Building Spiritual Movements

Introduction: When did Christianity start growing? How will Christianity begin growing in your campus? What is a movement? General Description: a group of people who are organized for, ideologically motivated by, and committed to a purpose which implements some form of personal or social change; who are actively engaged in the recruitment of others; and whose influence is spreading in opposition to the established order within which it is organized. What are the general characteristics of a movement? What is a spiritual movement? A spiritual movement is a committed group of disciples, empowered by the Spirit of God, embracing a common purpose and philosophy and actively involved in helping to fulfill the Great Commission. They are bound together by common devotion to Christ and His cause. Such a movement is characterized by dependence on the Holy Spirit and the Word, mutual love and fellowship, bold sharing of the Gospel, changed lives, fervent prayer, the development of Christ-like leadership, spiritual multiplication, opposition from others and a sense of awe at the mighty power of God at work in their midst. What are the general characteristics of a spiritual movement? What are biblical examples of a spiritual movement? I Thessalonians 1:5-8 Acts 2:1-47; 4:1-37 What is the CCC movement all about? The CCC Movement: an expanding group of spiritual multipliers who are committed to glorifying God by helping fulfill Gods purpose of the Great Commission in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is focused on reaching target areas in order to help fulfill the Great Commission. It emphasizes spiritual multiplication. What is the PURE movement all about? The PURE Movement: a group of God-fearing student leaders who take their stand against mediocrity, delinquency, apathy and immorality by building a community that is proexcellence and pro-morality. It is focused on developing students who pursue academic and personal excellence, maintain moral purity, exert godly influence and demonstrate servant leadership. They base their moral values on the Bible and propagate that Jesus Christ is the answer to moral purity. Why is it very important to be involved in a spiritual movement? The task of the Great Commission is so great that its fulfillment requires the commitment of people to spiritual movements in every nation. Individual Christians benefit the most through the involvement in a spiritual movement Good stewardship requires that we commit ourselves to a human organization that is also a spiritual movement. What if thousands of Christians are involved in a spiritual movement in your campus? What are the phases/stages of development of a movement? There are five (5) phases. Preparation, Penetration, Concentration, Saturation and Continuation

Five Phases of Movement Development

I. Preparation to survey and prepare. PRayer should be mobilized. Examine target area prayerfully. Identify affinity groups student organizations, clubs, classrooms, political groups, etc. Identify leaders opinion setters and positional leaders Identify which affinity group(s) will help you reach your target area quickly. You can do so by asking yourself if you can: i) Sow abundantly. ii) Filter ripe fruit? iii) Maximize your time? iv) Find people who will open up new ministry possibilities? v) Find the people or groups that are important in reaching the entire target area? vi) Identify which evangelistic strategy will you use to reach your target area. Identify which evangelistic strategy will best help you reach your target audience. Plan Activities (Pray, Win, Build, Train, Send). Relationship in your target area should be developed. Establish financial base. Penetration Reach and gather potential leadership Continue all preparation activities. Presenting the gospel to many, many people (Sow Broadly). Evaluate receptivity of evangelistic contacts and filter out ripe fruit. New believers need to know the basic teachings. Exemplify a biblical lifestyle and model the ministry. Time for social interaction. Recognize and select potential multiplying disciples. ADG or small group discipleship are being started. Target Area visibility is being established. Expand personal and group evangelism as new people become involved. Note: Develop a sense/feeling of movement ownership among disciples by telling them that they are the future leaders. A movement is strengthened when disciples begin to develop a feeling the movement is theirs. Concentration Build multiplying disciples and develop future leaders Why is it important to develop multiplying disciples? Continue preparation and penetration activities. CONvictions on spiritual maturity and ministry should grow deep. CENter on your disciples as the primary movers in planning and implementing activities. TRAnsferable training, tools and materials should be used. Training conferences and retreats must be done. Make aggressive use of conferences and retreats. E n c o u r a g e m e n t should be regularly given to your disciples. Saturation Expand leadership core & delegate responsibilities to saturate the target are with the gospel. Continue all preparation, penetration and continuation activities. SATisfy the need for every person to hear the gospel. Build a movement within each natural grouping so that: Every person has a multiple, attractive opportunities to hear the gospel. Every interested person has heard a clear, culturally relevant presentation of the gospel with the opportunity to go on in his or her faith. URge disciples to take ownership in reaching their target area. Ask disciples to make a plan for the unsaturated target area. Task of saturation should include filtering out ripe fruit and follow-up.

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Expand the core of movement leadership by developing multiplying disciples. V. Continuation Emphasize sending and expand to new target areas. Continue all preparation, penetration, concentration and saturation activities during this final phase, all other phases are in full operation. COmponent of movement should be improved (momentum, multiplication and management). New Target Areas should be identified. INcrease in manpower resources would mean allocation to other target area saturation. Utilize willing and able disciples to plan and build multiplying disciples in the new target area. Expansion will continue as more leaders and multiplying disciples are developed.

What principles are present in movement building? There are seven principles and each one is present in penetration to continuation phase. They are also present in the ministry of Jesus and His disciples. Seven (7) Principles in Building a Movement: 1. Mobilizing Concerted Prayer 2. Broad Sowing 3. Filtering out ripe fruit 4. Building Multiplying Disciples 5. Building Personal Convictions 6. Establishing Credibility 7. Finding Existing Leadership