http://onmovements.com/?p=534 Thoughts on Building Movements Everywhere Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:01:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://onmovements.com/?p=534&cpage=1#comment-1687 Eric Swanson Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:38:07 +0000 http://onmovements.com/?p=534#comment-1687 Very well written Jay and I think you defined clearly what a real movement is. Your thinking is expressing in movement terminology what Jim Wallace writes--"awakening isn't revival until something in society is changed." That's a much higher (but better bar). I think however that until a starting point is established every believer will be left to him / herself to interpret what is meant by change...and more importantly what needs to be changed. I think a good starting point is Keller's thoughts on world view--Every world view must state what is fundamentally wrong with the world and how his / her solution (Christianity, Marxism, Conservative Republicanism, or no-money-down real estate) is the solution. Only if we start with a kingdom view of what is broken is substantial enough to engage people at every level and is the only substantive answer for what is broken. Actions taken with a kingdom perspective lead to restoration of relationships with God with one another and with the world we live in. This is what Jesus did. He ushered people into eternity, he fed hungry people (because there are no hungry people in God's kingdom, hunger is an afront to the kingdom). Likewise because there are no deaf, lame, blind, etc in the kingdom he healed these folks as an attractive illustration of what the kingdom is like. People who study the kingdom all come to the same conclusion--it is inevitable that they discover a thicker and robust gospel that compels them to operate on a one-dimensional plane. This is true with those of old like E. Stanley Jones or more recently with Rick Warren and Rick McKinley...and once you discover it...you can't go back. Perhaps the social changes that we admire--where justice is more widely distributed, more lives are saved, etc are attractive to us because they are redemptive, and therefore fundamentally kingdom-based than just a movement of social activists.... Very well written Jay and I think you defined clearly what a real movement is. Your thinking is expressing in movement terminology what Jim Wallace writes–”awakening isn’t revival until something in society is changed.” That’s a much higher (but better bar). I think however that until a starting point is established every believer will be left to him / herself to interpret what is meant by change…and more importantly what needs to be changed. I think a good starting point is Keller’s thoughts on world view–Every world view must state what is fundamentally wrong with the world and how his / her solution (Christianity, Marxism, Conservative Republicanism, or no-money-down real estate) is the solution. Only if we start with a kingdom view of what is broken is substantial enough to engage people at every level and is the only substantive answer for what is broken. Actions taken with a kingdom perspective lead to restoration of relationships with God with one another and with the world we live in. This is what Jesus did. He ushered people into eternity, he fed hungry people (because there are no hungry people in God’s kingdom, hunger is an afront to the kingdom). Likewise because there are no deaf, lame, blind, etc in the kingdom he healed these folks as an attractive illustration of what the kingdom is like. People who study the kingdom all come to the same conclusion–it is inevitable that they discover a thicker and robust gospel that compels them to operate on a one-dimensional plane. This is true with those of old like E. Stanley Jones or more recently with Rick Warren and Rick McKinley…and once you discover it…you can’t go back. Perhaps the social changes that we admire–where justice is more widely distributed, more lives are saved, etc are attractive to us because they are redemptive, and therefore fundamentally kingdom-based than just a movement of social activists….

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