The Making of a Movement

Sometimes I get asked how to develop a movement, mostly because I had the opportunity to lead a “Youth movement” in my denomination in the 1980’s and they ask me, “how’d you do it” often when they take over a district or denominational job or launch a parachurch organization. I don’t know that I’m any sort of expert on these things and something you can’t repeat things done in the past. Nevertheless I’m listing here my “recipe” of sorts based on my experience creating and leading the “youth movement” in the 1980’s (and some subsequent research on other movements) in case any of it applied today. I don’t know if any of this applies to a local church or not—but I have recently revised it for a headquarters person and a parachurch leader so I thought I’d share it today. While there is no guarantee mixing these elements will create a movement, these are still the most common characteristics of past movements.

The “ingredients” of a movement

1. Initiating Leader

Most movements are initiated by a man or women who feels compelled to “call out” that movement. While you may not possess all the characteristics of “movement leaders” you should posses most, or at least be moving that way. Some people have these characteristics by birth, others acquire them from their family as they are growing up (which is why leadership often runs in families) still others develop them by discipline and accountability. Whatever, live with these characteristics every day and help God develop them in your life if you intend to start or lead a “movement.”

Anointed by God—the leader senses a “chosen-ness” for leadership.

Chance-Taker — not fearing failure.

not fearing failure. Change-Agent—dissatisfaction with the present; compelled to change things.

Commitment — eat, sleep, walk, talk, and dream about THE GOAL.

eat, sleep, walk, talk, and dream about THE GOAL. Concentration—singleness of purpose; “This one thing I do.”

thing I do.” Conviction—unswerving in living according to own standards.

Destiny– sense that you have come to the kingdom for this.

Drive—working harder and longer than most others.

Enthusiasm—so excited that others are attracted to follow.

Generous—the flow of leadership is to the people not the leader.

Goal-Driven—arranging day-to-day activities to achieve long range goals.

Imaginative—not limited by conformity; drawn to new ways to do things.

Initiator—starts things, “initiates initiatives.”

Passionate—really cares about the cause; spins like a “small sprocket”.

People-Person–regardless of my natural temperament.

Persistent—just won’t stop even when coming up against barriers.

Persuasive—you motivate, inspire, and challenge other people to action.

Positive–insist on seeing the brighter side of all situations.

Standing Alone—able to withstand the loneliness of leadership.

Vision—seeing what God wants to accomplish through your leadership.

Of course no one person has all these qualities—I’m surely not. But this should be the kind of leader you want to become in general. We can develop many of them fairly well and all of them can be developed partially. They at least should be our aim. Some argue that there is no such thing as a movement—only movement leaders. That is, they argue that this kind of person creates a movement naturally whatever they do and wherever they minister. I’m not sure about that but I have seen it happen. At least many of these characteristics of “movement leader types”

Are good characteristics anyway—so consider setting up a plan for self-improvement so you become this kind of leader and perhaps the movement will grow out of who you are not just what you want to do.

2. Sacred Gathering

If you are a leader and have in mind what the movement should be, next plan a meeting. Get ready to have this meeting at least annually, perhaps in regions or districts, or even zones if you are a denominational leader. Most movements have a “sacred place” where they gather regularly—a retreat, a conference, a place where God moves and the people relate to others in the movement; a place they return to year after year for refreshing, refueling, planning, strategizing, reunion, relationships, motivation, and to remember the cause. Such a meeting should be:

Directed outward—the aim of the meeting should be directed toward the local church and not “upward” toward the headquarters or district or sponsoring parachurch organization.

“F ortifying ” –the attendees need to be strengthened —coming back from your meetings better people, better equipped and with better resources and not just coming home talking about how great you or your organization or department is.

” –the attendees need to be strengthened —coming back from your meetings better people, better equipped and with better resources and not just coming home talking about how great you or your organization or department is. Spiritual life change —life change should be in the center and the main event of your “programming” leaving strategy second—the primary problems of the church are not structural but spiritual. When God moves on us His will gets done—even if the spiritual work of God seems “unrelated” to the cause (of course no spiritual work of God is ever unrelated to the cause).

A meeting does not guarantee a movement, but without a meeting there will never be a movement. The initiating leader (#1) plans the meeting—a “sacred gathering.” #2).

3. Worthy Cause

At the meeting call the people to the cause not yourself. A movement cannot survive without a worthy cause. Evangelism, reaching youth for Christ, discipling children, camping, itinerant speakers—whatever… the cause must be worthwhile. At the meting the “critical Mass” or “cadre” of people “catches” the vision for the cause from the leader. Vision is “communicable” to others—they “catch it” from us. Gather your people and bombard them with the cause and the vision—let them “catch” your passion, let them “join hearts” with others and commit to the cause-vision-mission. The mission or cause must be:

clear,

repeatable,

memorable,

sustainable,

reinforced constantly, and

supported with story and testimony.

Make sure the people know they are committed to a cause not a person. You need to be a significant influence on the movement—but the movement cannot be about following you—it must be about the cause. You will know you are effective at this when you leave this work—if they hardly notice you are gone and commitment to the cause continues or even increases then you have succeeded.

4. Frequent Contact

A cadre of people can gather with an anointed leader in September but if there is no contact within a month the movement will fizzle. The initiating leader arranges for continued contact—at least monthly, probably more. Now you are a leader of a group who has had a meeting and are excited about the cause. You’ve begun “spinning plates” but if you do not revisit those plates often they will soon run out of steam and crash to the floor. The 2nd law of thermodynamics is at work—“entropy.” So make frequent contact with your “cadre” to spin the plates again—the cause and calling of your movement. Soon after the meeting you should circulate reports on what has changed since the meeting—including “testimonies” of personal life change with or without names attached. When people recognize names of friends they made at the meeting they feel a part of something beyond their local church.

Recollection . The leader constantly recalls the past meeting “coming through the Red Sea” and reports the present activity of the people. They see something is happening –this was not “just another meeting.”

. The leader constantly recalls the past meeting “coming through the Red Sea” and reports the present activity of the people. They see something is happening –this was not “just another meeting.” Create anticipation . The leader also creates anticipation of the next meeting. The recipients feel they are part of a group, a club, a “cadre” of people and the leader is connecting and communicating between them. This is not about the leader doing their ego-therapy in mailings—but is it about the people, the grass roots, the “cadre” and what they have been doing. But this is the easy part—to lead a movement you have to travel—more than you want to.

. The leader also creates anticipation of the next meeting. The recipients feel they are part of a group, a club, a “cadre” of people and the leader is connecting and communicating between them. This is not about the leader doing their ego-therapy in mailings—but is it about the people, the grass roots, the “cadre” and what they have been doing. But this is the easy part—to lead a movement you have to travel—more than you want to. Travel and speak . You’ll be traveling, speaking, visiting, staying in homes, listening, encouraging, taking walks with your people’s kids, sending notes when you’ve returned, showing up in their church unannounced, writing notes, cards, letters, making phone calls—in the building stage of a movement the leader must be virtually omnipresent. The leader of a movement must “show up” in the life of the “cadre”—the key people in your movement—so much so that they become the primary leader to which that person relates. Everyone has a primary leader-mentor in life—be that for your “cadre” or “critical mass.” You cannot lead a movement from an office—you must lead it from the field and support it from the office.

5. Abundant “appurtenances”

Appurtenances are the materials and resources related to a movement—stickers, badges, embroidered shirts, tags—often called “promotional items” or even “gimmicks.” Some say, “appurtenances make the movement” and of course that is only partly true—some leaders have scores of gimmicks and stickers and tactile memory-objects yet never create a movement. However, though appurtenances do not guarantee a movement there are no movements without some appurtenances. Materials may not create the movement they do sustain it. Out of sight, out of mind is true. A true movement cannot be “program driven” in the sense that we produce curriculum or materials and expect everyone to use them, but a movement always produces an abundance of materials: magazines, newsletters, stickers, CDs, videos, Curriculum (often even resources that compete with themselves), pamphlets, jackets, pens, and a host of other “stuff.” These things “grow up” with the movement however—and just creating them will not ignite to movement. Bringing out too many too soon will only get you dismissed as a shallow huckster and a person who leads-by-gimmicks. The best way to introduce appurtenances is gradually and the best place is at the “sacred gathering”— the people are then imbued with a sense of the sacred and the meaning of the gathering. While materials will not create a movement—there is no movement that does not produce abundant materials.

6. Economic Resources

You cannot build a movement without money. Don’t be bashful about money—figure out in your organization how to get it, make it, spend it, and spread it.

Get it by figuring out how to get in the budget of your organization—and how to get more by spending it all, spending it well, and tying all the spending to the cause.

by figuring out how to get in the budget of your organization—and how to get more by spending it all, spending it well, and tying all the spending to the cause. Make it by figuring out how to make a “profit” on events and materials—become a movement entrepreneur and develop your own revenue stream from youth camp, conferences, workshops, publications and any other way you can make money while at the same time multiplying ministry. If you have a worthy product people will pay for it—and your movement can make a profit from it while at the same time doing the buyer a great favor when they buy and use it. The church is far larger financially than General Motors or Microsoft—there are billions out there being spent by churches—get some by making it!

by figuring out how to make a “profit” on events and materials—become a movement entrepreneur and develop your own revenue stream from youth camp, conferences, workshops, publications and any other way you can make money while at the same time multiplying ministry. If you have a worthy product people will pay for it—and your movement can make a profit from it while at the same time doing the buyer a great favor when they buy and use it. The church is far larger financially than General Motors or Microsoft—there are billions out there being spent by churches—get some by making it! Spend it well so that you get the biggest bang for the buck. Spend it on your cause not yourself and your buddies. Plow your money back into the movement to make it grow. This is nothing more than every small business does—if you want to ‘clip coupons” and benefit yourself and your family by paying your own way to conventions “because we’ve worked so hard” don’t expect to build much of a movement. Sacrifice now and re-invest the money you make into the movement, not yourself and your cronies.

well so that you get the biggest bang for the buck. Spend it on your cause not yourself and your buddies. Plow your money back into the movement to make it grow. This is nothing more than every small business does—if you want to ‘clip coupons” and benefit yourself and your family by paying your own way to conventions “because we’ve worked so hard” don’t expect to build much of a movement. Sacrifice now and re-invest the money you make into the movement, not yourself and your cronies. Spread it . Once you have money spread it—it is like fertilizer—piled up it stinks and burns the lawn—spread around it does good to the entire crop. We don’t pile up the cash at headquarters or on the district level. We’re not a savings bank but a hose through which we pass money to bless our cause. If you’ve got unspent money left at the end of the year in your budget you should go run a credit union and not lead a church ministry! Spread it around the entire church and it will grow such a huge crop you won’t be able to harvest it all—a crop of great results for the kingdom of God.

7. Multiplying levels

Almost all movements eventually grow large enough to produce “levels” of service. When you start out there may only be one level of service—the “cadre” or the “critical mass.” But if you are successful at starting a movement eventually your 20 will turn into 200 then maybe even 2000, maybe even more that that. As your movement grows start to structure in order to absorb a growing number of leaders not just followers. You will have about as many leaders in your movement as you have leadership posts. So, to get more leaders make more leadership posts. Try to create a 10% excess of leadership posts—10% more than you have leaders prepared for. This creates a “draft” that sucks people into leadership and give them a chance to serve/lead. After all, the best training for leadership is, well, leadership. This means that in some ways having more conventions or conferences or camps, or meetings, or training sessions or newsletters, or programs is equally as important to the cause of developing leaders as it is to accomplishing the (explicit) goals of the meeting or publication. This multiplication feeds on itself—the more leaders you deploy the more ministry will get done, the stronger and larger the movement will be, and the more leaders will rise from that movement, which will create more ministry, and so forth as the cycle continues. Developing leaders is the core work of a leader of a mid-stage movement. If you develop leaders and they care about the mission a greater movement will result. You can’t jump directly to this “developing leaders” level however without mixing the first six ingredients. While it is mostly true “everything depends on leadership” it is not true that “thus we should start by developing leaders.” Developing leaders is the primary focus in the mid and later stages of a movement. You aren’t ready to develop leaders without a meeting, a clear mission/cause, regular contact, materials and money—but once you have laid the tracks with these then do your primary task—leadership development and watch the movement take off!

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CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

Of course, no “recipe” can guarantee a movement but this is a good shot at putting together the “ingredients” of such a recipe. There are, of course, external factors affecting a movement’s success and these can block or enhance your efforts at creating a movement. God’s anointing may be there or maybe it isn’t there. God’s timing may be ripe or you may labor and see no fruit of your labor if the timing is not right. Your cause may be “in season” or it could be “out of season” with the people. You might have a “protecting angel” in power above you as a DS or GS or senior pastor, or you could have a detracting enemy who suspects your motives and tries cut you off at the pass and hamper your effectiveness at developing a movement. Your district or denomination might have a great openness to strong leadership or it could have been burned by such leaders in the past and shut itself off from strong leadership. Your organization may allow and encourage entrepreneurs and profit-making or it may have choked off innovation and profiting or centralized all the “business” into one entity. Your budget may be expanding or it could be contracting. Your organization may be open to the chaos that inevitably comes with a movement or the organizational ethos could be so bureaucratic and controlled that a movement will be strangled before it gets past the first meeting. You could have nobody thinking you are a threat or competitor for their job or church, or you might be viewed with suspicion and powerful people might believe you are only using this cause as a ladder to move into other (their) positions of leadership.

There are a dozen other external factors that may influence your eventual success at leading a movement, but so what? What will you do? Whine about these factors you see present? Condemn everyone who is your barrier? Or, will you try your best to lead a movement because you know the cause is worthy? Will you even be willing to sacrifice progress in your future career just to get a movement rolling? Is it that important to you? Or, are you really only wanting to look like you are doing a good job and then get rewarded with some other job? If you are really serious about the cause and starting a movement then get about leading instead of whining. See if God blesses your leadership. If He does then thank Him and lead a movement that will contribute to His kingdom and be remembered for decades, maybe generations to come. And, if God does not bless you, or the people do not join up, or somebody heads you off and sidelines you—so what? If you did your best for a worthy cause when you meet Christ he will say “well done thou good and faithful servant. And, after all, what more could you ask?

Keith Drury, November, 2005