Factors That Contribute to or Impede Movements

Abstract

This article reports on the first-ever empirical study of factors that either contribute to or impede the catalyzing of movements. The study administered a survey among 307 pioneer missionaries across 38 countries and conducted 45 in-depth interviews. Survey participants rated 21 items in terms of their significance in contributing or impeding. The data analysis shows that contributing and impeding items map onto five factors that align with existing conceptual categories, most notably effective ministry strategy. The findings show that the factors with the most significant impact on movement outcomes are primarily internal, such as ministry strategy or managing time constraints, whereas external factors such as societal opposition or prior openness to the gospel have a lesser impact. This distinction carries major implications for missionary strategy. Practitioners need to be educated on the nature of these factors and should be equipped to develop effective ministry strategies, take charge of their own personal growth and competency development, deal with team character issues and conflict, build capacity, and mitigate the impacts of external opposition.