Institutional Entropy

Definition in Vine's sermon

Vine borrows entropy as a metaphor for how human movements can lose their founding energy and mission over time.

vision → organization → institutionalization → control → authoritarianism → passivity → mission drift

See Entropy around 10:17–11:34.

Applications

Vine applies this framework to:

• members and pastors;
• members and conferences;
• members and the General Conference;
• administrators and ideology;
• conscience and institutional authority.

Relationship to tithe

institutional decline → conscience conflict → distrust of financial administration → alternate tithe routing → possible financial pressure for reform

That full chain is not present in Rodriguez and is only partially present in Standish.