movements

The following has been long in coming, though its long gestation in my hard drive does not mean that it is accurate, informative, or particularly helpful. However, it is something that I have thinking about for a while.

Movements are chaotic: they can move from point A to point B, but only after visiting points X and G – and maybe coffee at point M. Movements are led by passionate people who will try almost anything once. They buck convention and seem to turn their nose up at established norms. Many of them smell strange.

Movements and the people who lead and participate in them are not always easy to get along. They don’t seem to recognize the long history of those who came before them. At their worst, movements become mobs that lose their focus and never arrive at their destinations. At their best, movements forever alter the landscape of human history.

It is hard to know exactly why a movement begins. Actually, it is even difficult to pinpoint when a movement begins. Generally they seem to be best defined retrospectively – both in terms of their duration and ultimate destination. Movements seem to generate energy of their own, carried forward by an increasing number of increasingly passionate people. They will have a nucleus of people who are prayerfully guiding the direction of the growing multitudes. The successfulness of the overall movement will largely be defined by how well the nucleus holds together and how well they can charismatically articulate a vision.

I think that University is in the midst of a burgeoning movement. I am watching with interest as people – people that I respect and admire – leave everything to come and be part of the church. Over and over, I am interviewing potential leaders for ministry (both paid and unpaid) who say they just want to be part of what God is doing. Likewise, extraordinary opportunities regularly pop up for our highly gifted staff. Yet, they say no to those opportunities to say, yes to the one at University. They are willing to sacrifice in order to be in the center of a movement of God. They aren’t even sure what it is he is doing, but they are willing to sell out to it.

Certainly the winds of change are blowing. You can’t see the wind, but like the strong southerly flow over the Gulf of Mexico – you can certainly feel the waves the wind is producing. For some, the waves are cause for great concern. They were for the disciples (Mark 4.35-40). For others, the waves are cause for great joy – because, hey, surf’s up!

As I step away from our church in particular and look at the history of the church universal, I find that we are not on unfamiliar ground. Since its beginning 2000 years ago, the body of Jesus Christ has moved in a particular cycle. There is a time of renewal and growth led by a group of people committed to personal and social holiness. There is soon massive momentum propelling a movement among God’s church. It grows and swells as people come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Soon the movement begins to institutionalize in order to hold everything together. Buildings are erected. Systems of management are put in place. An institution replaces the movement and everyone takes a long needed deep breath. As it stabilizes, the church is able to be more things for more people. The mission widens to good and great ends, but some focus is lost. This period of stability and success may last for a generation or more. Sooner or later, the Spirit of God begins to stir change and a movement once again begins. The whole cycle repeats itself again and again. This process is always marked by the struggle and necessary tension between the stability that the institution provides and the push toward new birth that a movement generates.