I listened recently to a very interesting podcast by Australian Steve Addison called 'Marks of a movement' in which he outlined five key points that mark a Christian movement. Not just principles that would see a church or ministry grow but ones that mark a movement of rapid development that multiplies quickly. He used the Methodist movement under John Wesley in the 18th century as an example, similar principles were seen in the ministry of Howell Harris and Daniel Rowlands during the same period in Wales.
The five principles were as follows:
- White hot faith
- Commitment to a cause
- Contagious relationships
- Rapid mobilisation
- Flexible methods
Having been struck by these principles, I looked into Scripture to find support for each of the points
- Matthew 22:37 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. No half-hearted commitment
- Matthew 28:19,20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you
- John 4:39-42 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world. John 1:40-42 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Also Cornelius in Acts 9
- Luke 9 Jesus sends out the twelve and Luke 10 Jesus sends out the seventy-two. Both happened within two years of Jesus starting his ministry. Mark 5:18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. Also John 4 as above shows the Samaritan women being mobilised quickly
- Different ways that the gospel spread demonstrating flexible methods
- Acts 3. People respond to an individual healing at the temple
- Acts 5. Many healed and people impacted
- Acts 8. People scattered through persecution and preached wherever they went
- Acts 8. Philip sent to one man - the Ethiopian
- Acts 9. Saul converted with no human involvement
- Acts 9 Tabitha raised from dead and impacted whole of Joppa
- Acts 10. Cornelius has a vision and then gathers his family and friends
Marks of a stationaryment (opposite of movement!)
- Luke-warm faith
- Either commitment to the status quo or no commitment to a cause
- Either non contagious relationships or lack of relationships
- Slow or non existent mobilisation
- Inflexible methods
It is difficult, when you are in an environment of long-term decline as in the church in Wales, to find faith for God to do something as wonderful as initiate a movement. We long for God simply to halt the seeming inexhaustible decline in the churches, let alone do something that would see this trend reverse. The question perhaps that I need to ask myself is not so much is God willing, but am I willing to play my part?
Note
Steve Addison's podcast is called 'Movements with Steve Addison' and can be found on iTunes
