Darryl Dash: We Need Gospel Movements, Not Just Better Churches

I fully agree with Darryl Dash's article found here. When churches in a particular context learn from one another, unite together in the gospel (and some other core doctrines), and team up in various ways, the gospel will advance in the city and, I'd add, that Christians will be much happier. It's intimidating and lonely to work alone as a church. The joy of fellowship and encouragement of seeing God work in other contexts far outstrips the isolation of being solely focused on one's own church.

Here's the first few paragraphs from Darryl's piece:

Most of us, if we’re part of a church, are focused on the growth of that church. I’ve become increasingly convinced that we need to continue focusing on our individual churches, while also developing a concern for something much bigger. We need to develop a vision for a gospel movement within our area, and ultimately in our country as a whole.

Let me give an example. I pastor in Toronto, and I have my hands full just trying to stay ahead of the challenges in my own church. But no matter how well my particular church does, it will never be able to have the kind of impact that’s needed on the entire city. Toronto doesn’t need one or even a dozen churches to do well. It needs all kinds of churches from all kinds of movements to revitalize existing churches and to start new ones. This means we need to be working together a lot more than we would if we’re focused only on our own churches or our own movements.

We all need to learn from others. We’re used to learning from big and successful churches in other countries. It’s much more effective to learn from good churches in our own contexts. That means that I can probably learn more about effective ministry in my city from other churches in my city, and places like it. The resources I need may not be found within my own movement, but within churches that belong to other movements.

We don’t just need more and better churches. We need gospel movements in key areas of our countries. There are some steps we can take to get there.

Again, you can continue to read here.