“Movement” is probably an over-used word today, but I’m going to use it anyway.
One of the biggest faith movements in all of history is underway today. It’s the spiritual undercurrent that is slowly but inexorably rising because of Simple Jesus Followers. It is this steady growth of such followers that I call a movement.
These people are everywhere, on every continent of the world, and in every strata of society. They are not pointing at themselves, they are not broadcasting who they are on billboards, and they don’t even have a website defining themselves this way. But they have become radicalized by the radical love and reality of Jesus and He is their thing. They are all about the business of being in love with Jesus and expressing His glory through their everyday lives, gifts, and vocations with the understanding that all parts of life are sacred and meant to be lived in love and obedience to Him.
I know simple Jesus followers who are instigating movements of disciples that will impact nations. And I know Jesus followers who are impacting a disabled friend, neighbor, or adopted child thus expressing Jesus and, in God’s economy, having the same impact as the nation-slayer! The will of God being expressed is the mark of these followers and the measure of impact is the Spirit of God at work. Period.
The age of the limelight is over. It’s no longer about the professional ministers, the professional worship choreographers, and the professional religious-organization marketeers. It’s no longer about who is known, who has the giftings that are idealized and idolized, and who has exponential numbers in their resume. I am grateful that some good things came out of these types of expressions, but I am even more grateful that such grandiose demonstrations of religion are fading and making room for followers of Jesus to understand that the real movement is the growth of the uncommon, everyday expressions of the simple Jesus follower.
Jesus was and is an upside-down God. He was born in a stable, ridiculed by religious leaders, condemned by the rich and famous, beaten and spit upon. No, these are not necessary qualifications for His followers, it just points out that His movement, His Kingdom movement that is still alive and well today according to His promise, is being carried out mostly by those least recognized. Further, to sign up for his movement you can be rich or a pauper, you can have a degree or no education at all, you can have world-recognized talents or none at all, you can be outgoing and charismatic or just the opposite. God’s unrelenting plan, from the very beginning, is to work through those who love him and desire him above all else. No other qualification needed! And he is doing just that!
Perhaps the biggest obstacle of the western church is that the everyday follower does not believe in himself or herself or, maybe more to the point, does not believe in God’s power to work through ‘normal’ everyday lives. It’s time to throw off the shackles of the big and the beautiful and believe that every one of us is called to simply follow, with heart and passion, the God who does great things through us, and to see that, by so doing, we have the opportunity to be part of the greatest world-changing movement in history.
