F15. The Movement Is Already Underway!
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F15. The Movement Is Already Underway!
Here on the website and during the training Bridges to People, we talk quite a lot about „movement“. By this we mean generations of disciples and at the same time generations of new churches. We see the multigenerational movement very clearly biblically. And in addition, God gave us several small movements to experience here in the Czech Republic. The following micro-stories may give you an insight why I am so firm about the possibility of movement even here and in our time!
A Small Movement Number One
I was 19 years old. That was still quite deep communism in the Czech Republic! Living Jesus somehow prepared it for me to become the initiator of a small movement – movement number one for me. It started among a few young people from Christian families who experienced their own spiritual renewal.
In the next few years, several dozen young people who already came from non-Christian families were added. They met Jesus, experienced a transformation, and with some certain form of personal discipleship took place. Otherwise, the idea of „go somewhere to a church“ (or to a youth group) was generally practiced at that time. The movement consisted of young people taking the Good News to other young people themselves! It was not the ministry of „the great Pavel“, although I had an obvious initiatory role in it. This small movement did not have its own structure or tools to support disciples and leaders scattered in a number of Czech cities. So after seven or eight years it died out! Some participants joined existing churches. Others founded new ones, because the existing churches were not able to adequately absorb new people from outside, whom the first and second generations brought to Jesus.
A Small Movement Number Two
A few years later (still under communism) I got to a tiny gathering about 50 km from our place. When I first got there, there were seven people present.
I don’t really know what touched me there, but quite clearly I perceived Jesus‘ calling. I was coming back there, entered those families, got to know their unconverted relatives and acquaintances, and before long we were baptizing the first newborn Christian! The element of movement consisted again in the fact that these people brought their loved ones and friends. After a few years, 20 to 25 people were meeting there regularly! Because of the clear call of Jesus to a new ministry in my place of residence, I needed to hand this work over to a church in a nearby town. The servants commuted here, invited these new believers to their own events, and some of the local ones even moved to that town or still commute there.
A Small Movement Number Three
I tell this story briefly in another lesson on this site. As a team of six long-term believers we experienced a call to start a new church open to non-believers and to new disciples.
In just six years of diligent work, there were over seventy of us in this congregation. The newcomers invited others and served them. That’s why I say it was a small movement. Some invited only two, three or five of their friends. But one fairly new guy brought a few dozen people to various meetings! And if I count correctly, eight of them believed then and some later. When the Lord called me on from this church, the emerging leaders needed time to find their own forms of ministry and contacts outside. Within a few years, new segments of ministry for certain target groups were added, and subsequently – without me – several new churches were created!
A Small Movement Number Four
Long story short, there would be a small movement number four that I’m involved in right now as I make this video. It is a network of smaller house/simple churches. For a deeper understanding, I will refer you to the entire section G. Movement and Church on this website. For the beginning look at least at the lesson G17. The Church as a Network.
A Small Movement Number Five
Small movement number five for me is, in a way, what is happening now around Bridges to People! The essence of the movement is that what the believers learn in the live training or here on the website, they pass it on in the foreseeable future! Of course, many people stop after a while and only have a fond memory of the training. But some graduates start with outsiders and teach other Christians to do the same! This created a number of new groups with non-believers and so-called MISSIONAL TEAMS. These have the potential to create new communities, either alongside existing congregations or within a network of similar informal groupings.
My firm belief in the possibility of a massive spiritual movement in our country at this time comes from two sources:
- I see the idea of movement clearly in Word of God.
- I have personally experienced several small movements in the past decades!
A partial movement can also arise around you! Will it be dozens of new disciples of Jesus who will reach more and more people in the next generations? Or hundreds?
Lord Jesus, you got it! Even today, you can cause your movement to flood our entire country…