For two or more years now, I have been having regular conversations with a group of women--all leaders, strategists in the Kingdom.  Our conversation today was on the subject of movements.  What characterizes a movement?  (Examples of movements today would include the GLBT (gay/lesbian etc.) movement and the New Age movement.)

Here are some things we came up with:

• It generates momentum, feeds passion, attracting and uniting people with like passions
• People start doing similar things because of their shared values
• Usually there is a quick change in a relatively short amount of time—the concept of the tipping point
• There is a change in change public perception, law—even changing culture 
• There are people who are change agents/catalysts (either one person or a group or an amalgam of different people at the grassroots)
• There needs to be a climate for change that either exists or is set by the catalysts
• A movement can last for a short or long time—often depending on how the movement was generated (e.g. Hitler and the Nazi movement was thankfully a short-lived movement)
• An appetite and energy for change often begins with younger people
• They are often a reaction to the status quo--hence persecution may follow

There are three structural components to a movement:

1. Decentralization--things don't just happen with one leader or in one place
2. Segmentation--things may look different in different places but they share similar values
3. Interconnection--those involved in the movement are able to connect together

Are we part of a movement?

We have just come off the phone with a friend of ours in India who is involved in a CPM there.  He described briefly the events of this last Pentecost Sunday.  They had a goal in their network of 100,000 baptisms on that day.  The results are coming in.  They exceeded their expectations with 285,083 baptisms and still counting.  (Many of these are in very rural areas and so it takes time for the information to come in.) 

The smallest number of baptisms in a single location was 36, and the largest number around 51,000.  They prayed for the eyes of the authorities to be shut, and for the most part that  happened.

Praise God for this abundant harvest.  Pray now for the ongoing discipling of these new believers.

 
Our new book, "The Rabbit and the Elephant," co-authored with George Barna comes out on June 1st.  It has been a two year labor-of-love to write it.  We are asking that if anyone is planning to buy it, they order from Amazon.com.  Here’s their link to the book: http://bit.ly/DFD3k  This will increase our Amazon sales rank and hopefully make it more likely that others will buy the book.

Here's Tyndale House Publisher's version of what the book is about:

Rabbits, Elephants and Simple Church

If you put two elephants in a room together with plenty of food and water, close the door, and come back in three years, if you’re lucky, you may have one baby elephant. But do the same thing with two rabbits and you’ll get thousands of baby rabbits.

In their new book, The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why Small is the New Big for Today’s Church, simple church planters Tony and Felicity Dale, with acclaimed researcher George Barna, use the rabbit illustration to show the pace at which the Christian faith can (and should) be growing—through a way of life that is explosive and transformational. Through observations supported by the Barna Group research, the Dales document how church all across the world is changing from being event-based to life and relationship-based.

The Rabbit and the Elephant explores the simple church phenomenon and the ideas and experiences behind its concept of every member ministry. You will learn how to incorporate spiritual growth and outreach into every aspect of your life, while discovering the key to 21st century evangelism.

A few months ago, Steve Lyzenga (www.house2harvest.com) did a survey on simple church finances for his doctoral dissertation.  I was on the committee and so had the privilege of seeing some of his results.  One of the results in particular surprised me. 

One of the questions he asked was concerning how long the participant's simple church has been in existence.  Popular anecdotal opinion says that the average simple church lasts two years or less.  Steve's results contradict this and don't forget, the churches he surveyed are still going strong.

Steve writes concerning the results of his survey, "Yes, the average age is 5.06 years with a range from 6 months to 40 years. If I remove the one at 40, the average drops to 4.78.  If I remove three more at 30, the average drops to 4.15.  If I remove three more at 20, the average drops to 3.75."

Simple churches last longer than we thought!

Several years ago, a friend from the UK gave Tony and me a prophetic word that we should spend some time speaking over our four kids (now grown) any promises or prophetic words that we had been given for them over the years.  We chose to do that over Easter weekend that year, and all of us (including our kids' spouses) went away to a retreat center where we handed each of them a letter containing the words we had been given for them over the years, the promises we had been praying over them and so on.  We read the letter out to each in turn and then all of us prayed over each person there, blessing them with anything else the Lord gave us at that time.  It was a profound and moving experience for each person.

Easter weekend has become a tradition for us since that time, and each year we do something a little different--including the spiritual component.  This year we were loaned a lake house about an hour from where we live.  Fourteen of us were there (we've taken the command to be fruitful and multiply seriously!) and as usual, we had a fun-filled weekend boating, playing tennis, Easter egg hunts, games and so on.

On the Saturday evening we gathered together after the evening meal.  First we blessed the three younger grandkids, who, exhausted after the day's activities, soon went to bed.  For the first time, this year our oldest granddaughter, Anna aged 9, stayed up for our spiritual time together.

This year, the Lord led us to speak over each person the ways in which we could see they had grown over the past year or so, how they had matured through the challenges they faced and so on.  When it came to Anna's turn, she was speechless and beaming from ear to ear as her aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents told her the wonderful things they saw God doing in her life and complimented her on her character and the artistic talents she is developing.  (This is the girl who was ill with Henoch Schoenlein purpura a few weeks ago).  It was an evening she will never forget!

I have come across several articles from various sources over the past few weeks that look at where Christianity is going in this country.  They are all in agreement.  There are significant changes occurring that are changing the spiritual face of the nation.  Read them...  and pray.

Here are four of them:

An article by Michael Spencer that was picked up by the Drudge Report at http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.html

An article in the Washington Post by an atheist on his perspective on the research at http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2009/03/america_land_of_the_free_think.html

An article in USA today using some of the same research at http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-american-religion-ARIS_N.htm

George Barna's research into what Americans believe at http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/15-christianity-is-no-longer-americans-default-faith

In China, it took Communist persecution to drive the church outside the four walls of the building and into the community.  We all know the result:  a vibrant movement of house churches has multiplied across that nation with the number of Christians increasing one hundred fold. 

Could economic problems have the same result here in the West?

A few weeks ago I was at a retreat where there were several people in full-time Christian ministry--within missions and/or within the simple organic church movement.  The majority of these people, who were supported mainly through traditional means (denominations, mission agencies etc.) were facing questions about how they were going to be financially supported in the near future.

Already we hear of those in full-time ministry in legacy churches being laid off or having their salaries cut.  Many churches may have to close their doors for economic reasons.

Could God use this situation to produce a similar effect to what has happened in China?  Could this be a part of his plan in allowing a house church movement to arise at such a time as this?  Will we in simple churches have the maturity to rise to the challenge of supporting our own missions?

  Frank Viola's new book, "From Eternity to Here" comes out this week.  This book is a beautiful portrayal of the church as the desire of God's heart.  It reveals God's intense passion for the Bride from the beginning of the ages. Taking the whole scope of the Bible from Old Testament love stories through the book of Revelation, Frank reveals that God's plan was always to create a bride for His Son.

This is a beautifully written book that puts our lives into the epic story God is creating through history.  Frank describes it as the most important book he will ever write.  You can get hold of a copy at www.Parable.com.  Check out the website for reader reviews at www.fromEternitytoHere.

I had the privilege of reading the manuscript of Neil Cole's new book, Organic Leadership a few months ago.  I found myself saying a resounding "Yes!" on just about every page.  It is the best book on leadership written from a simple church perspective that I have read.

On another note, I would appreciate your prayers for my 9 year old granddaughter, Anna.  A couple of weeks ago she came down with a mysterious illness called Henloch-Shoerlein purpura--an unpleasant condition consisting of a rash, arthritis and kidney problems.  Generally it lasts from 4 to 6 weeks and she should recover completely as long as she does not get kidney complications. She has had some kidney symptoms, although thankfully they are getting less at this point.   I have been in Colorado with the family for most of the past couple of weeks helping with Anna and her three younger siblings.