On Leading Well

Tag: movement definition

  • What Is A Movement? Part 2

    A couple of years ago a friend of mine asked: “If I were to parachute into a city where I could observe a true movement of God on a campus, where would you drop me and what would I see?” We discussed several potential locations in East Asia, then we realized we might be overlooking an obvious one staring up at us from the pages of Scripture.

    The movement at Antioch truly changed the known world. In just 10-15 years – only half a generation – key cities among four provinces of the Roman Empire (Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia and Asia) were “turned upside down.” Several of us sat down and began a long period of group study on this radical church-planting church. The highlights can be found in the New Testament record of the book of Acts, mainly between chapters 11-15. Many of the apostle Paul’s letters also illuminate the DNA flowing from this new missions-sending base.

    We asked ourselves two simple questions:
    1. What happened at Antioch?

    2. What principles can we take away?

    I’ll fill in the specifics in a later post.

    The conversation, though, has now become global. Many people have been asking the question, and here’s what we believe the old principles and new practices indicate as a working definition.

    Definition. A Campus Movement is where God is working supernaturally through a team of like-hearted people to Win, Build and Send toward fulfillment of the Great Commission. True spiritual movements cannot be created by men, but are founded by prayerful dependence upon God.

    Measurable results. Over time God’s grace would be increasingly evident in each of these behaviors:
    1. Connecting lost students to Jesus
    2. Life-changing discipleship
    3. Multiplying student leaders (who mobilize and mentor others to lead)
    4. Generation of local resources (vision, people, money, ideas, etc).

    The first two elements describe non-negotiable personal MINISTRY components that form the foundation of any healthy movement. Points three and four reflect the difference between ministries that gather and MOVEMENTS that reproduce.

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  • What Is A Movement?

    Here’s the best definition I’ve seen recently:

    “A movement is a group of people who consciously, and at their own cost, connect to change the status quo.”

    This simple definition applies to any type of movement that is focused on change. We’re interested in spiritual movements – movements that seek lasting transformation of hearts and lives while honoring the one true God.

    Most historical movements go through a fairly predictable life-cycle. The birth usually centers around a charismatic personality who champions a compelling cause. During this phase, most outsiders view the movement as odd, fringe, or something to be ignored. Following some early successes or positive comes a recruitment phase. Wikipedia comments:

    After the social movement is created, there are two likely phases of recruitment. The first phase will gather the people deeply interested in the primary goal and ideal of the movement. The second phase, which will usually come after the given movement had some successes and is trendy; it would look good on a résumé. People who join in this second phase will likely be the first to leave when the movement suffers any setbacks and failures.

    Eventually most movements dwindle or die. This may be due to fulfillment of the stated objective (i.e. women granted the right to vote) or loss of momentum due to poor leadership, lack of ownership among the masses, or a cause that is less-than-compelling.

    Any honest student of history must acknowledge that the movement begun by a carpenter’s son 2,000 years ago in Israel which continues to grow today meets all the qualifications of a successful spiritual movement. In fact, we could easily argue that Jesus Christ was and is the most successful movement leader of all time. Why?

    • This movement is centered around a Person, not just a charismatic personality.

    • It is empowered by humble dependence upon the Holy Spirit, not fads and trends.

    • Its driving force is the most compelling cause in the universe: the glory and fame of the One true, loving God among all peoples and all nations.

    • Millions of true followers have endured harassment, persecution, torture, death, defamation and hardship with love, joy, peace and self-control.

    • The movement (aka the church) continues to rapidly grow with amazing fruitfulness after 20 centuries.

    • It is completely inclusive: no one is excluded due to gender, race, financial status, ethnicity, social caste, intelligence or religious background.

    • Its visionary end possesses the broadest possible scope. In other words, it is worthy of giving one’s entire life to help fulfill.

    Next topics:

    1. Four marks of a movement that changed the world in half a generation.

    2. Common mistakes that we all make in building movements.

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  • Movement Thoughts from London’s Lounge

    I spent this week in Mallorca, Spain, listening and learning a lot about what God is doing in Western Europe. There are fresh breezes of hope and faith blowing through conversations. Hearts are turning, students want to hear about life – real Life.

    My friend Deb Heefner facilitated some great discussions about movements among Christian leaders from Spain, Italy, France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the UK and a dozen other countries. Number one question: So what exactly IS a movement, anyway? You can see one definition based on the church in Antioch in Deb’s slide.

    Here’s another winner I came across this week: “A movement is a group of people who consciously, and at their own cost, connect to change the status quo.”

    Question for us as aspiring leaders: What cost am I willing to pay to change the status quo?

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