What's Behind the Rise and Fall of Movements?
And the Church must be forever building, and always decaying, and always being restored.
—T. S. Eliot
The Anglican Church of Canada is an example of a church in Decay. It’s a sad reality that churches, ministries, mission agencies can drift from and ultimately repudiate their Identity in Christ then go on living off the assets of past generations.
The Scriptures repeatedly warn God’s people to return to their first love expressed in obedience to God’s living Word, dependence on the Holy Spirit and faithfulness to the Mission God has given them. There are dire consequences for drifting from and then repudiating our Identity.
God is faithful and will discipline and restore his people, but there is no way back if we place our word above his Word. We judge ourselves by ourselves.
A movement lives for a cause beyond itself, an institution exists to perpetuate itself. Throughout history, great missionary movements have settled down and made this world their home. That’s the trend of history. Is there no hope?
Our hope is in Christ who was the obedient Son of his Father, dependent on the Spirit, laying down his life to fulfill his mission and launch a movement that would multiply disciples and churches to the glory of God.
God comes to his people repeatedly to renew our Identity in Christ. Sometimes that new life renews existing institutions, often it breaks out to form new movements on the fringe. Either way, our hope is not in our best efforts but God’s ability to make dry bones live again (Ezekiel 38). Jesus rose from the dead, there’s nothing he can’t do.
