How Did They Do That??

I am on my second read through of Alan Hirsch's fantastic book on movements. Alan does a excellent job of capturing the essence of 'movement.' He gathers insights by looking at the expansion of the NT church and the church in China and asking "How did they do that?".

So - how did they do it? (go 25k to 20 million in 200 years). Before you venture your guess, here is the reality of both situations.

• Christianity was an illegal religion (at best tolerated, at worst persecuted)
• No buildings
• No Bibles (or very few)
• No professional pastors, teachers or paid staff
• No bands, seekers services, or youth groups (or flannel boards)
  
• No seminaries, commentaries, bookstores or publishing houses
• They made it hard to join!

Those are Alan's observations - here are my additions.

• Few people could read (they could not have a 'quiet time' in the way we often teach)
  
• No one had a college education
• No mass communication (no email, phone, etc)
• No strategic planning processes, no PrEFACE model, no Growth Model or Leadership Model.

Had enough? The growth was explosive - and without many things that we consider essential.

What gives? What is true of these situations that we are missing now? How did this initial movement move so fast, so furiously and so effectively?