Interview with Jay (6)

Jay: We have white-hot faith, commitment to a cause, contagious relationships and rapid mobilization. Your fifth one was adaptive methods; speak to that one a little bit.

Steve: The heart of the Christian faith never changes and movements are very rigorous in that conservative side of the faith of saying there are some things that will always be true about the Christian faith.

Dynamic movements, while they are very conservative when it comes to the cause, they’re radical in their methods. In other words, they won’t change the message or the heart of the message, but different contexts in different situations, they adapt how that message is communicated or what the structure and the form of the church or the mission agency looks like or how we do evangelism.

They are willing to change everything about themselves to get the job done, except the heart and core of the message. They say, If the internet is going to make an impact we’ll do that; if it’s the printing press puts the scriptures in everyone’s hands, we’ll use it.

Movements pick up on what’s working and are continually changing their methods, but never changing their message.

Jay: Are there some of these characteristics that tend to resonate or do all five tend to just have the same sort of impact?

Steve: My personal bias is white-hot faith. But if I took a step back from how I’m wired, I’d say it’s important to hold the five in creative tension. If your bias is white-hot faith you may need to be a bit more intentional about some of the others. Like baking a cake, you’ve got to have the ingredients in the right balance in order to pull it off.