Movements move

Jesus always on the move. You read the gospels and Jesus is always going somewhere. He's always meeting new people. He's visiting new towns. He covers the nation in just a few years.

In his three year public ministry, Jesus could have easily visited the 175 towns and villages throughout Galilee. It would have been difficult to find any of the 200,000 people of Galilee who had not encountered Jesus in some way. Most of the half million Judeans would have heard of him including many of the 100,000 inhabitants of Jerusalem (see Schnabel)

Get to the book of Acts and the pace picks up. Now there are disciples following Jesus' example heading off in all directions. If they try and settle down, along comes persecution and they keep moving. Every now and again they circle back to strengthen the disciples they've made along the way.

Movements move. They don't stay in one place. They're restless and relentless. There's urgency and there's movement.

So where did our settled models of ministry come from? Maybe it's a traditional parish system—with bishops. Maybe a house church. Even a mega/multisite church. A seminary.

Movement leaders move. Ask Patrick, and Xavier and Carey and Wesley or the Booths. Settling down is not on the agenda. Unless you happen to be in jail.