On March 5th, my newest book Leading Kingdom Movements will be released. The following is a small excerpt from the first chapter exploring the opportunity afforded to us by the cultural earthquake we have all experienced in the last 50 years.

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In seismically active zones, such as the Jordan Rift Valley, is a geological phenomenon that almost boggles the mind. It’s called liquefaction. When a layer of more fluid strata lies below a nearly stable strata, the fluid strata begins to move and rise during an earthquake, and sediments stop acting like a solid and begin acting like a liquid.

In other words, in certain times of upheaval, things can be shaken so violently that even the properties of the earth seem to change. Solid becomes liquid. Such events give rise to shocking images when buildings and other objects move and even sink in the fluid earth!

As a result, buildings that were built on a strong foundation suddenly are anything but stable. It’s fascinating to see the pictures. These buildings will remain completely intact but now sit at a 45- or 90-degree angle, unusable and no longer able to fulfill the purpose for which they were built.

The church finds itself in such a position today. Even churches that were built on strong foundations find the ground beneath them turning into liquid. We have no idea what to do about it. I mean, how do you build a church when you don’t even know if the ground it is sitting on is going to remain a solid?

I believe the answer is in building Kingdom movements. The answer is in building something that has a strong foundation but is also infinitely flexible. There are grounded, fixed points that in some ways might resemble an organization, but upon a closer look actually reveal the nimble and flexible nature of the organism.

What earthquakes can also do is show us if we are flexible enough. Earthquakes help us respond. I may even dare say that from time to time, the church needs a good earthquake. Why? Because in the wake of cultural earthquakes, the church has often been at its most effective.