Jesus Army: Magazine - Prophetic Word

GK CHESTERTON once reflected that, "On five occasions in history the Church has gone to the dogs, but on each occasion, it was the dogs who died." If Chesterton were alive today I have no doubt he would be writing about the sixth occasion. Will the Church be transformed to overcome the challenges we face?

Paul Pierson contends that in the renewal and expansion of the Church, the breakthroughs always occur on the fringe of ecclesiastical power - never at the centre. In every generation, in some obscure place, God is beginning something new that will one day impact the centre.

That something new can invariably be described as a movement. By movement I am referring to any group of people called by God who are dedicated to pursue individual and corporate transformation; resulting in the renewal and expansion of the Church in its mission. Throughout church history there has been an incredible diversity of renewal movements, each making their unique contribution. The most effective share five common characteristics.

1. Encounters with God
A sixteen-year-old boy is taken captive by raiders and sold into slavery. Desperate with loneliness, hunger and cold he cries out to God for deliverance and is answered. He goes on to pioneer one of the greatest missionary movements the world has ever seen.

An obscure monk agonises over what it means to be made right with God through faith. His is an intensely personal struggle out of which the Protestant Reformation is born.

A young minister returns from the mission field, a failure in his own eyes, devoid of the experience of God's loving acceptance. His heart is strangely warmed by the grace of God and one of the most significant awakenings in modern history shakes Britain and spreads worldwide.

Patrick of Ireland, Martin Luther and John Wesley - we remember them as powerful historical figures through whom God renewed the Church and transformed the world. We forget they began as broken men crying out to God for an encounter that would change their lives.

2. Commitment to a Cause
We all seek to avoid the tension created by the gap between our ideals and our reality. Effective movements exploit that gap and raise the tension. They make life uncomfortable for us all. Movements are uncompromising. Movements are born in conflict because they stand for something.

Passionate people make history. That's true for both social and religious movements. They take their cause seriously. They have a clear message that is communicated unambiguously and lived out consistently. The result is often dramatic growth.

3. Growth Through Relationships
Changed lives are at the heart of every rapidly spreading religious movement. Lives are impacted - friends and family are influenced. New converts become doors through which the Gospel enters into previously unreached social networks. Sociologically, "Conversion is adopting the faith of your friends."

4. Putting People to Work
George Bernard Shaw observed that, "Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity." It's not that movements abolish the clergy. Rather they abolish the laity. Everyone is ordained and mobilised for ministry.

In 1776 just 17 per cent of the Americans were affiliated to a church. By 1850 that number had grown to 34 per cent. The change can be attributed to the dramatic success the 'upstart' Baptists and Methodists had in reaching unchurched people on the frontier. The Baptists and Methodists were led by poorly educated, poorly paid amateurs who closely resembled the people they served.

The Baptists and Methodists planted churches where the people were and empowered them to take responsibility for the ministry.

5. Effective Strategies
Unencumbered by tradition, movements feel free to experiment with new forms of the church and new effective methods of ministry.

Religious organisations are notoriously difficult to change. Over time our methodologies become even more sacred than our message. In contrast, dynamic movements are characterised by sanctified pragmatism. They are conservative in doctrine but radical in methodology.

Movements adapt themselves to the world around them. They pioneer new and effective strategies without compromising their message.

All around us we see the evidence that the Church as a human institution is in continual decline and decay. Today, much of the Church is still grappling with what mission looks like in the modern world and has no idea of the deep social changes that are being ushered in by the emergence of postmodernity. History offers no guarantee that the Church in its current form will survive

Let's dream together of what the Church can become and refuse to put our money on the dogs.

Steve Addison is the Australian Director of Church Resource Ministries. His website is www.steveaddison.net

'When the Church goes to the Dogs' was first published in the Summer 2001 edition of 'The Bible in TransMission', Bible Society's magazine for church leaders. This is a slightly shortened version and is used with permission.

This article has been extracted from Jesus Life magazine, published by Jesus Fellowship.