Steve Addison, The Rise and Fall of Movements: A Roadmap For Leaders. 100Movements Publishing, 2019. 231 pages.
In 2008 Steve Addison was facing a crisis. For twenty years he had been training church planters and advising denominations on how to create rapidly multiplying movements of churches, but he was not actually seeing multiplying movements take off. In other words, he was a committed proponent of a philosophy of ministry known as “Disciple Making Movements” (DMM). DMM endeavors to start church planting movements that multiply exponentially so as to overcome the rate of population growth and fulfill the great commission within one generation. But for Addison, that hope was not materializing in any meaningful way. He writes,
I’d taught hundreds of leaders around the world on the characteristics of movements, I’d trained church planters, pastors and denominational teams on implementation. Churches were planted but where was the fruit? We weren’t seeing multiplying disciples and churches (20).
Instead, Addison found himself facing burnout and depression. In this moment of crisis he recounts telling a Christian counselor: “I feel like my life is over. It has no purpose. I’ll leave no legacy.” It was at that moment the counselor responded with words that
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
