ENDORSEMENTS

No one knows more about movements than Steve Addison! In The Rise and Fall of Movements, Addison does a brilliant job of presenting his research on movements and succinctly outlining why they grow and why they decline. In this remarkable book, you will discover what it takes to sustain movements and why they matter.

I highly recommend this book to every church leader, church planter, network leader and denominational leader.

DAVE FERGUSON, lead pastor of Community Christian Church, Chicago; author of Hero Maker

Steve Addison is a blast of fresh air. In The Rise and Fall of Movements I find a primer on where I’ve gone right and where I’ve gone wrong leading a church multiplication movement. Not just descriptive, he prescribes a return to Jesus as the source of all identity that drives mission, strategy, and methods.

This book provides a painful, yet hopeful, path to a better future for the church in the West.

RALPH MOORE, founder of the Hope Chapel movement; church multiplication catalyzer at Exponential

Steve’s best yet—I underlined something on every page. Eminently readable because it is also personal, The Rise and Fall of Movements is a scholarly look back at what made movements flourish or fail, a practical look at what God is doing right now, and an inspiring look forward to the best that is yet to come.

ANTHONY DELANEY, leader of Ivy Church Network, Manchester, UK; director of NewThing, Europe

Many people talk about movements but few understand them. Steve Addison is an international expert on the topic. The Rise and Fall of Movements is a brief study of the birth, life, and death of movements that is informed by biblical truth, personal experience, historical analysis, and contemporary realities. Addison reminds us that kingdom-advancing movements are simple and Spirit-led. This book calls us to keep our identities in Christ and his Word; to keep strategies practical, and methods flexible.

J. D. PAYNE, missiologist and author; associate professor of Christian Ministry, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama

In this helpful book, Addison has captured which catalytic factors tend to result in Jesus movements and what influences have tended to result in their decline. Though movements tend to come and go, Addison reminds us that if we are faithful to follow Jesus, and fish for people, Jesus will be faithful to use us, ordinary as we may be, to spread his kingdom to the ends of the earth.

GEORGE ROBINSON, associate professor of Evangelism and Missions; Headrick chair of World Missions

Do you want to see multiplying movements? Steve has done the research and provided insights for leaders at each stage. I enjoyed the story and the lessons from the early Methodist movement under Wesley. I was challenged by the factors that cause movements to settle down.

MARCUS ROSE, founder of HOPE; chairman of Vision Hope International

Movements are the way that God has filled the world with the knowledge of himself. When one movement wanes, another waxes. In this latest volume, in a series of his life’s works on movements, Addison draws conclusions that answer the “why” questions as well as the “what.” Gleaning from the past will help this generation prepare for the future.

I’ve devoured each book that Addison has written, and this one was no exception.

PEYTON JONES, author of Reaching The Unreached and Church Zero

A needed addition to the evolving literature on movement dynamics.

ALAN HIRSCH, award-winning author; founder of 100 Movements, 5Q collective, and Forge International