by Rodney Martin
Glenn Kauffman, Keith Blank, and I recently attended the Movement Leaders Collective (MLC) gathering in London. MLC hosts an annual, three-day Global Gathering. Previously held in the US, the gatherings include a variety of collective partners (church groups and organizations) working to be more movemental. Since this gathering was in Europe, we were blessed with opportunities to interact and connect with MLC partners who are not always able to attend the US gatherings. This was an exceptional gathering for us, with amazing times of worship and ministry, networking, and being challenged to go deeper in the movement work God has called us to. Also, we were not the only Anabaptists in attendance. There were several leaders from the Mennonite Church of Eastern Canada, Mosaic, and from the Anabaptist Network in the UK.
One of the biggest gifts from these global gatherings is deepening connections and networking with other groups on a similar journey as we are at LMC. We had the opportunity to have dinner with the leadership of Synergy, a network of churches primarily in the United Kingdom who have been around for the past fifty years. They’ve had similar experiences as LMC, and are also working towards their congregations being a movement. We felt a kindred spirit with the leaders. Specifically, we connected with Aled Griffith from their network, who will be in the US at the end of June. We will have an opportunity to connect with him at the LMC office.
I also found it personally impactful to connect with a group from Belgium called Recruiters. Belgium is potentially the most secular country in the European Union with minimal church attendance across all Christian denominations. One of the Belgium leaders told me about a conversation with a colleague who knew nothing about the significance of Easter as the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection. In their secular environment, these Belgium leaders are seeing a multiplication of disciples among young people because there is a hunger for Christ among the younger generations who know nothing of Jesus.
Recruiters is a proof of concept, where we see movement thinking being activated. Part of our input time (time spent connecting and sharing with other leaders) during the Global Gathering was a conversation about how movement engages the whole heart, including ideas (mind), community (soul), and proof (will). Within LMC, we have had a lot of conversation around the idea of movement and we are working on creating a community that fosters movement. When we have proof of concept, like Recruiters in Belgium, we will begin to see movement.
This gathering had a collaborative spirit I have not felt in the same way at the US gatherings, though they have also been really great experiences. In Europe, Christians are a minority and pioneers are few, so leaders seeking to be a movement realize they need one another. This creates a different culture from the one in the US, where we still have the ability or resources to go it alone, and may not recognize the importance of journeying together with others.
We also had the privilege to tour parts of London with Simon and Ceri Harris, who will be leading the APEST seminars for the LMC Fall Leadership Assembly in September. The UK—and especially London—is a land rich in Christian history, though with a decreasing Christian population. The Harris’ took us to the church where John Wesley preached and to the location of his house, which has a plaque that tells about his conversation experience. There, we prayed for London and for there to again be a movement multiplying disciples of Christ across Europe, the US, and beyond.
Rodney Martin serves on the Bishop Elder Team for LMC. His passion is to see the church in movement, connecting with younger generations to make disciples who live Christ-centered lives that are transforming the world.