All over the Western World, mature Christians have begun to ask themselves, “Is this it?” . Dissatisfied with being unfruitful, tired from years of doing church, bored and sometimes lonely, many Christians are once again taking stock of what they believe, and how they outwork it in today’s Western society. Not only are many Christians taking stock, but a good proportion of them are doing something about, stepping out of there comfort zones, walking away from what is familiar and jumping into the unknown.
Several authors and commentators have begun to commentate and remark on this phenomenon such as Wolfgang Simson, Jim Ruiz, Jim Montgomery, George Barna and many others. Reading widely and experiencing this phenomenon myself, I believe that there are three main desires in mature believers which are creating this surge.

1. Dissatisfaction with the status quo.
Many of the believers affected in this new move, have been in two or more churches. Often they have been heavily involved at some stage. It is common for them to have come to the conclusion that church as they have known it is missing the mark in regards to the world they live in from what they read in the New Testament. Often words like, exhausted, dissatisfied and meaningless are used.

2. Desire to be simpler.
This is one of the core values and people can come to it from different directions. It is a reaction to peoples feeling that institutional church needed one to be so busy with involvement that it made people be doers instead of be’ers. For some it is a value out of what they believe is expressed in the New Testament about simplicity of faith and the apparent simplicity of the church gathered expressed in the Bible compared to what they have known. For others the desire to be simple is out of conviction, that the simpler they live out there faith the more effective it would be in fulfilling the great commission. Some also are turning to simpler forms believing it is more relevant to a post modern world then the churches they have left.

3. Desire for more Fruitfulness.
Many have carried the feeling that they have not been very fruitful for God, in the way they have previously lived there life. They are living out the dictum ‘if you continue to do what your doing, you will continue to get what your getting’ Even though they are aware that making the change does not automatically mean they will be more fruitful, they feel it can’t be any worse then how they were before. For some involved in this surge, the two points above may not hold so true, but there desire to find more relevant forms of faith / worship expression in today’s world brings them into this group (these people are often tagged as the ‘emergent church’).

Out of these three desires, mature believers are beginning to act out there faith in many diverse ways (to numerous to list here.) Some believers are staying within the traditional structures, advocating against growing bigger but to begin making the structures simpler. Some Believers have left ‘normal church’ and are doing nothing, either waiting for God to reveal himself to them or being completely unsure of what to do next. Others are gathering in homes, offices, cafes and being the church in neighbourhoods and workplaces. Some are forming themselves into teams and focussing on tasks that they feel God is calling them to undertake such as relieving poverty in there neighbourhood, or backing to the hilt some missionary endeavour . These are just some of the massive expression’s beginning to take place.

Perhaps you are a mature believer, who has become dissatisfied with the status quo and are feeling a real frustration in your spirit. I remember a very wise man once said to me. Frustration comes from God to galvanise us out of where we are at. After frustration we need to know the holy Spirits leading that we can have the confidence to take the first step to a better tomorrow.