“Churches today remain caught in patterns, paradigms, and assumptions inherited from a previous ecclesial era, struggling to imagine and embody a future that matches the changing realities of their mission. The model we inherited is a complex, resource-heavy institution that runs on professional clergy, large (expensive) buildings, sizeable budgets, and centralized programs. All that machinery puts church life out of reach for ordinary believers and sets a ceiling on how far the gospel can travel. Movements function like living organisms. They carry a simple, potent code that any genuine disciple of Jesus can copy and pass on, anywhere, using the resources already present among God's people. The urgency of our moment invites us to rediscover that code and build the church around it.”. This is Allan Hirsch’s statement, who writes extensively on discipleship, multiplication, institution, and movement. If you observe, all the powerful movements in the past had a simple system at its heart, one that ordinary people can pass from person to person.
Look at the life of Jesus and the way He built the Movement is remarkable:
Jesus built a team from people with all walks of Life. Fishermen, businessmen, tax collector, etc.
Jesus modelled the kingdom work. He just did not preach about a perfect structure that can be foundational to the institution, but demonstrated the only purpose i.e., to seek and save the lost. Luke records, “He was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him.” (Luke 8:1).
Jesus engaged the core leadership team for the holistic gospel work. “He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, to send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14). And in Luke 9:1-2 “Summoning the Twelve, he gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. [2] Then he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”.
Jesus then sent the larger team, which can replicate the Church today. “After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and he sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go.” (Luke 10:1). An institution can be an organized form of a movement, but it cannot replace the movement itself.
Unless you adopt Jesus’ movement style, you would not see the fire igniting the hearts of the people. The impact of a movement is significant. It will be visible in the following ways:
People catch the vision and do it with or without you. Let me highlight a passage in Mark 9:38-39 it is recorded that John noticed someone who was not part of the team yet was doing some great deeds, casting out demons in Jesus’ name. John states, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.” “Don’t stop him,” said Jesus, “because there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name who can soon afterward speak evil of me.”
People come forward to support the vision through their finances and in kind.
It is recorded in Luke 8:3 “Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.” You don’t have to try creatively selling your vision. Just ignite His mission, and the like-minded people will attach to you. We also notice how people offered their boat to be used as a platform. A boy came forward to share his meal. Someone offered the donkey. Someone gave his facility, the upper room, for meeting.
People died as martyrs for the sake of the Gospel. The disciples forfeited their lives for His sake and died as martyrs. Still, many are willing to risk their life for Jesus.
The Church was born as a result of a movement, not an institution. Church became the byproduct of the movement building, not the other way around. Early church movements in Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Philippi, and Thessalonica are great examples.
Can we give life to the movement Jesus initiated? Let us equip the believers to be witnesses and present a GO Lifestyle. One who is compelled to share the gospel daily, weekly, or on a monthly basis.
You may read the last blog HERE