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| The Tangible Kingdom Primer |
Apprenticeship:
moving beyond
knowledge-based discipleship
to action-oriented followership,
with the goal of living like Jesus lived;
comes through regular practice,
faith-oriented action, and
personal devotion to know
the ways of Christ
As Emmaus City Church steps into 2025 with a focus on prayer, holiness, courage, and faith (i.e. risk), we're also revisiting a map for a 2-month journey that helped shape us for our first decade as a congregation of missional communities (MCs) in Worcester, Massachusetts.
The Tangible Kingdom Primer: An Eight-Week Guide to Incarnational Community helped our first City Group (MC) lean into apprenticeship with Jesus together during the spring of 2014. And the memories, lessons, and formative experiences have continued to shape people among Emmaus City in fruitful ways to this day.
One review on Amazon by someone who was connected with Emmaus City for that first decade wrote:
... The Primer is outstanding
and I am coming to realize
it is just the beginning
of learning to live like
a true disciple of Jesus Christ. ...
The probing questions
throughout the book
help us to examine our own lives.
The only other place
that I have seen this type of
honest self-assessment
is in the 12 step fellowships ...
Anyone in the church universal
who is sick and tired
of playing at church and
truly wants to be a disciple
will benefit from gathering
a few brothers and sisters in Christ
to go through this primer together. ...
This post provides adapted excerpts from the introduction of The TK Primer for everyone who's being invited to engage how this might shape your life for a couple months in 2025, and perhaps even more so, a few years ahead.
A Personal and Communal
Spiritual Formation Tool
Have you ever watched someone who "made it look easy?" Someone who does something difficult without seeming to put out any effort? Maybe a talented performer, a great speaker, a gifted cook, or artist. They make it look so natural. Part of our amazement often comes from the fact that we've have tried to do the same thing only to realize how difficult it really is.
Why the difference? Well, there are many reasons. Some people are naturally gifted in certain areas. But one foundational issue stands out:
making it look easy
takes a lot of practice.
So it is with incarnational life
and missional community.
Everyone's talking about community. Everyone seems to want it, many are perplexed if they don't find it, and it's harder to pull off than we think. We have time constraints, busyness, fear, and some of us have memories of community gone bad. Some of us have children and some of us struggle to relate well socially. We're stressed about money, we overwork, and when we do get some free time, we have a hard time sharing that time with others.
We all know we need this thing called "community." Yet it seems a Grand Canyon-sized gap exists between our hopes and our realities.
We all know we need this thing called "community." Yet it seems a Grand Canyon-sized gap exists between our hopes and our realities.
So, what do we do?
And will it be worth it?
Nothing good ever comes easy.
Nothing good ever comes easy.
For sure, nothing of God's Kingdom
comes without resistance from
our personal kingdoms or
the world's kingdom.
Nothing of the Spirit of God comes without a good ol' fashioned bar fight from our flesh. Galatians 5 reminds us, "So I say live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." The reason we struggle to live a missional life is that it pulls against every natural fiber, sin, rhythm, habit, muscle, and thought pattern we're used to.
God's ways are natural,
but they aren't easy —
especially at first.
New ways of life
must be formed in us
through hours, days, and years
of intentional practice.
The future of your own faith
and the incarnational presence
of your community is ultimately
about letting the Spirit of God
re-orient everything about you.
God's Kingdom doesn't usually unfold in a nice, neat package or linear progression. In fact, He is much more likely to surprise us, to show up in unexpected places and in unique experiences that only He can orchestrate. Our hope is this journey will help you be ready when He does.
This includes listening and
being willing to be changed.
It also includes learning
to take personal responsibility
for your own calling and
dealing with those parts of your flesh
that keep you from following Jesus
as He leads you out into the world.
At the end of the eight weeks, you'll have the opportunity to decide what you're going to do next. Remember, this is a primer for building lifelong habits. Some of you will thank each other and move on; others will decide to formalize your commitment to go on mission together. There's no failure here. Engage at the pace that you're ready for.
One truth always remains, people are often drawn to good news when they see it in action. Though they may not understand everything, the Gospel is Good News when it touches down in real life.
Key Concepts
Gospel:
the good news of Jesus,
capable of transforming everything
about a person,
their community, and
their world
Missional People:
individuals actively committed
to living a "sent" life
in the context of community
Incarnational Community:
a group of people
with the posture, tone, motives, and
heart of Jesus;
those who physically represent
Him in a particular location
Apprenticeship:
moving beyond
knowledge-based discipleship
to action-oriented followership,
with the goal of living like Jesus lived;
comes through regular practice,
faith-oriented action, and
personal devotion to know
the ways of Christ
The Intuitive Life:
our choices, motives, decisions
led by the Holy Spirit;
a Spirit-empowered lifestyle
guided by a capacity to sense and
respond to God's direction
Key Questions & Themes
Wk 1: What is Missional?
Wk 2: What is Incarnational?
Wk 3: The Gospel
Wk 3: The Gospel
Wk 4: What is Community?
Wk 5: Living Out
Wk 6: Inviting In
Wk 7: Becoming an Apprentice
Wk 8: The Intuitive Life
Daily Rhythm:
Starting Tuesday, March 4, 2025
(As with any spiritual formation practice)
We suggest planning to spend
about 20 minutes a day on this.
Take time to get in a quiet,
undistracted space,
breathe,
begin with silence,
then invite God to speak.
Every question has a purpose.
Every scripture is the breath of God.
If you ask God to direct
your thoughts and writing,
He will.
Day 1: Exploration
(Tuesdays)
Thoughts, stories, and
definitions to help you begin to
get an understanding
Day 2: Meditation
(Wednesdays)
Scripture to soak in;
read it a couple times and
let it do its work in you
Day 3: Change
(Thursdays)
What does this mean to your life?
How would your life be different
if you began to let it be changed
by the Gospel?
Day 4: Action
(Fridays)
Putting the change into practice
Day 5: Community
(Saturdays)
Healthy relationships
with God and with each other
are the center;
this is the day to meet over a meal
Day 6: Calibration
Revisit themes and allow God
to bring transformation to your life
Day 7: ReCreate
A rest day or sabbath:
we rest in Jesus' completed work
on our behalf,
and out of that rest we create
value, beauty, and good works;
stop for a little while and listen
Bonus Posts:
A (local) church which
pitches its tents
without constantly looking out
for new horizons,
which does not continually strike camp,
is being untrue to its calling….
We must play down
our longing for certainty,
accept what is risky,
live by improvisation
and experiment.
+ Hans Kung
pitches its tents
without constantly looking out
for new horizons,
which does not continually strike camp,
is being untrue to its calling….
We must play down
our longing for certainty,
accept what is risky,
live by improvisation
and experiment.
+ Hans Kung
May God's Kingdom come, His will be done.
Que le Royaume de Dieu vienne,
que sa volonté soit faite.
愿神的国降临，愿神的旨意成就。
Nguyện xin Nước Chúa đến, ý Ngài được nên.
Jesús nuestra Rey, venga Tu reino!
🙏💗🍞🍷👑🌅🌇
Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan
