From a Movement to a Religion

The Astonishing Tales of Costanza – Volume 3

From a Movement to a Religion

“The number one enemy to the movement of Jesus Christ is Christianity.”

- E. McManus

When the result of Christianity in many people’s lives amounts to an inability to actually live but rather self-preserve, denying themselves the fullness of life, it is hard to imagine this is what Jesus Christ had in mind when He died on the cross 2000 years ago. The fact of the matter is, the history of the Christian church is fraught with these experiences. Because of fear and hatred and a desire to self-preserve, or even develop a larger sphere of power, a part of Christian history is the Crusades and the KKK and so many human atrocities. For this reason, the greatest obstacle for many to Jesus Christ is the history of the church.

After the resurrection of Jesus Christ a movement began and those whose lives were transformed by it, the world called Christians. Now, we call ourselves Christians and the world calls us hypocrites. The church became static, merely focusing on self-preservation. This is most apparent in the local church. Most local churches give us the model of the “Apex Theory,” where they hit the apex of the church’s influence and attempt to cling to the top. The problem is that when we hit the top, we start to die (Makes sense right? Once you reached the greatest moment, you must start to come down). As the church maintained the apex in numbers, it lost its influence. It exchanged the creativity and hunger that got it to the top for static friction. It stopped moving forward because it wanted to remain where it was. This is death to movement. What we failed to notice in this transaction was that as we exchanged an activist, movement oriented faith for a set of rules we turned Christianity into just another world religion.

We forgot that the life of the church is the heart of God. The heart of God is to serve a broken world. When Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist, He reminded us that only He could wash away our sin. The church cannot live when the heart of God is not beating within her. God’s heartbeat is to seek and save that which is lost. The church exists to serve as the body of Christ, and it is through this commitment that we are forced to engage our culture. This type of service demands direct contact and forward movement. You cannot wash the feet of a dirty world if you refuse to touch it.

I now, more than ever before, firmly believe as Paul says in his letter to the church in Thessalonica – We are to be a community that lives by faith, is known by love and is a voice of hope. To be this type of community, we need to be ever moving.

***NOTE - The difference between a religion and a movement is this: movements transform people from the inside out, moving or inspiring them past where they are but religions merely shackle people with rules to restrain their movement with no life transformation, forcing a static, unchanging existence. Without movement, we cannot live. We cannot know life fully but rather die to a life of mediocrity.

***NOTE – Most of what I am saying here is a mixture of discussions with Mosaic leadership, the book “An Unstoppable Force” by McManus and my own thoughts. So yes, I stole many an idea.