Keller on Movements

From Lausanne 2010:

It takes a movement to reach a city Reaching an entire city takes more than having some effective
churches in it or even having a burst of revival energy and new converts. To change a city with the
gospel takes a self-sustaining, naturally growing movement of ministries and networks around a core
of new church multiplication.
What does that look like? Christians live in the city in a posture of service. New businesses and
nonprofits renew their slices of culture in large and small ways. Believers integrate their faith with
their work so that every vocation becomes a kingdom activity. Campus ministries and other
evangelistic agencies organically produce new Christian leaders who stay in the city and move into
the churches and networks. People use their power, wealth, and influence for the good of others on
the margins of society, to advance ministry, and to plant new churches. Churches and individual
Christians support and commission the arts. Let’s break this down.New churches form the heart of
these gospel ecosystems. They provide spiritual oxygen to the communities and networks of
Christians who do the heavy lifting, over decades, to renew and redeem cities. They are the primary
venue for discipleship and the multiplication of believers, as well as being the financial engine for all
the ministry initiatives. This ecosystem is, therefore, a critical mass of new churches. They must be
gospel-centered, urban, missional /evangelistic, balanced, growing, and self-replicating in diverse
forms, across traditions, integrating races/classes. This is the most basic core of the ecosystem.The
ecosystem also fosters networks and systems of evangelism that reach specific populations. In
addition to campus ministries, which are especially important as a new leader development engine,
other very effective, specialized evangelistic agencies are usually necessary to reach the elites,
reach the poor, and reach Muslim, Hindu, and other particular cultural/religious groupings.Networks
and organizations of cultural leaders within professional fields, such as business, government,
academia, and the arts and media, are part of this ecosystem, as well. It is crucial that these
individuals be active in churches that thoughtfully disciple and support them for public life. These
Printed on 10/25/2010 08:02:37 am 5
What Is God's Global Urban Mission? - http://conversation.lausanne.org/en/conversations/details/10282
The Lausanne Global Conversation - http://conversation.lausanne.org/
leaders must also network and support each other within their own fields, spawning new cultural
institutions and schools of thought.The ecosystem is also marked by agencies and initiatives
produced by Christians to serve the peace of the city, and especially the poor. Hundreds and
thousands of new non-profit and for-profit companies must be spawned to serve every neighborhood
and every population in need. United and coordinated church alliances and institutions also serve
Christian families and individuals and support their long-term life in the city (e.g., schools, theological
colleges, and other institutions that make city living sustainable for Christians over the
generations). Additionally, this ecosystem has overlapping networks of city leaders. Church
movement leaders, theologians/teachers, heads of institutions, and cultural leaders and patrons with
influence and resources know one another and provide vision and direction for the whole city.
Tipping points Isolated events or individual entities crystallize into a growing, self-sustaining
movement when they reach a “tipping point.”
The gospel movement tipping point. A church planting project becomes a movement when the
ecosystem elements are all in place and most of the churches have the vitality, leaders, and mindset
to plant another church within five to six years of their own beginnings. When the tipping point is
reached, a self-sustaining movement begins. Enough new believers, leaders, congregations, and
ministries are being naturally produced for the movement to grow without any single command-andcontrol
center. The body of Christ in the city funds itself, produces its own leaders, and conducts its
own training. A sufficient number of dynamic leaders is always rising up. The number of Christians
and churches doubles every seven to ten years.