“As we examine history, we discover more evidence for the thesis that mission and renewal movements virtually always (I would tend to say ‘always’) arise on the periphery of the broader Church” (Pierson, P. E. (2009).

Paul Pierson was the Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of History of Mission and Latin American Studies at Fuller Seminary (1980–2018).

One reason people on the fringes of the broader Church are ripe for renewal movements is because some things within the organized systems are not working for them. “A mission movement usually arises from a ‘sense of crisis.’ . . . they begin to . . . search either for new meaning or for old meanings in new places or novel ways. In short, the historic and contextual conditions are ripe for change” (Snyder, H. A. (2011). Snyder goes on to say that healthy renewal movements drift towards the center of the movement. 

The church in Gurupá is on the fringe of our movement here in Brazil. They live 16 hours by boat from Altamira, where most of our local leaders live. They practice Discovery Groups and Immanuel Prayer. Personally obey Jesus. Personally experience His presence. The church is growing. There is standing room only at the Sunday services. The pastors, Leão and Edna, brought 36 adults to the training camp, by far the biggest participation of any of our churches. They have many stories including unsaved people hosting Discovery Groups and inviting their friends. Within a short time the friends become Christians and join the church, but the original People of Peace have still not given their lives to Jesus. After people learn how to do Discovery Groups, the Disciple Making Movements (DMM) strategy changes to Leadership Training. This will be our focus in 2020.

The Gurupá worship team is led by Edna, the lady with the black and white dress.

Leão and Edna are the senior pastors at the Gurupá Church (RH side, light blue shirt). Here he leads a workshop on Discovery Groups under a tree that Clenildo planted.
Is your church hungry for renewal? Where is the center of power? How far out are the fringes? If you scan the horizon is there anywhere you can sense God moving in a stronger way? Is there any desire to learn from them and bring fresh air to the center?
 References
 Pierson, P. E. (2009). The dynamics of Christian mission: History through a missiological perspective. Pasadena, Calif: William Carey International University Press.

Snyder, H. A. (2011). Decoding the church: Mapping the dna of christ’s body. Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers.