Northern Lights: 9 Movement Lessons from a Finnish Network
By S. Crawley
Photo by Mira Kemppainen on Unsplash
"That might work in African or Asian villages, but it can't happen here."
The comment is likely familiar to anyone with a vision for replicating discipleship in urban environments, which are often individualistic. In cities, movement principles can seem impossibly disconnected from daily realities. Relationships are often shallow, and schedules are packed.
Yet a different story is emerging in Finland, one of Europe's most secular and individualistic nations.
Introducing Pyry
Pyry (pronounced “Puru”)is an ordained Lutheran pastor. Ten years ago, a deepening prayer life heightened his awareness of God's heart for the majority in Finland who were not engaging with the institutional church. Pyry began looking at Jesus' life and ministry and was troubled by the disconnect he saw between what Jesus did and what he was doing.
This propelled him out of the institution and into the harvest.
Today, Pyry leads a network of harvest workers across seven Finnish cities. Made up almost entirely of young adults and professionals, this network is characterised by relational authenticity, commitment to growing together in community and actively connecting and serving different urban villages in their cities.
You can hear more of Pyry's story on Dave Lawton's podcast, here.
9 Observations that Speak to Urban Movement
Here are some of the principles I've observed in this Finnish network that speak to urban mission practitioners and catalytic leaders in cities anywhere.
1. Commitment to Authentic & Growing Relationships
Pyry and the network place a high value on authentic and loving relationships that support growth.
"Accountability" and "rebuke" are not dirty words in this community, but have their place alongside "love" and "encourage". With a commitment to supporting each others' personal and spiritual growth, there is freedom to honestly process feelings and experiences with each other.
2. (God's) Big Vision
As they seek God in prayer, the enormity of His vision and heart compels them to look at their entire nation, not just their neighbourhoods. Pyry also feels that God has given Finland a part to play in serving Europe. The size of God's vision keeps them out of their comfort zone and on their knees seeking His plans.
3. Start Where You Are
In the early days, they began by being faithful to serve spiritual hunger where they had natural relationships – often among people with Christian backgrounds from the "church affinity". Over time, God has opened doors, and they are seeing groups start and replicate from secular backgrounds.
4. Patient Adaptation of Movement Principles
The teams in this Finnish network recognise that their urbanised, individualistic culture is different from that of rural settings, where "traditional" DMM has been most widespread.
Understanding that a "copy and paste" approach would not be effective, they focussed on the wine of God's Kingdom (love God, love one another, pursue His mission, disciple the hungry, empower others to do the same) and have experimented with wineskins and methods.
Effective wineskins for their context are emerging over time.
5. Effective Discipleship More Important than Comfortable Structures
Because their primary priority is healthy communities of disciples who are growing together and helping others do the same thing, the network has had to be flexible in "how" they engage the harvest, the rhythms of their discipleship and the structure of their meetings.
The complexity of the city and the diversity of the harvest have forced them to let go of rhythms that were more comfortable for them (like a Sunday morning service).
6. Adapt to Social and Scheduling Realities
People in cities are busy. Rather than fighting this fact, these Finnish harvest workers recognise and adapt to that reality.
The network is decentralised, with individual teams arranging their rhythms according to their needs and the needs of the harvest affinities God has called them to. Young mothers have different rhythms to university students, and the team organise themselves accordingly. Leaders stay connected with each other, but larger network gatherings are less regular so as not to disrupt local life-on-life rhythms.
7. Narrow Focus
Even though the Finnish population largely belongs to the same culture, the network recognises the underlying complexity and engages it. Through praying and discerning which affinity to serve, they can have greater focus, allowing them to recognise the Kingdom values the community already demonstrates and meaningfully serve the brokenness that impacts them.
For example, when God connected them with conspiracy theorists, the team recognised and affirmed their commitment to truth-seeking – a strong Kingdom trait. At the same time, this network had a lot of paranoia and social isolation with a hunger for community. The team looked at how to specifically serve these needs and build meaningful connections for and with the network.
8. Intentional Community Building
This is a point of hunger for many young Finns which is deeply aligned with God’s Kingdom and His heart for His people.
The teams are committed to pursuing a deepening relationship with God and with each other - even when it gets uncomfortable. They are also intentional about creating "pre-church community" spaces. These spaces provide opportunities for people to experience genuine community and authentic spirituality without being pressed into religious activity.
9. Kingdom Economics
Across the network, these teams maintain an ethos of "freely receiving and freely giving", taking what they've learned from others and passing it on wherever they can. They're not trying to build a brand (they don’t have a name!) or capture a market but follow Jesus and open-handedly serve the hunger they encounter.
"That might work in Finland, but it can't happen here."
These learnings and practices have emerged in Finland's unique context, but they are a continuation of what we see in Scripture, and they are consistent with experience and learnings in other contexts globally.
Pyry would be the first to say that they haven't "cracked the code" – he longs for the full reaping of the Finnish harvest – but there is some good learning that can encourage those of us in other urban harvest fields.
God's Kingdom is not limited to Finland any more than it is limited to African and Asian villages. There are insights waiting to be discovered in your context, too!
What might new Kingdom wineskins look like where God has placed you?
Getting Practical
As you think about God's vision for your city and/or affinity group:
Which of these observations from the Finnish network stick out for you? Why?
What could be helpful to apply in your team or harvest context?
Discipling the Urban Harvest provides practical insights and encouragement to walk with God in multiplying discipleship in an increasingly urban world - growing as children of the Father, serving the communities He has called us to, and discipling those hungry to know Him.