Marks of a Missionary Movement #4 - Rapid Mobilization

In his book Movements that Change the World, Steve Addison tells the story of Roland Allen to introduce the 4th mark of a Missionary Movement, Rapid Multiplication.

Allen was an Anglican missionary who wrote about planting churches among those who had not yet heard the Gospel. Born in England in 1868, Allen was ordained and served as a missionary in North China. As Allen challenged the methods of planting of churches in the early 20^th century he wrote a book titled Missionary Methods: St Paul's or Ours? Allen looked at the spread of the Gospel in Acts and noticed that where he saw the church growing exponentially in his day, it resembled what he read about in Acts. But mostly he saw slow, cumbersome, highly ordered ecclesiastical ways of planting churches which resulted in the addition of a few churches at best and looked very little like the early church. He grieved that multiplication was not happening in most places except for where indigenous people groups took it upon themselves to plant churches. He advocated a return to the methods of St. Paul.

Allen wrote "This then is what I mean by spontaneous expansion. I mean the expansion which follows the unexhorted and unorganized activity of individual members of the Church explaining to others the Gospel which they have found for themselves…I delight to think that a Christian traveling on his business, or fleeing from persecution, could preach Christ, and a Church spring up as the result of his preaching."

While his ideas were largely rebuffed by the Church of England, they sound much like the way the Gospel spread and churches were planted exponentially in Acts.

Matthew 28:19 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,

The Greek here means to make disciples “in your daily comings and goings," or "as you pass from one place to another.” That's what followers of Jesus do. Acts 8:1, 4 tells us how this unfolded for early believers " On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria…{4} Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." Who left and who stayed? The Apostles stayed in Jerusalem, and the other believers were scattered? So – who did the preaching? The scattered believers did…everyday followers of Jesus.

The result of the preaching of these scattered followers? The story of the church at Antioch paints the picture. Acts 11:19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Acts 11:20-21 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

The powerful witness of Christians scattered throughout the Mediterranean world resulted in churches being planted everywhere.

Does this kind of rapid mobilization still happen? It is happening in 3^rd world areas. In 2000, there were 360 million Christians in Africa. At the present rate of growth there will be 633 million Christians there making it the second largest Christian continent after South America. Fifty years ago the fledgling church in China was reeling from the expulsion of Western missionaries. Today the Christian church in China grows by 16,500 new believers each day! Why is this happening? It happens because new believers are excited and empowered to share Jesus the day they become a believer.

This can happen in North America among Lutheran Christians! As pastors and other leaders empower people to learn to know, love, listen to and share Jesus with their unbelieving friends, the Holy Spirit can work to bring about faith and new life! I want to be a part of that. How about you?

Marks of a Missionary Movement #3 - Contagious Relationships

While strategies and plans are helpful, nothing reaches movement status until it spreads through "preexisting networks of relationships." That is the third mark identified by Steve Addison in the book Movements that Change the World.

In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell pointed out that one of the three characteristics of epidemic change is "contagiousness". Gladwell discovered "the critical role that groups play in social epidemics…small, close-knit groups have the power to magnify the epidemic potential of a message or idea."

That was certainly the case in the early church. By 40 AD, disciples of Jesus likely numbered 1,000 to 3,000 followers. By 300 AD, historians estimate there were 6 million believers, nearly 10% of the Roman Empire. The spread of faith in Jesus was fast, spontaneous and with no central organizing organization! It spread through contagious relationships. We know that it is happening that way in China, India and other parts of Asia. I believe it is beginning to happen in North America again as well.

Several times in the last month as I stopped at various coffee shops in North Texas, I noticed small groups of mostly young people (most everyone is younger than me these days) huddling over their Bibles with cups of coffee, deep in conversation over what they were reading. I don't think this is an uncommon occurrence. In fact, even though denominations and local churches are declining in number, I am hopeful that there are signs that the Spirit is blowing a fresh wind of faith in our culture as young disciples of Jesus are sharing Good News, often in very public spaces.

A few final thoughts from Steve Addison. He states that one of the most important factors in one coming to faith is "a close and positive relationship with a committed participant." That happens in the context of relationships. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the rule of 150...the number of people most of us are able to maintain a relationship with. Each of those 150 have 150 more people. Imagine what would happen if you began praying for God to use you to influence "your 150". What would happen if you urgently asked the Holy Spirit to give you the opportunity to share Jesus with them? Would that work? Think about how it worked here:

John 1:41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah."

Marks of a Missionary Movement #2 - Committment to a Cause

I love this following quote from Steve Addison: "Effective movements know who they are. They know their founding charism and safeguard it over time. Their methods may change, but the cause never does."

The second mark of a missionary movement that Steve Addison identifies in his book Movements that Change the World is Commitment to a Cause. As we move toward Reformation Day, it is a good time to reflect on how this has impacted those of us who wear the name Lutheran.

As a Lutheran, I recognize our founding charism. Martin Luther became convinced that the church of his day had lost the central truths of Christianity, the most important of which, for Luther, was the doctrine of justification — God's act of declaring a sinner righteous — by faith alone through God's grace. Teaching that salvation is a gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus as Savior, Luther also rejected the teaching of his day that the righteous acts of believers are performed in cooperation with God. He wrote that Christians receive such righteousness entirely from outside themselves; that righteousness not only comes from Christ but actually is the righteousness of Christ, imputed to believers through faith.

Unwavering commitment to that cause led Luther and those who soon bore his name to take actions which led to their excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church and put their very lives at risk.

Unwavering commitment to that cause spread reform throughout Europe, connecting people to Jesus who before had only a vague hope that the church would save them.

Unwavering commitment carried on as Lutheran disciples brought that distinctive Gospel to the shores of North America as well.

Unwavering commitment today is resulting in a rapidly growing Lutheran missional movement in Africa, leading to its prominence as the continent which will shortly have the most Lutherans. The number of African Lutherans rose from just under 13 million in 2003 to 14 million 2004 and 15 million in 2006. Almost all of that growth is happening through indigenous pastors and lay evangelists.

Steve Addison says something else in his book Movements that Change the World that struck me as profound if a missional Lutheran movement is to occur in North America. He states: "Over time every movement wanders from its founding charism and can only be renewed by returning to it in a fresh way. That return must be both true to the movements unique calling and innovative in how that calling is lived out."

That is a challenge worth exploring!

Marks of a Missionary Movement - #1 White Hot Faith

How does a genuine movement of God's Mission begin?

"God takes the initiative and chooses unlikely people, far from the center of ecclesiastical power. He works to remake them from the inside out...a growing band of ordinary people emerges who have a heartfelt faith and missionary zeal that knows no bounds. Despite opposition from powerful forces with society and (sometimes) the existing church, the gospel spreads into unreached fields."

That's a quote from a very short but powerful book I have just finished reading and will read again titled Movements That Change the World by an Australian church planter, Steve Addison. You can find out more about Steve @ http://www.movements.net/ The New Testament is a missionary document. Acts 1:1 tells us "In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach." The book of Acts is the continuing story of what Jesus began to do and to teach, not the ending, and that movement yet goes on.

There are no easy steps to create a missionary movement. Addison reminds us "We are utterly dependent on God for our salvation and for the results of our ministries. Nothing can explain the spread of the Christian movement throughout history other than the power of God that is present in the communication of the Gospel of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ."

Addison does point out however that there are 5 observable characteristics that mark a missional movement. The first of these is White Hot Faith. In the southern hemisphere, where the church is growing at an exponential rate, it can be said that "passionate faith is at the heart of the movement...it is the greatest resource...and often the only resource." There, "people are more likely to believe that what they read in the Gospels is happening in their midst. they believe that the world of the apostles is a present reality."

For me that last statement popped off the page, and it is how I want to approach "mission", believing that what I read in the Gospels is happening in our midst right now and that the apostle's world is a present reality for me and for us! That kind of "white hot faith" can be seen particularly in those who have immigrated and have been raised up to share Jesus with their own growing people group right here in Texas. For them, as Steve Addison says "White hot faith is the fuel that missionary movements run on. Nothing happens without a deep dependence on God. Nothing leads us into healthy dependence on the power of God more than to come to face with our desperate need of Him."

I'll be sharing the other 4 marks in the weeks ahead.