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So what is to be done about Europe? Philip Jenkins’ God’s Continent has reminded us that Europe stands at a crossroad. Christianity is in serious and sustained decline. Secuarlism dominates and Islam is on the rise.

My thoughts, from a movements perspective, on what is to be done.

1. Reality Therapy

I’ll pick up where Jenkins’ book finishes:

“Nothing [...]

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)

MovementsQuotes

Another book I haven’t ready yet but it comes highly recommended by Neil Cole, and he should know because Alan Hirsch told him it was great book. Alan didn’t tell me because he says I read too much. That’s not true. I buy too much but I don’t read too much! There is a difference.

Neil [...]

The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances.
“Where has God gone?” he cried.
“I shall tell you. We have killed him—you and I. We are his murderers.

Friedrich NietzscheI’ve just finished working my way through ”The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World“ (Alister Mcgrath). It’s a [...]

Following up on my Missionaries to Marxists: the Rise and Fall of SCM, here’s an article by one of the great historians of revival movements, Dr J Edwin Orr.

Read it and ask yourself, “Why can’t this happen again?”
Can you imagine…

one third of a university’s student body coming to Christ in a single year?

50 percent of [...]

Off the top of my head, here’s the seven best internet resources on movements I can think of. They are in alphabetical order and they are free.

1. Roland Allen, The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church: And the Causes Which Hinder It

2. Allan Anderson, Towards a Pentecostal Missiology for the Majority World

3. David Garrison, Church Planting [...]

Another gem from Dave (Pizza of the Pharoahs) Zovak:

In Marcus Buckingham’s most recent book, The One Thing You Need to Know, he talks about management, leadership, and sustained, excellent, personal performance.

His “one thing” about leadership is:

Discover what is universal and capitalize on it. Specifically, of all the valid needs of followers, the most important [...]

Nature abhors a vacuum.
François Rabelais (1494-1553)Frustrated in your attempts to introduce change? Try applying this wisdom from FastCompany for changing individuals to changing groups, teams, churches and organizations:

If you want to change something in your life, it’s common to try to stop the behaviors you don’t like. While this certainly seems logical, it seldom works. [...]

Six books on the Sociology of movements.

Caveat emptor—only for nerds. (If you know what caveat emptor means you may be one of us).

“People, power, change;: Movements of social transformation” (Luther P Gerlach)

“Why Conservative Churches Are Growing: A Study in Sociology of Religion With a New Preface for the Rose Edition (Rose Series)” (Dean M. Kelley)

“The [...]

Three top books on the renewal of the church in its life and mission. All out of print. All worth tracking down if you are a student of movements and love the church.

“Signs of the Spirit: How God Reshapes the Church” (Howard A. Snyder)

“The renewal of the church (The Dale lectures)” (Willem Adolph Visser ‘t [...]