The megachurch as a polycentric organism

Despite being an agglomeration of large hordes of people, the megachurch is by its nature polycentric.  Leadership evolves at the levels at which it is needed.  Just as neighborhood associations evolved to fill the gap left by ever-larger towns, Sunday school classes, small groups, special interest teams each develop their own leadership as they grow and flourish.

The question for the megachurch hierarchy is how to respond.  The most successful church will be one which guides, supports, accelerates, and celebrates these sub-groups and their leaders.

Rather than support the development of leaders, certain churches with which I am familiar seem to be ever at odds with their base.  Too frequently, they make top-down decisions which dishearten and disenfranchise their hard-working volunteers.  Certainly, there is room for spiritual correction and church direction.  But should the direction of the church as a whole be driven from what leaders at the top discern, or by what God is raising up from within?  Or both.