Dr. Ed Stetzer, Director LifeWay Research

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• Dr. Ed Stetzer, Director LifeWay Research

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If and when

• Movemental Christianity happens in North America,
  I believe it will consist of 10 elements.

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(No Transcript)
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Prayer

• Too often, placed first out of habitnot
  conviction.
  
• True movemental Christianityprayer will have to
  come first.
  
• Ask God to change us.

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Intentionality

• We need to show the intention of being
  movemental.
  
• At the moment, our focus is defensive and
  incremental not intentional.

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Sacrifice

• No change comes without giving something up.
• No movement will happen until pressure is applied
  to move the church from the place of being static
  to a body of believers in action.

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Reproducibility

• Movements do not occur through large things
• Big budgets
• Big teams
• Movements occur through small units that are
  readily reproducible
  
• Reproducibility has to be seen at every level.

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Reproducibility

• Such reproduction requires that we resist the
  grandiose in favor of the reproducible.

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Theological Integrity

• Churches wanting to be involved in transformative
  movemental Christianity hold firm and passionate
  positions on biblical views.

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Theological Integrity

• The Baptists won the Western Frontier because
  they were passionate about their beliefs.
  
• The Pentecostals are not de-emphasizing what they
  believe to win Central America.
  

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Incarnation
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Empowerment

• Movements only occur when the disempowered are
  given the freedom, and then take up the
  responsibility, to lead.

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Empowerment

• In our case, the clergification of the church has
  marginalized those God has calledall people.
  
• The marginalization disturbs and satisfies
  pastors at the same time.

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Empowerment

• Pastors are disturbed because they cannot get
  others to do the work.
  
• They are satisfied because they are affirmed for
  doing the work others should be doing.
  
• For many pastors, their identity is tied up in
  the affirmation that comes from a disempowered
  church.

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Empowerment

• Such co-dependence is the death-knell of
  movemental Christianity.

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Empowerment

• Insteadordinary believers need to be expected
  and trained to participate in the ordinary
  activity of living a life surrendered to God and
  His movement to redeem a lost world.

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Charity

• Movemental Christianity is messy.
• Those involved in it make mistakes.
• Nobody gives her or his life for a bland belief
  system.
  
• A movement of God cannot be contained in a single
  movement or even theological tradition
  

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Charity

• It requires charity to hold firmly held
  convictions while rejoicing for and speaking well
  about, those who hold other convictions and are
  being greatly blessed by God.

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Scalability

• Movements often are stifled within smaller
  communities because of the small mindedness of
  local believers.
  
• When God begins to move, and believers allow
  movement Christianity to begin to grow,
  structures must be able to rapidly re-size to not
  stifle such movements.

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Scalability

• In many cases, movements will break out of
  structures.

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Scalability

• Often, organizations created to facilitate
  structures loose their scalabilitythereby
  hindering the movement.
  
• These structures become bottlenecks rather than
  catalysts.
  

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Wholism

• The modern evangelical separation of gospel
  proclamation and societal transformation is an
  historical oddity.
  
• Movemental Christianity practices holistic
  ministry much in the way of Jesus.
  
• Current movements and historical awakenings are
  and were accompanied by societal transformation.
  

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Conclusion

• I do not hold the keys to movement
  Christianitybut I do yearn for it.