This week Discipleship.org hosted their National Disciple Making Forum online. They did a masterful job of transitioning this conference to an online format. I was especially impressed with the user interface that allowed navigation to the different venues within the conference. One of the nuggets from a main session was an observation regarding the absence of kingdom terminology in the American Church. As I reflected on that observation, I concluded it was worthy of more consideration.
There are at least three sub-topics:
1) The negative impact on the church, (today’s topic)
2) The Biblical Basis for Kingdom Emphasis, even within the Church
3) The Positive Benefit of Kingdom Terminology and Thinking
The American Church, (Western Church) has lost its way, lost its purpose. The statistics regarding the loss of influence of the church within our culture are staggering. The attractional church growth model is not working, it does not produce Disciple Makers. The Church has taken on a Therapeutic Emphasis. (Bill Hull) We focus on ourselves and on our own comfort. Even our spiritual disciplines of prayer and the study of the Word are self focused. “Jesus, please make everything be comfortable in my life.” “I want to study the Bible so I can fix my life, my marriage, and my kids.” The harsh reality is we view and evaluate our local church the same way we would evaluate our membership at a country club. I want to go to the church that provides the best suite of religious services for my family. The lack of Kingdom emphasis has contributed to our current state.
We can actually go all the way back to the Reformation. Great gains were made to restore the Biblical truths of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. However those theological debates continued for years, and for many, gradually shifted the focus of the church to study and teach the work of God in our personal lives. We glory in the expression of God’s love through His gift of eternal life – made possible by the work of the Lord on the cross. We focus on the personal benefits of God’s gift to us. In the future, we focus on the personal benefits of being with Jesus in heaven.
In our Bible teaching churches we spend most of our study in Paul’s NT letters to the churches. We love to hear what God has done for us, and how we can live in a manner that will bring God’s blessing into our lives. However, Kingdom terminology is rooted in the Old Testament, and most often mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels, (Matthew, Mark & Luke). Our very brief exposure to these portions of Scripture lead to an absence of kingdom thinking. We have lost the big picture.
Lack of Kingdom thinking leads to a preoccupation with what God is doing in my life. The resulting self focus obscures the invitation of Jesus to follow Him and participate in His Kingdom work. Lack of Kingdom thinking leads to a lack of Making Disciple Makers.
Next time: The Biblical Basis for Kingdom Emphasis even in the Church.
May the Lord use each of us to be part of a Disciple Making Movement within our sphere of influence.