Who: J. Mark Brinkmoeller (ONE)

What are the movements that you are a part of?

What are some of the key differences between being a part of a movement and being a part of an organization?

• Movements are ‘bigger’ than organizations.
• Several organizations can be part of the same movement.
• Movements typically have a dynamic/charismatic leader.
• Movements typically use other people’s money (sometimes from organizations), but there is no central way to get it.
• Members of movements are the ones who care/show up.

Why is it important to understand the differences between a movement and an organization? They don’t function the same way, and aren’t intended to.

Our organizations must look and work like movements sometimes in order to grow and expand their reach. An organization should be willing to risk and sometimes ‘loose control’ in order achieve what a movement does.

Was the early church more of a movement or an organization? When did the church (as recorded in the Book of Acts) start acting like an organization?

During the Council of Jerusalem there was a crisis of Paul evangelizing the gentiles. The deal that was struck was that Paul got to evangelize, while Peter got the money. At that moment, the movements had to come together and act like an organization to figure how to work together.

How do you strike the balance between a movement and an organization?

If you want to reach masses with your message, then you want to create a movement. An organization can be successful if it can create a movement. An organization should not try to be the movement, even if it is the one that sparks it.

bibledude: This makes me think of things like Servolution. Dino Rizzo and Healing Place Church has labeled what they do as a ‘Servolution’. It is a movement that I have seen take off around the world, but it is not about HPC taking off around the world. A Servolution (the movement) is about building the Kingdom, and not building a single church (the organization). However, HPC is instrumental in leading this movement, even though it is bigger than them.

What I take away from this session is that if we want to initiate change through the church, then we must not focus on building our organizations. But our organizations can be instrumental in sparking and supporting movements.

Key points/suggestions:

• We need to be clear about the differences so that we understand what each is.
• At times an organization should act like a movement, and other times like an organization.
• Be clear in what your organization’s role is in the movement.

From @gordonwu in the online chat… big take away would be to keep involving others in what you are doing to make it a movement, whether it be petitions, blogs, etc.

More from ICDC: live blogging @theideacamp conference