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Bible & Mission

Kingdom Mission

Anyone who calls what they are doing “kingdom work” but who does not present Jesus to others or summon others to surrender themselves to King Jesus as Lord and Savior is simply not doing kingdom mission or kingdom work. They are probably doing good work and doing social justice, but until Jesus is made known, it is not kingdom mission.

Much as I wish I had written this blog post, I can’t claim authorship of anything other than this introductory paragraph. These are quotes from Scot McKnight’s excellent book Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church. I’ll have more to say when I finish it, but these quotes should give you a flavour of where he is going. The hardback costs an arm and a leg, but the paperback is an excellent buy.

I believe in the Bible, and I believe the only theology worth giving ourselves to is a theology shaped through and by the Bible.

If kingdom mission flows out of the kingdom story, and if Jesus’ kingdom theology was shaped by his context, then his mission was also for that context—fair enough for Jesus and undeniable for us too. Kingdom mission today only works when tied to our context as we seek to live out Jesus’ kingdom vision in our world. Kingdom.

We are not supposed to invent our own ideas, then go to the Bible to find support, and then claim the Bible as the authority for our own inventions.

At the very heart of kingdom mission are the kingdom people, the church of King Jesus. In one short expression, then, kingdom mission is first and foremost church mission.

The kingdom in the New Testament is not just a future glory but a present rugged reality struggling toward that glorious future.

It is more glamorous to do social activism because building a local church is hard.

In the general and more defined sense, then, kingdom mission must be incarnational. We, too, must leave in order to lead others to find God; we, too, must become what others are in order to help them to become what God wants for them; and we, too, are to morph in order to guide others into kingdom transformation. We must die so that others may live.

Kingdom mission is church mission is gospeling about Jesus in the context of a church witness and a loving life. Anyone who calls what they are doing “kingdom work” but who does not present Jesus to others or summon others to surrender themselves to King Jesus as Lord and Savior is simply not doing kingdom mission or kingdom work. They are probably doing good work and doing social justice, but until Jesus is made known, it is not kingdom mission.

 

 

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