Viral Jesus

Last updated on: May 25, 2018 at 12:58 pm by Frank Viola

Viral Jesus 2018-05-25T12:58:29-04:00 Frank Viola

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I caught up with my friend Ross Rohde recently to discuss his book Viral Jesus: Recovering the Contagious Power of the Gospel.

Enjoy the interview!

Viral Jesus: Recovering the Contagious Power of the Gospel

The title to your book is intriguing, Viral Jesus: Recovering the Contagious Power of the Gospel. What is the main point you are seeking to make?

I wanted to answer a simple question. What would it take to once again see a viral movement of the Gospel in the West? It seems like a simple question, but it turns out that that the answer is multifaceted. There are historical issues that need to be addressed. There are cultural/worldview issues that need to be addressed. There are issues built so deeply into the way we think and see our world that we don’t even know they are there. There are even issues in how we covenantally relate with God that need to be addressed. Yet all of these issues can impede the flow of the Gospel. In Viral Jesus I try to bring those to the front and address them clearly, yet graciously.

You wouldn’t consider modern-day Christianity a “viral Jesus movement,” right? Even though “Christianity” is everywhere in the West.

It true that Christianity is the default religion of the West. But it is also true that we are currently losing ground, almost like a house built on sand instead of solid rock. Europe is considered “post-Christian.” The United States isn’t far behind. Viral Jesus goes into these issues, brings the key issues to the forefront and discusses them in depth.

Indeed. The recent Pew Study revealed this in spades. But Christianity was once a viral movement, correct?

Absolutely, and I’d argue that is was designed by Jesus himself to be exactly that. In the first 300 years of our history we were spreading rapidly in all segments of society. Our message was jumping every sort of barrier. The powerful story of Jesus was on the lips of slaves and Roman senators. It was crossing language and cultural barriers. It was not only moving through the Roman Empire, but actually moving across Asia down the Silk Road. Everywhere Christians went, Jesus and his story went with them. That stopped, or more correctly, stopped being viral. They story of why it stopped being viral and the principles behind why it stopped are developed in Viral Jesus.

If the viral explosion of the Gospel stopped, did it ever become viral again?

Yes, the Holy Spirit has broken out virally in our history many times. We commonly call these revivals. And every single time they die down, at least in the West; on average it takes about twenty years. Viral Jesus explores the issues of why they die down and what we can do about that so it doesn’t happen next time. After all, the first viral movement of the Gospel lasted 300 years.

Can you give us examples of viral movements of the Gospel in history?

Yes, but there are two kinds. There are those which die down in about twenty years and those which don’t. I call the first partial Jesus movements. Here’s a sample of partial Jesus movements, in just the last few hundred years: The Moravians, the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening and the Jesus Movement. All of these left lasting results but the fire itself, with most of the supernatural power, died fairly quickly. Viral Jesus investigates some of those movements with their fascinating history and stories and explores why the fire died.

Here’s one example of a movement that has hasn’t died at about the twenty year mark: the house church movement in China. That is not a partial Jesus movement, it’s the real thing. It has been going on sense 1949 (currently 66 years) and continues to grow. It started with at most 100,000 Christians. It is now probably roughly 100 million people and growing. The story of why those two types of movements are different is developed in Viral Jesus.

You believe that Jesus designed the ekklesia to be a viral organism. In your mind, what would it look like if the ekklesia began viral again?

Viral Jesus develops three of those issues with a chapter for each one. Chapter Eight is Viral Discipleship, Chapter Nine is Viral Church Planting and Chapter Ten is Viral Evangelism. I try to take us back to Jesus original design and show how, if we are faithful to the design Jesus intended in the first place, we might just get the results Jesus intended. However, the power in not just is technique and design, it is in Jesus Himself. If we miss that understanding, we miss Him and therefore we miss everything.

You talk about Jesus’ original design, can you give us a hint of what you are talking about?

Let me just say this. Jesus not only came to give us a way to get to heaven. After all, He is the way truth and life. He came to institute a new covenantal relationship with God. That incredible new covenant, is not only the key to our salvation and relationship with God, it carries in its few brief words the seeds of everything, including how we share the Gospel, how we plant churches, how we make disciples.

When, for example, the church gathers, if it doesn’t do so in a new covenant way, it ends up creating barriers to the viral flow of the Gospel. I believe Jesus was very intentional in what he designed. That design is ingenious, and touches every aspect of Christian life. And if we understand it, are faithful to it and Him, we not only can once again see a sustained viral movement of the Gospel, and we will end up with a more intimate relationship with him and see more of his supernatural power. I believe all of these things are intentionally interrelated.

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