Claim. Hendricks identifies seven observable results when a church successfully implements the flattening prescribed by the four-step framework — together constituting a diagnostic checklist for whether populist reform is actually taking hold.
Elaboration. Per results-of-flattening-the-organization:
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Heaven’s mission and authority substantiated in the local church — providence operates through “settlement / home church / hometown” rather than through distant headquarters. “Think Cosmically, Act Locally.”
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Mission of saving the neighborhood first — six-degrees-of-separation: the world is influenced from every locality. National headquarters provides parameters and gets out of the way.
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Members own their church — local funding mandatory; no national subsidies. By owning the mission and strategy, the local congregation gets the resources.
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Gifts-based ministry — ministries arise from members’ interests, gifts, and needs. The church releases control rather than increasing it. (Edgerly via Rick Warren: “you are organized either for control or growth. You can have one or the other, but not both.“)
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Diverse varieties of religious experience — multiple worship styles welcomed (liturgical, mainstream, contemporary, youth — possibly in the same Sunday). “Don’t look at the rise of variations as ‘denominationalism;’ look at it as creative adaptation for the sake of advancing God’s providence.”
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Major changes expected — growing churches make significant (not minor) changes in worship format/style every 5 years; dying churches make none.
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Positions and titles deprioritized — members get significant voice in choosing their own leaders.
Operational use: A UC congregation evaluating whether its populist reform is real can check itself against these 7 results. Reforms that produce only Step-1-style organizational chart changes (decentralization on paper) without producing Results 1–7 (especially #3 local funding, #4 release of control, #6 willingness to change) are cosmetic, not actual.
See also. populist-church, four-steps-to-flatten-the-uc-organization