Praying to live in light of Jesus' kingdom

The kingdom Jesus brings is worthy of our complete devotion

As I've already mentioned on a previous post, my wife and I recently spent time at Soma School in Phoenix, AZ. If you're wanting to hear more, no worries. I'm still going to share much more in-depth about our week-long experience before the end of 2013. I'll share about it here and there until I unleash the onslaught of multiple posts in a row covering each day.

But for now, I have one more Soma reflection. Chris Gonzalez, the pastor of our host church, Missio Dei Communities, shared one morning that a good document to read for every church planting team is "Leading the Calling and Conversion of Your Core Group" by Rick McKinley, lead pastor of Imago Dei Community in Portland, OR.

Boy, was he right. And with these pastors having churches with the names Missio Dei ("Mission of God") and Imago Dei ("Image of God"), I wonder if it would be beneficial for Emmaus City to change our name to Imago Christi ("Image of Christ"). TBD. I write this with a slightly superstitious grin. 

In any case, one of Missio Dei's church planters-in-residence, Nate Hughes, was kind enough to email McKinley's 12-page call-to-action to everyone involved in Soma Phoenix yesterday, and as I read it, I was deeply convicted. 

"Leading the Calling and Conversion of Your Core Group" will most likely be a good document for Emmaus City Groups (i.e. missional communities) to read each year as a reminder of who we have been called by, why He has called us, and what He has called us to do. You can read all of the document here. Below is a taste.

The bottom line is this: if you are called to plant a church then you stand before God and are accountable to that call. You cannot let anything get in your way. This was the call that the Apostle Paul experienced in Acts 20:22-25: "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again." That's a call! ... What would make a man this insanely passionate about declaring the Gospel? Paul had a deep theological understanding that his life was not his own, it had been bought with a price, and that he belonged to God. ... Paul knew that he stood before God accountable to His call and so will we. So you cannot blame someone else for not accomplishing that which God has called you to do. ...

Mark 1:14-15: "The time has come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news." Jesus begins his calling of the disciples with theological urgency. The coming kingdom reign of God is at hand. Repent is the Greek work metanoe meaning, "to have a change of heart, turn from one's sins, or change one's ways." He calls people to make radical value shifts and different choices in regards to how they do life. The most intriguing part of Jesus' message is not the idea of repentance but rather the reason he gives, "the kingdom of God is near." The nearness of the kingdom and its realty is the motivating force behind his call to repentance.

The choice that Jesus makes in regard to his message holds several significant factors. Jesus begins the movement of which we are now a part, with a call to turn around because this Kingdom is coming. His choice of words holds within it several dynamic forces. The first is a call away from what is. If the people had been living kingdom lives there would be nothing to turn away from. Thus, his call to repent holds within it the idea that they have been traveling the wrong way and have been living opposite of what the kingdom dictates. Second, he develops sense of eternal urgency. In declaring the kingdom is near, he brings a fresh sense of its reality to the forefront of people's minds and hearts, and it is here that he demands a response from them. The people had become complacent to the idea that the kingdom and its reality were worthy of their devotion. Jesus cuts through their complacency by declaring the kingdom both real and present at the same time. ...

Imagine what it was like to leave the side of Jesus and go out into villages proclaiming the Kingdom. They did not have money, food, extra clothes, and a church reserve account to tap in case of emergency. They learned so many things about God and his mission as practitioners versus listeners. They learned dependence in that they had nothing in and of themselves to trust in. They were going out in faith and if God didn't show up they were in trouble. It is no different today with your church plant core team. You are launching out into faith. Fear of failure is all around. And yet, it is in the place of insecurity that we find our greatest security. Faith! When your core grasps that fact that they are the key players it will give them a great sense of ownership. This is no longer your mission it is their mission too, and ultimately it is God's mission. ...

It is imperative that as you move people through the process of conversion to a missional life you allow them to go out and do the work. Many times they will come back rejoicing and sometimes they will fail. The conversion process is you letting them go to be on their own before God, bearing the weight of the work they are called to. They need to know that you are behind them and are their biggest fan. ... Release people to fulfill the piece that God has called them to in this vision. As each one does, you gather them to show how each piece of the vision connects to form this beautiful thing called the body of Christ. ...

Prayer also reveals how much faith we have in trusting God. If you don't have key leaders right now, do you ask God for them? He will move them in from other states and countries if he has to. Do you believe that? Prayer must permeate all we do. He will save us from ourselves and from creating yet another church that does not reflect his heart. If we truly desire to create a church that reflects his heart than we have to get close to it. We do this in prayer. Prayer will also build greater confidence in you as you begin to cast your cares on Him. Give him the worries, fears, and troubles and praise him for the joys and blessings. When we strive to be close to God in prayer and let him dictate to us rather than us dictating to him, we begin to dream God's dreams rather than asking him to bless ours. ...

This is all so good and brings me to my knees again. What dreams does God have in store for Emmaus City? For Worcester as a whole? And do we know that we have been bought with a price to lay down our own lives day-in and day-out for the glory of King Jesus and the love of many in our city?

May I, my family, my core team, and our small expression of Jesus' church be willing to turn away from building our temporary kingdoms and turn to the King eternal so we can be confident and consistent laborers for Him, all the while praying His kingdom come, His will be done in our city as it is in the city of heaven. 

May we be a community that is composed not only of people made in the Imago Dei, but a community that is daily dying to ourselves and being transformed into the Imago Christi together for the sake of many more repenting and believing the good news that Jesus is King.

– Sully

If your curiosity is piqued, or something inside you is being stirred, feel free to connect.