Movement DNA

In 2008, I moved from St. Paul, MN to Kenosha, WI. Moving a family to a new city and beginning a new job is a big decision. Decisions like these grow even bigger when they involve moving away from a church's loving, supportive, caring, and life-saving community and beginning all over again with a new church. One benefit of the move was being within driving distance of my friend Dave. I first heard of Dave through stories my youth Pastor, Chris, shared with me. When I met Dave for the first time at a Son Life training, I felt like I had known him for years. Dave is a disciplemaking missionary who, along with his wife and team, partners with pastors, churches, church leaders, and generally anyone willing to engage in disciplemaking movement. Dave is part of Cadre Ministries.

Cadre operates as a movement within the larger movement of the Christian Church. Without discriminating against denominations, Cadre's team trains and mobilizes church attendees and church leadership to live and promote disciplemaking movement in their local churches. Cadre Ministries is an infusion of movement DNA bringing disciplemaking movement life into local churches.

Cadre gathers like-minded Christians from across various churches into learning communities. Cadre's learning communities explore and reinforce the teachings and practices of disciplemaking movement. Through their efforts, the Cadre Ministries team has significantly impacted the Kingdom of God, igniting movement DNA into individuals, churches, and entire denominations. Cadre Ministries' impact reveals the need to invest in movement DNA to fuel and mobilize people on God's mission.

The National Cancer Institute defines DNA as the genetic material necessary for an organism to grow, organize, and function. DNA passes from on from one generation to the next. An organism's or church's DNA has become a descriptive metaphor for an organization's culture, feel, personality, characteristics, values, ethos, purpose, mission, structure, and motivation. The metaphor of organizational DNA is prolific in discussions on churches and church leadership Cole, 2005). Human DNA is complex. Church DNA is multifaceted and can seem complex. Yet movement DNA is surprisingly simple, making engaging in movement and leading change within the local church accessible to every follower of Jesus.

How does the metaphor of DNA relate to movement? In simplified terms, the DNA of the body consists of information, organization, and directions for the body to grow. The body's DNA is constantly reminding, uniting, instructing, correcting, and motivating the body to grow and fulfill its mission of being human. The DNA of movement, or what I will call movement DNA, defines, organizes, and empowers a movement. Therefore, movement DNA is the needed information, organization, and direction or motivation to accomplish the mission of a group, an organization, or a church.

In Organic Church, Neil Cole describes a church's DNA as consisting of divine truth, community, and mission or purpose. Movement DNA begins with identity. A church is a church because of its connection with God and engagement with God's redemptive disciplemaking mission. Movement DNA also organizes. Organizing the church as a disciplemaking movement means developing strategies to help people maintain their identity in Christ, equip people for God's call on their life, and encourage accountability to engage in mission.

"What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2, CSB).

Finally, movement DNA empowers and celebrates as people engage, individually and as groups, fulfilling their roles in God's mission. The movement DNA of the Christian church consists of our connection with God, our connection with one another, and our commitment to God's mission, incarnationally engaging the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Maybe your church is already a disciplemaking movement. If not, are you willing to join my friend Dave, the Cadre team, and a growing number of disciplemakers as an injection of movement DNA in your local church?

Who taught you how to follow Jesus and live on mission with Him?

Who are you pouring disciplemaking DNA into?

From Chapter 3 of Revive: Leading Change – Igniting Movement by Jim Strecker