» 1. Birth

Those whom God would use greatly,
He first wounds deeply.
AW Tozer

This is the story of John Wesley’s broken heart.

In August 1748 John Wesley rode into Newcastle where he stayed at one of his homes for orphans. He fell sick. Grace Murray who ran the orphanage cared for him.

The more he grew to know her [...]

I’m trying to eliminate paper from my life. But when this letter arrived four years ago I carefully preserved it.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the sort of people who make great founders of movements. I think this letter from Rick reveals some of what it takes to be a great founder. He’s planted [...]

“St. Patrick of Ireland : A Biography” (Philip Freeman)

“Here I Stand : A Life of Martin Luther” (Roland H. Bainton)

“Ignatius Loyola: A Biography of the Founder of the Jesuits” (Phillip Caraman)

“Wesley the Preacher” (John Pollock)

“Blood and Fire : William and Catherine Booth and the Salvation Army” (Roy Hattersley)

Post a comment if you have a recommendation [...]

One of my heroes of the faith is Patrick of Ireland. One of the great movement founders.

Here part of an address on Patrick at a Forge intensive last year. Happy listening!

MonasticismMovements

The Middle Ages is regarded as and age of faith. It was also a period of mounting crisis. Into this world came Francis of Assisi—rich playboy, soldier of fortune and one of the greatest movement founders of all time.I’ve just finished a study of Francis of Assisi as a movement founder. The article is available [...]

Time for another Roland Allen classic quote. Read it and weep. Read it and dream.

A professional class does not easily encourage the spontaneous zeal of men who are not members of their profession. Spontaneous zeal is alarming to them. When the faith is spread spontaneously both the charlatan and the saint find an opportunity for [...]

The great Christian revolutions come not by the discovery of something that was not known before.
They happen when someone takes radically something that was already there.

Helmut Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962)
Source

I’m working on a series of case studies on movements at different points of the LifeCycle (birth, growth, plateau, decline, death).

Just finished a draft on Francis of Assisi and the birth of a movement. I’d like some feedback before the final edition get published.

You can use the comments section on this post to tell me [...]

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 [...]

I wonder what it would look like if Jesus were founding a movement today?

I doubt whether he would be writing a blog, or teaching in a theological college, or running seminars or writing books or promoting a political agenda or appearing on Christiain television.

Somewhere he’d be making an impact on someone’s life. Somehow he would [...]