emerging New Con-sensus? Currents in Biblical Research, 18(3), 280–304. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476993X20910036
Sovner, M. (2025). How Civil Society Organizations Build Resilience in the Face of Finan-cial and Political Pressures: Lessons from Czechia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Journal of Nonprofit Innovation, 5(3), 131–157.
Stevenson, J. R. (2014). Chapter 7: Synthesis, Contributions, and Future Research. In Organ-isational resilience after the Canterbury Earthquakes: A contextual approach (pp. 254–265). Uni-versity of Canterbury, Department of Geography. https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/items/ec458b60-95f3-4b0e-aa26-5d23616d1e9d
Street, D. R. (2011). Introduction. In They went out from us: The identity of the opponents in first John. De Gruyter.
Strong, J. (n.d.-a). 25. Agapaó. In Stong’s Lexicon (p. https://biblehub.com/greek/25.htm). Retrieved 19 December 2024, from https://biblehub.com/greek/25.htm
Strong, J. (n.d.-b). 2222. Zóé. In Strong’s Lexicon. Retrieved 19 December 2024, from https://biblehub.com/greek/2222.htm
Suslovic, B., & Lett, E. (2023). Resilience is an Adverse Event: A Critical Discussion of Re-silience Theory in Health Services Research and Public Health. Community Health Equity Research & Policy, 44(3), 339–343. https://doi.org/10.1177/2752535X231159721
Toll, T. (2025). Act Alliance and the Refugee Crisis: Ecclesiology and Tensions in Refugee Assistance. Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm.
van Breda, A. D. (2018). A critical review of resilience theory and its relevance for social work. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 54(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.15270/54-1-611
van der Merwe, W. (2021). Examples and Concepts of Diaconia in Southern African Christianity; Contextual Theologies and Practices of Diakonia and Christian Social Services – Resources for Study and Intercultural Learning. In G. Ampony, M. Büscher, B. Hofmann, F. Ngnintedem, D. Solon, & W. Dietrich (Eds), International Handbook on Ecumenical Diakonia (pp. 191–196). Regnum books International. www.ocms.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Diakonia-Handbook-Whole-2b.pdf
van Eeten, M., Boin, A., & de Bruijne, M. (2010). The price of Resilience. In A. Boin, K. L. Comfort, & C. C. Demchak (Eds), Designing resilience. University of Pittsburgh Press.
Via, D. O. (2002). What is new testament theology? Augsberg Fortress.
Watt, J. G. van der. (2014). On Ethics in 1 John. In R. A. Culpepper & P. N. Anderson (Eds), Communities in Dispute: Current Scholarship on the Johannine Epistles (pp. 197–222). SBL Press.
Wijkström, F., Henrekson, E., Sjöstrand, E., Linde, S., & Reuter, M. (2020). The Church of Sweden and the quest to bounce back better; churches and other civil society organi-zations are important actors in society´s overall resilience. In Sweden through the Crisis (pp. 359–376). SIR, Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research. https://www.hhs.se/en/research/sweden-through-the-crisis/the-church-of-sweden-and-the-quest-to-bounce-back-better/
Williams, A., Whiteman, G., & Kennedy, S. (2021). Cross-Scale Systemic Resilience: Implica-tions for Organization Studies. Business & Society, 60(1), 95–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650319825870
Wilson, Erin. K. (2017). ‘Power Differences’ and ‘the Power of Difference’: The Domi-nance of Secularism as Ontological Injustice. Globalizations, 14, 2017(7), 1076–1093. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2017.1308062
Zapłata, S. (2024). Tying Up Loose Ends in Organizational Resilience – Current Status and Future Directions. European Research Studies Journal, 27(4), 714–734.
Zolly, A., & Healey, A. M. (2013). Resilience: Why things bounce back. Simon Suchter.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2026 Kristina Patring