Book Review: Movements That Change the World by Steve Addison

This guest review is by Josh Reeves, who is planting a church in Round Rock, TX in partnership with Austin City Life.

Overview

In this short 128 page book Addison lays out five keys to spreading the Gospel. Overall Addison does a good job of keeping the language accessible to everyday readers, while also pointing those who would desire a deeper treatment of certain topics to a nice selection of supplemental resources.  One of the things I appreciated most about the book was that it got its point across cogently, making it easy to grasp the key ideas while moving quickly through the content.

The main purpose of the book is to outline what Addison sees as the five key elements present in movements that possess the capacity to spread the Gospel. The five elements identified in the book are White-Hot Faith, Commitment to a Cause, Contagious Relationships, Rapid Mobilization, and Adaptive Methods. Before expanding upon each of the five elements, Addison opens the book by telling the story of St. Patrick and the missionary movement he started among the Irish Celts. It was a great way to excite the readers appetite for radical movements of the Gospel.

Summary of 5 Movement Elements

White-Hot Faith (Chapter 1)

“Missionary movements begin with men and women who encounter the living God and surrender to loving obedience to his call.”

I appreciated that that from the start of the book he makes it clear that any movement is going to be driven by God powerfully working in his peoples heart. Dynamic missionary movements cannot exist apart from the power of the Spirit.  This is what Addison describes as “White-Hot Faith.”

Addison further explains this Spirit led dependence by what he calls, “Crisis” and “Process.” Crisis moments are explained as God’s initiative to “call a person to his service.” It is in these moments of crisis that  “we renounce dependence on anything but the presence and power of God.”

Process is defined as “all activities that deepen our relationship with God.” Addison gives several historical examples of movements that had Spiritual disciplines integrated into the rhythms of their members lives ( The Jesuits’ Spiritual Exercises of Loyola, Methodist and Moravian classes and bands which where accountability groups that met for prayer and confession of sin, Student Volunteer Movement had the “the morning watch”). The overall message was that no movement can be sustained on the initial crisis experience alone, there must be Spiritual disciplines to prepare the way for, and support, life changing experiences.

Commitment to a Cause (Chapter 2)

“Committed people make history by living in alignment with their deeply held beliefs.”

In chapter 2, Addison points out one of the more obvious elements of a movement in the book. Addison once again utilizes a nice mix of scripture, history, and modern examples to make his case.  This particular quote stuck with me and I found to be a valuable take away from the chapter:

“Living organisms are constantly seeking self-renewal by referring back to their essential identity and adapting to their environment.”

There is a necessity of commitment to a core identity, but also an element of adaptability that must be present in a movement for it to be sustainable.  Addison gives historical evidence for movements that declined due to losing their essential identity, as well as those who held their identity but failed to adapt (see pg. 63-64).

Contagious Relationships (Chapter 3)

“It does not take vast amounts of money to fill a nation with the knowledge of the gospel. What it takes is ordinary people, on fire with the love of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit, who are willing to tell their families, friends and casual acquaintances what God has done for them.”

Chapter 3 was practical and immediately applicable. It was a great reminder of the existing relational networks that God has put us in that we often overlook. It reminds us of the importance of relationships and how historically movements have spread along these network lines.

“Movements appear to grow spontaneously and randomly, but on closer inspection they are spreading within and across networks of relationships.”

Addison helpfully clarifies that these relational networks must maintain some level of tightness, but remain open enough that others can come into the network. The chapter is full of very helpful information tidbits on this idea. Much of what I gleamed from the chapter was immediately transferable and applicable to my own endeavor of church planting.  I walked away with a renewed vigor to prayerfully and strategically think through the existing relational networks in my own life, identifying what Addison describes as “connectors,” and utilizing those people to help us expand our relational network. All of this so that we might deepen relationships and tell others of what God has done for us in Jesus.

Rapid Mobilization (Chapter 4)

“It does not take vast amounts of money to fill a nation with the knowledge of the gospel. What it takes is ordinary people, on fire with the love of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit, who are willing to tell their families, friends and casual acquaintances what God has done for them.”

Chapter 4 was helpful but also proved to be the chapter I had the most concerns about. I loved the “Mobilization” part of the chapter (making disciples who are released to go and make disciples) but I struggled with the idea of doing this “rapidly.”  Nonetheless there was a great deal of good to take away from the chapter. One very helpful take away were the two lists Addison gives from Roland Allen.

List one listed Roland Allen’s seven conditions in which spontaneous expansion is inhibited:

1. When paid foreign professionals are primarily responsible to spread the gospel, causing the gospel to be seen as an alien intrusion.
2. When the church is dependent on foreign funds and leadership.
3. When the spread of the gospel is controlled out of fear of error, and both error and godly zeal are suppressed.
4. When it is believed that the church is to be founded, educated, equipped and established in the doctrine, ethics and organization before it is to expand.
5. When emerging leaders are restricted from ministering until they are fully trained and so learn the lesson of inactivity and dependency.
6. When conversion is seen as the result of clever argument rather than the power of Christ.
7. When professional clergy control the ministry and discourage the spontaneous zeal of nonprofessionals.

Allen’s other list was equally helpful. It lists 5 conditions that enhance spontaneous expansion:

1. When new converts immediately tell their story to those who know them.
2. When, from the beginning, evangelism is the work of those within the culture.
3. When true doctrine results from the true experience of the power of Christ rather than mere intellectual instruction. Heresies are not produced by ignorance but by the speculation of learned men.
4. When the church is self-supporting and provides for its own leaders and facilities.
5. When new churches are given the freedom to learn by experience and are supported but not controlled.

Overall the chapter produced some challenging questions for us to consider. It rubs against much of the institutional wisdom that has dominated the recent history of the church.

Adaptive Methods (Chapter 5)

“To fulfill their mission, the most effective movements are prepared to change everything about themselves except their basic beliefs. Unencumbered by tradition, movements feel free to experiment with new forms of the church and new effective methods of ministry.”

Chapter 5 gives some helpful tools with understanding past movements that are in rapid decline as well as ways to avoid that same fate. While affirming an unchanging message, Addison reminds us that our methods must be adaptable.

He very helpfully points out that once fruitful methods can become formalized and seen as the “right” methods. An organization can become so convinced what they are doing is right (because it worked at some point) that they stop paying attention to the world around them. Sadly, history shows us a long list of examples that prove this true of the church.

Conclusion

Overall, Movements that Change the World was a solid and concise work. It provides a wealth of practical insights while clearly defining the key components of dynamic movements. It puts forth a vision for world changing Christian movements that are rooted in orthodox Christian doctrine, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and adaptable to every context.  It challenges the church to take an honest look at our methods, and consider if they are accomplishing the mission at hand.