Interview with Jay (3)

Jay: The first characteristic was white-hot faith. What's next?

Steve: The second one is commitment to a cause. Movements aren’t just about my experience of God; they're about changing the world.

Every movement has a unique gift that God has given them. In the Catholic religious orders refer to their founding charism. Each order has call that members commit themselves to.

Obviously every Christian movement should share in what unties us all together as believers in Christ, but alongside of that would be a particular cause that God gives a movement and there are high levels of commitment and its not just an institution that’s demanding commitment, its the cause that draws people.

If we could just be half as committed as the average professional sporting team, we’d probably win the world to Christ in a very short period of time. By why are these people in that team committed? Sure they’re getting paid well probably, but they also love the game, and there’s an energy within them that drives the. So movements have high levels of commitment.

John Wesley rides into Bristol, there’s 900 on the books in the Methodist society there. When he left he had removed 143 of them, because he’s brought discipline, he removed the wife beaters, the smugglers, the drunkards. They’re a mission field, but they are not to be in the heart of his movements.

Movements make high levels of demand on one another and maintain that will. What I call commitment mechanisms, such as accountability groups. They know where they’re going and they expect that of each other.

Look at the heart of Jesus’ movement – high commitment, plenty of avenues of access and connect with the world around, but if you want to be a part of the twelve or the seventy then he is going to expect a lot.