Back in October 2011, my wife Julie and I were in New York City during the time of the Occupy Wall Street protests to attend a conference on ministering to immigrants that are arriving daily in the United States. While walking through the area around Wall Street in Manhattan, I came across the guy above and asked if I could snap his photo. Apparently he was wanting to start his own movement (no pun intended). Today, several years later I came upon the photo and began to wonder, "What type of movement could I begin that produces change." Change for myself, my family, my friends, people I coach and train that are planting churches in Cleveland. I believe that we have the ability and capability to begin movements that create change. Change that is temporal as well as eternal. This has me asking the question, how?
In my thought process, either wrong or right, a movement can take on the nature of a business, a political agenda, or a movement that is spiritual. Some people might call a movement a cause, but I think that is really one dimensional. A movement is more than a cause, it is different. A movement changes me, the individual. It changes others.
I Believe A Movement Starts With A First Step
Nothing happens with anything until someone takes the first step. The problem is that the majority of the time we are waiting for someone else to take that first step. It's the thought of that first step that scares the willingness out of us. It is fear that will decimate a movement before it begins.
What is the first step? It all depends on what you are feeling led to accomplish. If it is to build a business you have to identify what product or service that people want that only you have to offer. Get that - want. Steve Jobs once famously made the statement, "A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."-- BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998 What is the skill, talent, or more importantly knowledge, that you possess that you could build a business on. Today's currency in the business world is knowledge. It is about passing on what has worked for you to someone else who can use the knowledge to create for themselves. You have to show people what you have can make them successful, wealthy, profitable etc...
To start a spiritual movement in an area today, the first step is probably going to involve more than one person. One person may have the dream or vision for a church planting movement or a spiritual revitalization movement, but it will take a larger group to organize and begin to do the hard work. These types of movements usually rally around one or more targeted needs.
Movements Are Waiting To Happen
Movements are not meticulously planned. They germinate as a grass roots idea and then begin to grow. Some slowly, while others will grow very rapidly. There are thousands of movements waiting to happen all over the world today. Some of those movements will be for the better like church planting movements, while other movements such as ISIS are very destructive in so many ways.
As I have been researching many different topics, I have discovered there is a movement of people leaving their corporate jobs going into business for themselves in an unprecedented number. Internet entrepreneurs are becoming wealthy selling products that revolve around their knowledge and skills. These types of entrepreneurs have sprung up in an environment that is ripe with consumers.
There are documented spiritual movements taking place in continents and countries such as Africa, South America, and the Middle East that are unparalleled in modern history. These movements are happening in places thought to be impenetrable in years past. Places where spiritual movements once existed like North America and Western Europe are longing for such movements to re-emerge.
Movements Are Created From A Desire For Change
The problem is not a lack of contentment in a situation, but rather a distaste for the status quo of the current situation that brings about the beginning of a movement. The motivation for a movement is to see change happen. If you are tired of working for "the man" and you want to be an entrepreneur, the movement for you will be to create your future through creating something new. What you create in a new business will move through your family, your tribe/circles of influence, your community, and quite possibly, globally. The first growth of this type of movement begins in you. A movement starts in you! A movement does not occur if the idea stays in you, it has to be released and when it is released, something wonderful begins to happen. Many of the activities that take up your time, resources and energy that are usually focused on the status quo will be rearranged, transformed to promote germination and growth of the movement.
If you are seeking a spiritual movement, many of the comments in the previous paragraph are applicable, but it is not the same! Spiritual movements are guided by God and not by the activity of people. Of course, we know that God will use people to carry out his plans as we see that happen daily. When a guy wrestles with the calling of planting a church and finally decides to move forward something happens that is eternal. A movement in this sense is like a pregnancy. The stages of pregnancy of course are conception, gestation, and delivery. After delivery, there is nurturing and maturation of the child. Spiritual movements begin in the conception stage when someone has the idea that there needs to be change. Many times they are not thinking movement, but movement begins at this point.
[callout]If you have questions about Movements, feel free to leave a comment or contact me. I would love to discuss the topic further with you[/callout]
