This is part 2 of a post that my friend and president of Christian Associates has been writing on Movements. It’s worth a thought or a reminder. If you don’t care about ‘churchy’ stuff it might be boring, but at the same time you might want to care about this because it is really important.

Part 1 is here too.

Tonight is the story of two train rides that have a sobering similarity.

On my way out to practice it was rush hour. There were hundreds of people out and the train was packed. There was no chance of finding of seat so I stood with backpack squeezed in between my ankles, certainly too cramped for me to wear the backpack! I had to hold the bar up above my head to keep my balance. This reminded me of my days in Paris when I’d ride the metro there at around 5:30pm! I love riding trains like this, unless it’s all four of us and we have a stroller and two kids that are getting smushed! The diversity of the people here is remarkable. Each person with a past, a story, a place they are coming from, the experiences of their day. Who knows where they are going…what their home is like. Most people are riding by themselves and sharing nothing other than a seat with the person sitting next to them. All that to say, the metro was packed with people from everywhere…and when you stop to really look at other people, you can’t help but be touched by their humanity and really wonder who they are…at least for me.

My ride home from training was much different. When I walked down to the track there was only one other person waiting for a train. I walked down the platform to the back of the train because I knew that the exit where I would get off was down there. I had my headphones on so I couldn’t really hear anything, but in that particular station there is always the smell of oily railroad ties…I kind of like that smell. I sat there smelling the smell, hearing my music, and looking for the train with virtually no other sign of life in the station. It would have made for a cool photo shoot spot. When the train came into the station I walked up to the door that stopped in front of me. I pushed the green button to open the door and I got on the train. This time, instead of ‘standing room only’ I had the pick of every seat in my car. I was alone. It was almost creepy…especially with my headphones on not being able to tell if anyone else really was on there with me. I looked over my shoulder a few time (as I often do in my neighborhood) to see if anyone was there because in situations like that, I don’t like surprises (not saying that the trains are dangerous at all in Barcelona…just saying I like to know if someone is behind me!) As we pulled into the Arc de Triumph station I stood up and looked around at all the empty chairs and realized something.

“Statistically speaking, there are probably just as many people on this empty train that follow Jesus as the crowded train that I rode on the way to practice early tonight: one…me”

I’ve probably said this 50 times at gatherings in the US…the reality in Europe is that when I ride the bus or the metro there is a high chance that I am the only Jesus follower on that bus or metro. It’s really a huge contrast to the places that I’ve lived before.

But tonight it was different for me to experience that reality like this. Being alone physically really heightened the truth that I am often very alone spiritually.

I guess there are two points to me processing this: one is to remind myself of the vacuum that exists here. I really believe that following Jesus is the hope for this life and the next…and it kills me that so many go through life never knowing the God who is Love…the love that brings grace, redemption, wholeness, peace…

The second thought that comes to mind is the story Paul when he was in Corinth and felt very alone. God reminded him that He had ‘many people’ in that city and that God himself was with Paul (Acts 18). I know that there are two kinds of people that God has here: one being other people that follow Jesus already (we’re trying to meet and connect with these people now), but the other being people that are seeking God…that God has already begun working in their lives and they just need someone to walk with them on the road. This is why we’ve come here…to trust God that we’ll be lead to these people and that they will with experience Jesus through us…and even better, taste and see for themselves that Jesus is who he claimed to be and that becoming ‘a learner’ of Jesus does bring the Life that Jesus said it would.

The beauty of living in the middle of a city (and sometimes difficulty) is that I just can’t escape human contact. I am constantly reminded of my smallness, my weakness, while swimming in this sea of life. I’m grateful for how this teaches me humility. I am also humbled by the work we have chosen to embrace…living out the Kingdom of God in a place like this seems small…like a mustard seed, or a bit of yeast, or something…but we look with anticipation to what is to come. I’m loving this lesson that I learned on the train…

a.) I like dancing
b.)I like seeing spontaneous movements of fun
c.) I like thinking about the why and how things ‘get started’.

I hate to pollute this is a stand alone (and nearly disturbing) picture, but the question came to mind: “Did this guy intend to start a dance party on a hill, or did he just love to dance?”

For those of us who would like to see a Jesus movement happen…I offer this: Shouldn’t we just start dancing? Instead of talking about dance theory, how to properly dance, complaining about other people dancing wrong, and comparing our dance to others? I would rather be the guy acting like a crazy person and dancing for the love of it, than a professional dancer getting a grass stain on my butt while critiquing his form…and outfit.

Thanks to Mike G. and Zach L. for unearthing this for me.

Clay Shirky: How Twitter can make history | Video on TED.com

So the research stuff…both cities went well. Very different places and very different trips. Montpelier was virtually unknown to any of us. We had some great meetings and learned a lot about the city. It’s a really pretty place and a ton of students! People we talked to said that there were as many as from 60k to 90k students…in a city of 500,000 that’s a lot. We left really feeling like there is opportunity…also important, it seemed as though a lot of those we talked with would like to see another church planted there. Like most cities in Europe…there are only a few churches in every city that are really doing anything about the current spiritual climate here, other than just simply existing.

This has been my 4th time in Barca…and a very productive time for us. Marty planted a church here in 1992 that has since been lead by people from Assemblies of God. It’s been cool to be here w/ Marty, to hear his stories and to learn from his experience. We had a few meetings and all of them went well…Each person expressed the need for new work here and each offered to help in any way and to be a resource for us. Everyone also expressed a need to really know Spanish (and even Catalan) even though our initial work will be with internationals. We are stoked to learn Spanish and I’m really looking forward to being able to communicate here. I think that I’ll love the city even more when I feel less out of water. I saw places in the city that I had never seen and even found a great open air market with all kinds of stuff that we may be able to use someday! I feel like I have a much broader and better understanding of the work that is going on here…it’s great to know the context in which we’ll be entering…and to have the relationships with people who have experience and can provide wisdom when we’ll certainly need it! 

All in all, both places are great places where more, new, and creative forms of following Jesus are needed. I’m excited to see how Jen and I will engage Barcelona and take what I’ve learned here and put it to use…and see lives changed.

1 John 3:23

This is [God's] commandment: to believe in his Son, the one named Jesus Christ, and to love each other as he commanded us. Those who obey Christ’s commandments live in God, and God lives in them. We know that he lives in us because he has given us the Spirit.

The simplicity of this verse stands in stark contrast to the amount of all that I’ve read, heard, and lived in regards to being a follower of Jesus. My reasoning for this error is that we live a culture that values the pursuit of knowledge above most else. In the story of the Garden in Genesis…what does the serpent tempt Adam and Eve with? Knowledge. Abandoning the simple trust in their God, they chose it.

I wonder: In our pursuit of knowledge about God, scripture, and what we believe is Christian living; in what ways have we abandoned the commandment of God: to obey Jesus, and love each other.

I wonder: How would the world be different if we traded our talk, thoughts, and plans for loving others – for actually loving others?

I wonder: Will we ever be content with the simplicity of love? Or will we continually be tempted to add more to it? …maybe as a justification for our lack of obeying Jesus’ commandment to love?

I’m serious about this choosing love thing. We’ve done the knowledge thing for a long time and it’s gotten us only so far. I say we allow our knowledge to evolve into love and let God have a shot using that for a few generations.

If you want to kill a movement, get spooked by supernatural phenomena outside your paradigm…

I grew up in a fairly normal evangelical environment. The most charismatic thing that I saw were people holding up their hands in worship…and this was even pushing it for some. So, it’s safe to say that when my best friend from college started going to a church that practiced spiritual gifts outside of the raising of the hands, I thought it he had gone off of the deep end. Seriously, I thought he was in a cult or something and I thought I had to get him out of there.

In my past, the Holy Spirit for me was pretty much a retired author and I found it easy to pick and choose from scripture what ways His working was still applicable to Church…those days are long gone.

Here’s my theory…’Being Spooked’ (not my words) basically means being surprised…or not being in the know…And most leaders don’t like not being in the know. In fact, we like the opposite. We like being in control. So the ways that the Holy Spirit works can be contradictory to the way we want to work.

In my experience, the reality that the Holy Spirit would trust me with being surprised is evidence that He is getting ready to do something new in me. But on a movement level I think that we have to ask the hard questions: Do we even want the Holy Spirit to speak into plans? Are our plans so set in stone that we couldn’t follow even if we wanted to? If God showed up in a new way in our movement would we act like healed lepers, or blind Pharisees?

The truth is that we need to be careful not to too greatly define our Holy Spirit paradigm. We run the risk of idolatry when we allow our view of the Spirit to be tamed and captured by our paradigm. After all…Jesus is the head of the Church and He clearly left us a Helper to guide us as we manage and steward what is His…Imagine if Peter and the rest of the disciples had not allowed the Spirit to speak outside of their paradigm. Would we even be having this conversation? It seems to be pretty effective when the Spirit leads as he did in Acts 2. If you had told the disciples a few days before Pentecost what was getting ready to go down, they may had not even shown up for prayer meeting that morning! Being surprised by the Spirit is great, because it makes us into the empty and willing people we need to be in order for big, movement type, things to happen! My prayer is that we would allow the Helper to define our paradigm and not our comfort, plans, or strategies. A willingness to obey in this type of way reflects the kind of leadership God would trust to initiate a movement. 

Number Cafe con Leches: 8

Number of Gaudi Buildings seen: 1

Number of people who most likely don’t follow in Jesus: 1,400,000

Number of steps taken while praying through this city: My feet say close to 1.4 million!

Number of pictures taken: 175

Number of facial piercings seen : ???

Number of tattoos seen: ???

Number of reasons why this would be a great place to live: At least 30!!!

Number of reasons why this would be a great place to begin a new church: 1,400,000

More thoughts coming when I have time to write…gotta catch a plane!

How to Kill a Movement Part 3: Refuse to provide administrative help and let it suffocate under it’s own weight

Of all the things on the list, I think this one may be the most ‘unMovement’ feeling for most. Here is the reality: There is a big difference between starting a movement and sustaining a movement. Administration is not sexy, does not inspire most people, does not get the earthly praise and is sometimes low on the gift list of leaders who are out beginning the movements.

Let me say from experience…administration is very important to long-term movement sustainability. If a leader is thinking long-term, then administration has to be included in that strategy. Here’s how I see it:

Movements are like fast moving boats in stormy water. Most types of people that get on these boats are the people who are bent towards looking out past the bow. They ask questions like: Where are we going? What do we have to navigate? What is the best way to get where we want to go? Their eyes and hearts are bent towards what is to come. And that’s a good thing.

The truth is that while going through this storm, people fall off the boat. People get left behind. Some people are even trying to get on, while others are just barely hanging on. I see administrative roles looking out for this stuff and looking out for solutions to the problems caused by the nature of the storm…not to mention looking at the map to make sure we are going in the right direction…and checking the engine to make sure it’s not going to explode! Admin gifted people can help answer (and ask) questions like: Is this the best way to get where we want to go? How can we get through the storm better? Who has fallen off and how can we throw them a life-preserver? Who is trying to get on this boat?

If a movement is truly healthy it will grow. And the more people that get on the boat, the harder it is to maneuver, operate, repair, and keep people from falling off. Admin people have the giftedness to help a movement expand their boat.

The people and the way that they think can (and should) become the backbone of a movement. They keep it standing up tall, not lying limp on the ground. So if you are wanting to begin, have started, or are in the thick of a movement, remember that there is a reason that God gave us all different gifts and that each one has value. See the strategy behind having a healthy admin structure because if you don’t prepare for it now, it could kill you in the future! Also, admin people can also be visionary and gifted not only in tasks and processes…listen to and look for them.

A good example of this is found in Acts…the disciples appointed some other people to take on the ‘admin process’ of distributing bread among the widows. One of those men was James. Who in a chapter later gives one of the most hard hitting talks recorded in the book of Acts…and ends up being killed for it. But his original task? Bread distributor. We never know how God may have or will gift those in our movements.

Administrate…do it. Find people to do…or we run the risk of killing our movements under their own momentum. 

Dave is a great friend of Jen and I’s and was my admin back in the day…truly an amazing person that I had the privilege of serving with. He was a great admin, but an even greater friend. I would work with him again in a heartbeat…and he made some dang good coffee! 

When driving in your car, have you ever thought how many different ways there are to get to the place you are going? Sometimes I sit in my car nearly paralyzed because I’m strategizing the best way to get from point A to B. Sometimes I take off in the direction I think will be the fastest just to get stuck in traffic. Or other times it’ll end up taking way longer than I thought. But if I just keep on driving, I get there eventually.

Movement thinking is a lot like this…and so is the art of church planting. There are many ways to get to the same place. There are many ways to make a difference in the Kingdom. When we begin to believe that there is only one right way, we fool ourselves, especially when we are the author of THE way. There may be the fastest way under certain given circumstances, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way for all of time. 

So, if you want to kill a movement, here are some ideas to building conformity that will help you on your way to nowhere:

1. Control the big box.

Trusting other leaders is the last thing you want to do. This will show them that you believe that God speaks to them…meaning not only you. So, if you start letting some people think outside of the big box you run the risk of losing all control. You don’t want that. You want to give people smaller boxes to think outside of, while you control the big box. He who controls the big box wins the battle of conformity. 

2. Make sure everybody knows the right way 

Forget the idea of values. Values schmalues. Rules are what you want. You want people to know clearly there is a right way and wrong way. And you want people to look to your rules to know what the difference is. You need to know what the right way is…but don’t be clear what that is because it’s fun to watch people squirm trying to figure it out. They just need to know that you know. And you are watching. Period.

3. Lastly, and most importantly, never admit failure.

In order for people to continue to trust your ways, you can never admit anything remotely close to failure. People can not lose faith in the system. There should be no room ever given to doubt the Master Plan. Even if you feel like the world is falling down around you…smile, use lots of Christian sounding words, and stick to the Master Plan. (I even recommend calling this the ‘Master’s Plan’ as that makes it sound cleverly spiritual.) Never, ever, ever do anything to make somebody think that there needs to be a solution, because, of course, there was never a problem with the Master Plan. Remember, smile…a lot. If somebody is not really looking, it can go a long way.

Ugh…Even though I laughed out loud typing this, I now feel sick as this goes against every fiber in my being. I really, really hope nobody read this and thought I was serious!