For two or more years now, I have been having regular conversations with a group of women–all leaders, strategists in the Kingdom. Our conversation today was on the subject of movements. What characterizes a movement? (Examples of movements today would include the GLBT (gay/lesbian etc.) movement and the New Age movement.)
Here are some things we came up with:
- It generates momentum, feeds passion, attracting and uniting people with like passions
- People start doing similar things because of their shared values
- Usually there is a quick change in a relatively short amount of time—the concept of the tipping point
- There is a change in change public perception, law—even changing culture
- There are people who are change agents/catalysts (either one person or a group or an amalgam of different people at the grassroots)
- There needs to be a climate for change that either exists or is set by the catalysts
- A movement can last for a short or long time—often depending on how the movement was generated (e.g. Hitler and the Nazi movement was thankfully a short-lived movement)
- An appetite and energy for change often begins with younger people
- They are often a reaction to the status quo–hence persecution may follow
There are three structural components to a movement:
- Decentralization–things don't just happen with one leader or in one place
- Segmentation–things may look different in different places but they share similar values
- Interconnection–those involved in the movement are able to connect together
Are we part of a movement?
4 replies on “Characteristics of a Movement”
Felicity. I just read your book, The Rabbit and the Elephant. Thank you, thank you, thank you. What an amazing God we serve who guides us continually. I now know what my next step is and will learn more through your sites and the LK10 site. I just tried to teach the Bible study the Lord allowed me to write to a neighborhood next to mine–a trailer park. I invited them to my house. It did not work; it did work the first time when my own neighbors came. How I could relate!
You asked the question, are we part of a movement. My comment is: Yes, THE movement right out of here. God is pulling His body together AS ONE. We will be running from this point on until we meet Him in the air. The details of this vision the LORD gave me are posted at my Web site–godwhoareyou.com
Bless you, bless you, for the pioneering work you have done to pave the way for the rest of us. Thank you for perservering.
Seems to me that if we think this is a movement, then Jesus must be the/a movement????? Doesn’t make sense does it?
Please don’t tag anything a movement….it is simply a Spirit led life doing the works that Jesus did, and greater works than these….fulfilling the law of love….dying to self……understanding ‘greater’ love and doing that…..overcoming by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and loving not their lives unto death.
It is no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me. Jesus is building His church, His body…..not a movement. Yep, let’s move with Jesus as we hear and obey His voice.
Mishaps are like knives that either serve us or cut us as we grasp them by the handle or blade. Do you understand?
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