The breakthroughs in the renewal and expansion of the Church have always begun on the fringe. The spark and the fuel for the fire is a powerful encounter with God constructively channeled into renewal and mission.
Movements cannot be manufactured or controlled. Those most open to empowering spiritual experiences are those who sense their need of God. They are often found on the fringes with little investment or confidence in existing structures and means. Those with the greatest investment in how things are do not long for major transformation.
In his study of Catholic religious orders, Cada (Shaping the Coming Age of Religious Life) describes this process of transformation:
“Contained in the transforming experience is a new appreciation of the message of Jesus which leads to innovative insight concerning how the condition of the Church or society could be dramatically improved or how a totally new kind of future could be launched. A new impetus to live the religious life in all the totality of its demands is felt and a new theory emerges that is at once a critique of the present, an appropriation of the past, a compelling image of the future and a basis for novel strategies.”
A five stage pattern is discernible in this spiritual encounter:
1. Dissonance
There is a growing awareness by a key founding individual or group that something is not right. A desire grows for a deeper experience of God or his power or forgiveness or truth. There is a hunger for something more, both individually and in the life of the church.
2. Struggle
There is a time of uncertainty and grappling with God regarding the satisfaction of that hunger. God tests and shapes the heart of a leader or emerging movement. He refines motivations. God may appear to be distant and unresponsive—even hostile. Motivations are refined and commitment to God and his agenda is galvanised.
3. Encounter
There is a deeper experience of God, his character or power, Biblical truth, his heart for mission or the Church. Either as a crisis or series of experiences. The founder/s enter into the reality of a truth that God wants to restore to the wider church. Often innovative strategies are embraced.
4. Commission
This encounter provides a sense of legitimacy and motivation to implement the desired change. In order to break with the status quo and institute a new state of affairs, movements must have some sense of legitimacy or authority for what they do. The encounter with God provides a sense of legitimacy in the face of resistance to change.
?Without the conviction of spiritual authority and the experience of spiritual power, efforts to change religious systems will not be successful.
5. Mission
The spiritual experience of the founder/s is shared by others, providing them with a sense of legitimacy, meaning, commitment and empowerment. The experience of encounter with God creates the faith to believe the world can be changed and energises people for action. It empowers people at every level, especially those normally excluded for positions of power in existing structures. Members are bound together in united action. Individuals and groups are empowered to take action. There is central guidance without central control. Members have the faith to believe they can change the world and the zeal to sustain commitment at every level. The preferred future is more real to them than current reality.
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[...] Following my post on Encounter—Transformation—Mission, here’s a case study on the emergence of the Moravian missionary movement in the first half of the eighteenth century. [...]