From Churches to Movements

Reference: Grigg, V. (2005). Cry of the Urban Poor. GA, USA: Authentic Media in partnership with World Vision.

The aim is not missions.

Nor is it the planting of churches.

The aim is not multiplication of churches.

The aim is to multiply fellowships

in such harmony with the soul of a people

that movement are established of disciples

who know this movement is Christ’s answer

to the cries of this peoples’ heart.

THE 4,000 MEN AND WOMEN whom Saint Francis of Assisi gathered in ten years constituted a movement like the one described above. So did John Wesley’s urban poor churches, which multiplied to scores, with seventy-five thousand new believers in his lifetime. From 1955-1970, the Conservative Baptists in the Philippines grew from zero to 1,500 members. These are patterns of reproductive believers and churches—i.e. movements. A movement is defined by Gerlach and Hein as:

People who are organized for, ideologically moti­vated by, and committed to, a purpose which Im­plements some form of personal or social change; who are actively involved in the recruitment of oth­ers; and whose influence is spreading in opposition to the established order within which it originated.¹

They list factors that are crucial in movements:

1.    A cell-like structure involving various personal, structural and ideological ties.

2.    Face-to-face recruitment by committed individuals, using their own pre-existing significant social relationships.

3.    Personal commitment generated by an act or experience which separates a convert from the established order, identifies him with a new set of values, and commits him to changed patterns of behavior.

4.    An ideology which codifies values and goals, provides a conceptual framework for changes, defining opposition, and forms a basis for conceptual unification of a segmented network of groups.

5.    Real or perceived opposition from that segment of the established order within which the movement has arisen.²

Movements grow from communication of a positive and convinced faith. They tend to be absolutist in their beliefs, to have a strong esprit de corps, and tend to reject other groups because of it.

Clearly, movements involve multiplying groups of people who catch simple ideas and make the ideas their own. Often they will be sparked by a charismatic or prophetic leader. This leader’s continued Leadership after the initial phases may or may not be crucial, as the ideas and multi­plying structure soon have dynamism of their own.

Eric Hoffer, in The True Believer, describes three kinds of leaders needed to develop a movement—the man or woman of words who is a philosopher, seeing, conceptualiz­ing and formulating values; the fanatic who takes these ideas, whittles them down (with distortions) to what is re­producible and realistic (to the horror of the philosopher), and the institutionalizer, who takes the growing numbers of people and formalizes the structure, eventually killing the very core that provided the impetus for growth.

Someone coined the progression: man, mission, move­ment, machine, and finally, monument to capture this same progression from vision to movement to organization.

The Bible teaches that the church is initiated by apostles and prophets, expanded by evangelists, and consolidated by pastors and teachers.

Movements are based on voluntary lay Leadership and the key deployment of supported workers to develop these lay workers.

“Healthy lay movements will not continue unless the very top Leadership has opportunity and resources to be formed in theological, philosophical and strategic thinking,” observed one wise mission leader as he reflected on pat­terns he had seen.

The rate of multiplication of cells and individuals in a movement is determined both by the number of conver­sions and by the number of leaders or Leadership groups developed at each level. The extent of long-term multiplica­tion is determined also by the extent of cultural indigeneity, good structures and viable reproducing patterns. When movements speak to the soul of the people, they have a power of multiplication far greater than the simple multi­plying power of good structures and patterns.

There are no fixed approaches to planting churches and none to ensure that churches will multiply. But there are a few principles that appear essential. There are many ways to integrate these principles. For example, when Madame Imelda Marcos sent the marines to take the squatters’ land in one community, the Christians stood in solidarity with the poor, even as the blood of the dead spilled out on the ground. Out of this came the nucleus of a new church. No textbook could have predicted this method. But the principle of incarnational Leadership among the poor, sharing in their struggles while preaching to them the gospel of God’s grace, is evident.

Multiplication of churches, in a similar manner, depends on the integration of a number of principles. It also requires some fixed patterns, but in such a way that there is oppor­tunity for creativity.

Integration of educated elite and poor ministries

Movements among the poor, while a strategic first prior­ity, are insufficient to deal with the causes of poverty. Two other levels of ministry must be established in conjunction with such ministries.

1.  Movements among the educated elite, involving them in
direct ministry in these squatter areas, facilitate the formation of holistic theology and motivate the middle class to transform the structures of the cities. For example, family breakup is prevalent in the favelas. It is predominantly an economic issue. Are there useful roles for a middle class specialist in the field of marriage counseling as believers become established economically?

Similarly, the development of basic management skills is a cross-cultural need. Will a middle-class person with a head for business devote several years to developing core teachings of basic management skills that squatters need to survive? This curriculum could be prepared to be used cross-culturally.

2.  A movement among the jet-setting international elite dealing prophetically with the multinational structures of the world, and opposing the unified world economic-political-religious system as it increasingly strangles the poor.

Among these options, it appears to me most strategic to focus first on squatter church movements to which these other ministries can be linked. Let us look, therefore, at the practice of establishing movements of churches in the squatter areas.

Developing a catechism

The theme of the Exodus emerges in a liturgy that is re­peated again and again throughout the Old Testament—in story, in song, in poetry and in worship. Around it is woven the whole gamut of themes of God’s redemptive history. It was a pattern that could be repeated and repeated.

Every movement of God has had its own pattern of story-telling, either written, sung, told directly, or repeated in worship liturgies.

From the general principles given in the four seasons chart we are able to develop specific methodologies for each movement. These patterns (methods) are generally not cross-cultural, nor are they effective within different eco­nomic classes in society. The principles (which are cross-cultural) behind each are embodied in the four seasons chart.

Non-literary devotional patterns

Most poor people cannot read, or at least read well. Thus a pattern of teaching that involves songs and stories is nec­essary for a movement among them. The use of written Bible studies or books as a basic pattern is not going to be effective among the poor. A simple handbook for pastors is about the limit of usefulness among the poor. In Manila, one group has done work on comics, which many read.

One approach is to develop a series of stories that follow chronologically through the Bible (but over a period, for ex­ample, of a year) and cover each of the major areas of need of the new believers at each phase of growth.

These stories need to be linked to dramas and the church year of celebration. The church needs festivals where the stories are told in a media that fits the culture of the poor.

Publications

Despite the literacy limitations of the poor, it is helpful to have some things in writing. This ensures completion of the ministry and of the movement. The following are some models of catechisms used in various contexts:

1. Western university student movements
    A series of ten books containing four Bible studies per book on basic topics has been found to be very effective among Western and Westernized students by Campus Crusade for Christ and the Navigators.

2.  The Anglican Book of Common Prayer
    For centuries, the English church has used the Angli­can prayer book. While non-conformists will cry out against ritualism, the reality is that this book from its inception has been the core of maintaining momentum for the dynamism of renewal in the English church. For many people throughout history, it has provided a core from which to develop faith. It has basic patterns of reading, prayer, worship and song, affirms central doc­trines and defines yearly festivals. The poor often learn the meaning of things in the rituals themselves rather than in the content of the rituals. Yet as patterns are developed, so life develops alongside the rituals.

3.  Bible reading outlines
    The Anglican prayer book also provides patterns of reading through the Bible year by year. These are re­lated to the cycles of the calendar. Any movement needs such devotional paradigms and patterns for reading the Scriptures.

4.  Brazilian songbooks
    One of the keys to church growth among the poor in Brazil is that each movement has its own hymnbook. Brazilians love to sing. Memorized songs form the foun­dation of a dynamic and emotionally internalized reli­gion for those who cannot read. They also become a symbol among churches of their unity of doctrine.

Brazilian Christians among the poor possess two books: a Bible and the hymnbook of the denomination. It is the hymn book, I suspect, more than the Bible that produces the breadth of understanding of the nature of God on which their faith is moulded. Untrained pastors tend to teach only sections of the Word of God, but the hymnbooks were put together by older leaders working in groups, and they cover the whole gamut of historic Christianity.

5.         Converted Rosary
    For some families in the Catholic context of Manila, the time for the rosary each evening can be converted, just as people are converted.

6.  Group worship patterns
    One practice of the Assemblies of God in Brazil is an ex­tension of this principle. It is a simple pattern followed by all the churches. Three nights a week all members attend the church for worship, teaching or prayer. This is a pattern that Is consistent and reproducible. It also accords well with the principle that traditional societies move as groups in their activities.

Summary

A successful movement among the poor, then, will prob­ably have patterns and rituals including:

1.    A song book of several hundred songs covering the whole range of doctrine of the church;

2.    A regular devotional and Bible reading program expected of each member or family;

3.    A consistent pattern of regular meetings, both small and large groups;

4.    A basic pattern of teaching that is not literature-based; and

5.    A fixed liturgy, whether it is Pentecostal or Lutheran, or ways of praying, reading, singing.

All of these will provide a strong emotional base to the patterns of religion.

A catechism for the four seasons

Another approach we have used many times is to begin with the four seasons chart, and ask the emerging leader­ship of the church for topics and areas of need under each of the four seasons. This results in a blackboard full of fifty to a hundred topics which together form a basic follow-up syllabus. The next step is to come up with biblical stories or other illustrations that are useful to meet these needs.
Such charts are not complete, and should not be copied verbatim by another group. They come out of hours and months of discussion. In every sub-cultural group, this process has to be cultivated and patterns developed that mul­tiply. Some initial structure may be needed. In one case, structure was imported from middle-class student ministry materials. It is essential, however, that leaders think to­gether to develop new patterns that fit the culture of the group.

The seed grows
Many groups want to multiply, duplicating their pro­grams, patterns, and even their churches. It’s not difficult to do. Coca-Cola managed to multiply, and is now found in every part of the world. All we need is a structure and or­ganizational patterns. It is easy to reproduce religious death anywhere under the name of Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t ask us to multiply structures. He asks us to repro­duce life—his life in our lives. When this happens, disci­ples will develop and church structures will multiply.

Life can only come from life.
Life can only produce creatures of its own kind.

Love multiplies. We are to give our lives to others. This will multiply. The Word of God multiplies. Godly character multiplies. The power of God can be multiplied from one to another. It is intimately connected with dying to ourselves and giving ourselves away to others, with the proclamation of the Word and with godly character. When these things are present, it is healthy to practice patterns, programs and structures that facilitate their continued multiplication.

The strength of multiplication of a movement is depen­dent on:

1.   The extent to which the cross is at its core, and the values developed from crucified lives;

2.   The self-giving and forgiving love at the center of relationships in the movement;

3.   The extent of commitment to the Word as the source of food, authority and revelation;

4.   The anointing of the Spirit on the initial core of the work, and the subsequent transmission of patterns of operating in the power of the Spirit; and

5. The patterns and structure that emerge to facilitate the multiplication of these core values, relationships and power.

The worth of an individual

Central to multiplication is a sense of the worth of the individual. Jesus told a parable about finding lost sheep. Sheep are found one by one. Movements are based on this kind of self-giving to each individual at points of need.

The love we give to the weakest member on a team deter­mines the values that other team members perceive as im­portant. How one loves the poorest and weakest is what gives entrance to the hearts of leaders in the community (cf. Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3:1-5).

We are to “know well the condition of our flocks and pay attention to our herds” (Proverbs 27:23). This requires con­stant prayer and listing of names. Church planters often sit down with pen and a napkin (or any other convenient piece of paper), re-diagramming groups of people, listing individ­uals, so that as different ones are reached, new structures and new groups can be formed to meet their needs. A church planter should have a file card on every new convert and on each key non-Christian contact. This enables con­stant prayer and pastoral concern.

Jesus saw the world through the eyes of his twelve men. In his final prayer, he concentrated his prayers on them. He saw their worth, and believed in their potential and capac­ity under the power of the Spirit. The multiplication of the ministry is determined largely by the perceived worth of each of the leaders on the Leadership team.

Notes

1. Gerlach, L. P. and V. H. Hein, People, Power, Change: Movements of Social Transformation, New York: Bobbs-Merrill Co, 1970.
2.       Ibid.
3.       Hoffer, Eric, True Believer, Harper & Row, 1966.

© Viv Grigg, other materials © by various contributors & Urban Leadership Foundation,   Last modified: April 2007