Movements that change the world

As I was growing up we had a youth leader by the name of ‘Stewie’. What qualified him to lead was his energetic faith in God, his commitment to us and the fact that he drove a Holden Torana.

Stewie was pretty serious about serving God so off he went to theological college. He was half way through the first year when he came back to the youth group as a guest speaker. We eagerly sat around while he laid out his notes and took out his reading glasses. We’d never seen Stewie with reading glassses before.

I can’t recall what he said that night. I do remember that it was awful. Somehow Stewie had changed and we couldn’t understand him anymore.

Apparently theological college was the place for academic trining. Not ministry training. It was a place where your “simple” faith was challenged and tested by those who knew better. Not a place where your faith was built up.

So when God got a hold of my life in my early 20s I was not tempted to follow in Stewie’s footsteps. Instead I bought myself a ticket to Amsterdam and spent two years living on the Ark—two large houseboats moared behind the central railway station. The Ark was part of Dilaram House, a YWAM ministry to travellers along the hippie trail from London to Katmandu.

There I learnt how to experience the love of God in prayer and worship. I learnt how to communicate the gospel in a meaningful way to people from all over the world. I saw broken lives restored by the power of the Word and the Spirit in the context of Christian community.

I saw a deserter from the French Foreign Legion come to faith. I was there the day Interpol came to arrest him. I shared a room with two former members of the IRA. One eventually turned himself in and went to prison. There were people with backgrounds in homosexuality, prostitution, eastern religions and drugs. Regularly people came to faith and moved into the community.

I learnt that conversion was just the beginning of the journey of discipleship. I remember Dave, the six foot five inch Scotsman and “rage-aholic” waving a hammer in front of my face telling him he was going to kill me. At that point I realised his sanctification still had a way to go.

In two years on the Ark I learnt that God is real and is at work through the Gospel to change lives. It was the best foundation for a life of ministry that I could ever have.

Eventually I returned to Australia, finished the university course I had dropped out of, and began studying theology part time at an evangelical college. I have a deep appreciation for the academic training I received. I even enjoyed Greek!

But I can’t help wondering how different things would have been different if I had followed the example of Stewie and put my trust in academic training alone.

Dynamic movements grow leaders from the harvest. They value “just-in-time”, life-long learning. They train the heart and the hands not just the head. The contexts for training are real life and ministry situations. Why? They model their leadership development strategies on the example of Jesus, the greatest movement leader in human history.