Leading Kingdom Movements
Introductory Note:
Mike Breen, former pastor of St. Thomas’ Crookes in Sheffield, England, now leads 3DM, an organic movement of biblical discipleship and missional church that is centered in the United States. Breen and his team at 3DM believe in building discipleship cultures and missional movements. The following is an excerpt from his book, Leading Kingdom Movements, on how the people of God are poised for a new movement of God.
- Sarah Wood, Content Developer
It’s worth noting that there seem to be seasons where the world doesn’t just need to change, but is actually longing for it. It’s aching for it, desperate for it. That’s how the world was in Jesus’ time.
And I believe we find ourselves in that world today.
History is a funny thing. It constantly repeats itself.
Leading up to one of the greatest movements in history was a time of unbelievable uncertainty and upheaval. The movement that would come out of it? The Reformation.
What people a lot smarter than me will tell you is that everything that was present for the opportunity for the "movemental" change of the Reformation has happened again. Everything present for the sweeping change of the early church is present again.
We are on the precipice of a new Reformation.
The question is, are we up for it?
Sometimes in these bigger moments, we point to one person or figurehead at the root of it; but really, it’s the amalgam of many people and many things colliding together.
Think of the Berlin Wall.
When you think of the fall of the wall, we usually remember Ronald Reagan: “General Secretary Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Yet this was just one moment in time. We can’t ignore all that came before it. There were decades of work, strategy, and opportunity. The crisis-moment of Chernobyl played a role. And we can’t forget that the wall did not fall for a few more years when Reagan was no longer in office.
But here is where I think the rubber meets the road if we are seeking a movement of the Kingdom of God. In one place, where the (Berlin) wall still stands today, it reads:
“Many small people doing many small things in many small places can change the face of the world.”
Long before the wall came down, a reformation was rumbling around in the hearts of people, forcing them to do many small things in many small places over and over again.
There is such a restlessness in the people of God today. They sense there is a drift, they sense a threat, and they long to be connected to a Christian faith that understands itself as part of something bigger, something "movemental," something of the Kingdom.
Followers of Jesus today are seeking a new Kingdom movement made up of God’s Spirit igniting the hearts of “many people doing many small things in many small places.” God’s people are collectively bringing down the "wall" that keeps us in bondage; we are restless for freedom, for renewal, and for the spread of the gospel to all corners of the earth. Do you sense it?
This kind of movement of God calls on ordinary men and women. Not celebrity figures. It calls on people who long to be part of something bigger than themselves, the Kingdom of God.
We live in this moment.
It takes small people - ordinary folks like you and me - doing small things - cultivating God’s kingdom around us - in small places - in our homes, our workplaces, our networks - that change the face of the world.
Lord, let your Kingdom come.
Book excerpt used with permission. Leading Kingdom Movements, p. 19-20. Mike Breen and the 3DM Team. First printing 2013.
