"The future was set by mobilizing normal people"

Steve Addison serves as the Director for Christian Resource Ministries in Australia. Addison came on the show today to talk about a book he recently wrote Movements That Change the World: Five Keys to Spreading the Gospel.      

Describe to us a movement that changed the world.

Probably one of my favorites in church history is the movement that came out of England under John Wesley - the Methodist movement.

You talk about several keys to revival movements. The first is a  white hot faith. Talk to us about that.

My daughter gave me a print that I hang over my desk of the Apostle Paul on the Damascus road, and he's in the dust.

That one encounter that he had with Christ changed him forever.

He became the greatest leader in our faith apart from Jesus himself. But it began with a powerful encounter with God through His Son Jesus.

Do people get white hot from an encounter? Or does it evolve over time?

There are key crisis moments for individual founders.

But they also build into their lives...spiritual disciplines. John Wesley had a number of key encounters with God, but he also learned to build a disciplined movement.

It's the crisis moment...and it's also the disciplines we build into our lives.

You talk about this second key to spreading the gospel. That is, committing to the cause. How did they challenge people?

I have a couple of boys well over six-foot tall. They play a whole range of sports. They're continually being pursued by coaches...and there are very high demands made upon them, but they love it.

Movements that changed the world are similar. They have a cause.

They can be quite demanding, but because the movement has caught their imagination.

Committed people change the world.

Is that commitment future-oriented?

Yes.

It often starts with discontent.

The third element beyond that future-oriented cause is that people take action.

The fourth key is rapid mobilization.

Movements often have that balance between freedom and appropriate control.

The reason there is such a high level of Christian commitment in the United States compared to other European nations is the Methodist and baptist efforts on the frontier.

Now the well-educated, well-trained clergy didn't see a need to go to the frontier. But the future was set by mobilizing normal people.

Could such a movement happen like this today?

They're happening all over the world.

They're happening in the developing world.

Places like Africa and South America.