For the Kingdom

The kingdom of God was one of Jesus’ favorite topics.¹ And yet, the evangelical church has often ignored or distorted this essential theme and divided over its implications.² The result has been an unclear vision and disconnected strategies. The question is, what does the kingdom mean for the church in global missions? This is all the more pressing as we gather for the Fourth Lausanne Congress to ‘declare and display Christ together.’³ 

The Church Versus the Kingdom

It is worth addressing a few related theological errors. The first is that the church is the kingdom. If one conflates the two, issues arise by diminishing the future glory of the kingdom or exaggerating the church as the end goal. In Matthew 16:18–19, the ekklesia and the basileia are intimately related, but distinct.⁴ The ekklesia, those who are called out and confess Jesus as King, hold the keys to the basileia, the kingdom, the entire dominion of Christ.⁵ They are related in that the church embodies the nature of the kingdom in a tangible way, but does not yet express the fullness.⁶ Local churches are not meant to be small separated kingdoms. Rather, like a signpost, they portray and point to the unified, greater, and eternal kingdom. 

Proper kingdom vision spurs the church on toward global mission, and the tension between the ‘now and not yet’ illuminates a gap that guides our prayerful strategizing. The problem is when the church loses sight of that goal and exists like a church without the kingdom. Without a kingdom vision, churches naturally turn inward, and the result is insular activity. We know the church is not about filling pews. The church is a missional, disciple-making body that exists for every people and place.⁷ If the vision is the kingdom, then the church is called into every space where God’s reign exists to bring shalom. The Lausanne Movement calls this ‘kingdom impact in every sphere of society.’⁸ 

Since the church has a beautiful and expansive mission on earth, we can refute the misconception that there will be a kingdom without a church. There is no completed kingdom without an ekklesia from all nations. And those saints are not ‘called out’ to just sit and wait. The Lausanne Covenant states, ‘World evangelization requires the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world. The church is at the very center of God’s cosmic purpose and is his appointed means of spreading the gospel.’⁹ In other words, all the saints on earth have the obligation and privilege to announce the gospel of the kingdom (Matt 24:14) and demonstrate the kingdom (Matt 5:13–16) so that all people can be born again and enter, becoming ever more sanctified in the Spirit’s power to look like their Savior (John 3:3; 2 Cor 3:18; Phil 1:6). 

If we agree so far, we can conclude that God is working through his church to portray, proclaim, populate, and prepare for his kingdom. The question is, what can we do practically to recapture this essential reality? There are at least four key ways the church can MOVE together in global missions and be more kingdom-minded: Mission, Oneness, Vision, and Evangelism.

Mission: Making kingdom-minded disciples

Jesus commanded disciple-making (Matt 28:18) for kingdom purposes. His vision was a kingdom, and he wanted his disciples (ambassadors) to extend his reign into the workplace, home, and local communities. Christopher Wright proposes three missional mandates as a holistic expression of this disciple-making call: building the church through teaching and evangelism, serving society, and caring for creation.¹⁰ 

Kingdom-minded mission energizes local churches to become disciple-making communities through gathering, worship, sending, listening, and serving.¹¹ In the early church, Sunday gatherings served the Monday scattering to make visible the reign of God in every place, starting where they already were.¹² Regretfully today, as the State of the Great Commission Report reveals, across the global church only 5 to 16 percent of leaders surveyed could say that they perceived the local churches in their context to be ‘very much united by a shared commitment to the Great Commission’ in their region.¹³ The solution is an integral mission¹⁴ to bring shalom and restore right and loving relationships with God, neighbor, nature, and oneself. 

Global mission brings the threat of prideful ambition. ‘Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe’ (Heb 12:28). Remember that we receive the kingdom more than achieve it through worldly means (Dan 7:27; Matt 18:3; Heb 11:10).¹⁵ This confident and reverent thankfulness leads to a sacrificial lifestyle as we cling less to the temporal. Jesus affirms, ‘Your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail’ (Luke 12:32–33). That is how the early church lived (Acts 2:42–47), and when we capture it again, we can rebuild trust¹⁶ in the church and demonstrate societal influence¹⁷ that aligns with God’s way.

Oneness: Unified mission through collaborative leadership

Jesus prayed for unity so we will be faithful witnesses in our mission (John 17:20–23). For that kind of world-changing unity, we desperately need kingdom-minded leaders with character, who embrace diversity, cast a vision for all people, and bring fellowship through humility (Phil 2:1–4). The church is a body that first needs to be healthy, so collaboration should be relational before it is functional. Ultimately, missional friendships may do more for the kingdom than contracts and formal partnerships.¹⁸

The church must rethink biblical leadership as a form of kingdom service for fellow heirs; it is not a commission to build small empires. Collaborative service flows from a heart focused on blessing others. Do we cheer for our peers or watch with jealousy? When leaders think bigger than their organizations, churches, and missions, they will naturally unify, and historic divides will come crashing down. Ralph Winter said, ‘We must accept both structures, represented in the Christian church today by the local church and the mission society, as legitimate and necessary, and as part of “God’s People”, the Church.’¹⁹ Both deserve respect and are necessary for God’s kingdom work. We desperately need the church, parachurch, and workplace to operate in synergy, united under Christ as Lord of all who is in the business of reconciling all things to himself (Col 1:20).

Vision: Kingdom impact for the whole world

Jesus was the master of casting vision through parables and analogies, connecting what people knew to what kingdom life could be. A clear and holistic vision of the kingdom has the potential to challenge and change both skeptics and stale Christians. E. Stanley Jones said that the kingdom is ‘God’s total answer to humanity’s total need.’²⁰ That truth should ignite joy in our hearts that we live out so the world can taste and see the goodness of God. 

A clear and compelling picture of the kingdom will help Christians find an integrated calling, where ‘ministry’ is whole-life Christian service ‘wherever they are, whatever they do, whoever they are.’²¹ In the kingdom, all the saints belong and contribute. And, as engagement grows, so will new ideas and initiatives to reach all generations and embrace all frontlines: where people live and learn, work and play, shop and serve. 

Jesus is building his church for his kingdom, and that puts our vision and strategy into perspective. The Lausanne Covenant says, ‘We therefore reject as a proud, self-confident dream the notion that people can ever build a utopia on earth. Our Christian confidence is that God will perfect his kingdom.’²² No one leader, church, or organization will ‘finish the task’. That is why collaborative action²³ is a central theme for the Fourth Lausanne Congress. This kind of world-changing collaboration will naturally happen as vision is clarified and strategy is unified, leading to closing identified ‘gaps’²⁴ emerging in this complex cultural moment. And all this flows from Christ’s grace-filled invitation to prayerfully join in what God is already doing, as mission begins, is sustained by, and ends in his action.

Evangelism: A kingdom gospel for all people

The kingdom will be comprised of all nations (Rev 5:9; Dan 7:14), so the church’s evangelism must be compelling, cross-cultural, and sacrificial. We need to renew a vision for evangelism that sends disciples into enemy territory with a message that reflects the weight and grandeur of the kingdom. This message is not only about personal salvation, but a proclamation that Christ is King.²⁵ Peter said on Pentecost, ‘Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ’ (Acts 2:36). The good news is that God reigns through King Jesus and that is primarily evidenced by his resurrection.²⁶ Since the king has conquered death, his kingdom is powerful, vast, and eternal for all who join. Evangelism testifies that, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand,’ and then explains how to enter: ‘repent and believe in the gospel’ (Mark 1:14–15). 

Lest we relegate the final frontier to gospel-proclaiming robots, remember that the testimony of the kingdom is through word and deed, sacrificial love, and sound doctrine. Unfortunately, those core aspects have often been divided.²⁷ Jesus taught, proclaimed the kingdom, and healed the sick (Matt 4:23). Jesus’ approach was personal and holistic to demonstrate God’s comprehensive love for people and revelation of a 3-dimensional kingdom. Evangelism, like Ezekiel’s vision of the temple, offers living water that gets deeper the further it flows from the sanctuary, ‘so everything will live where the river goes’ (Ezek 47:9).

Conclusion: All our lives for the kingdom

In Colossians, the Apostle Paul referenced Mark, Aristarchus, and Justus as his ‘fellow workers for the kingdom’ (4:11). Paul saw his ministry as a collaborative effort ‘for the kingdom’. Young Ohm, a missionary in South Africa, has proudly championed this slogan ‘for the kingdom!’ during his meetings and conversations. It is not just words; it is a profound reminder of our vision and how to move there together. 

Can this be our rallying cry for the Fourth Lausanne Congress and beyond? As clarity and passion for the kingdom grow, so will our mission, oneness (unity), vision, and evangelism. The early church certainly understood this: speaking, asking, proclaiming, encouraging, persuading, and expounding about the kingdom (Acts 1:3, 1:6, 8:12, 14:22, 19:8, 20:25, 28:23, 28:31). Our faithful brothers and sisters lived for the kingdom and their fruitfulness was not a coincidence.²⁸ Let us also ‘seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness’ (Matt 6:33) and we will be satisfied to sacrifice our lives to see it manifest. Let us walk in the ancient path, side by side, ‘for the kingdom!’

Father in heaven, may we live as kingdom citizens now for the sake of the world to taste your glory. Bless our service and proclamation of the kingdom. Eradicate our competition. Solidify our solidarity, and ignite in us a new vision and passion for your kingdom.

Endnotes

1. The Greek term for kingdom, basileia, is used 50 times alone in the book of Matthew in reference to God’s kingdom.
2. E. Stanley Jones, The Unshakeable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person (McNett Press, 1972).
3. The Fourth Lausanne Congress, accessed 23 May 2024, https://congress.lausanne.org.
4. See Michael W. Goheen, Church and Its Vocation: Lesslie Newbigin’s Missionary Ecclesiology (Baker Academic, 2018). 
5. Howard A. Snyder, Models of the Kingdom (Wipf & Stock, 2001). Drawing on Jesus’ parables and teaching, Synder suggests a model of 6 ‘kingdom polarities’ that must be held together as we consider how the reign of God works its way out missionally in the world. The kingdom is both: present and future; individual and social; spiritual and material; gradual and climactic; divine action and human participation; and centers on but exceeds the church. A helpful summary and book review is offered by Gregory Crofford, ‘Howard Snyder on the Kingdom,’ Personal blog, 7 July 2012, https://gregorycrofford.com/2012/07/07/howard-snyder-on-the-kingdom/.
6. Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Communities (Josey-Bass, 2008). 
7. See the four-fold vision of Lausanne, here and here, to see: the gospel for every person; disciple-making churches for every people and place; Christ-like leaders for every church and sector; and kingdom impact in every sphere of society. See also the Lausanne article by Dave Benson, ‘Disciple-Making Churches for Every People and Place (101)’ (June 2024), https://lausanne.org/about/blog/fulfilling-the-discipleship-mandate.
8. See Michael Oh speaking to this vision at the 2019 Lausanne Global Workplace Forum. 
9. Covenant pt-6
10. Christopher J. H. Wright, The Great Story and the Great Commission: Participating in the Biblical Drama of Mission (Baker Academic, 2023).
11. See examples in the early church in Acts 2:42–47, 6:1–7, and 13:1–3.
12. Neil Hudson, Scattered and Gathered: Equipping Disciples for the Frontline (IVP, 2019).
13. ‘Great Commission Discipleship: Importance of the Great Commission,’ in Lausanne Movement’s State of the Great Commission Report (May 2024), https://lausanne.org/report/great-commission-discipleship. 
14. See ‘Integral Mission: There is no biblical dichotomy between evangelistic and social responsibility,’ accessed 23 May 2024, https://lausanne.org/network/integral-mission.
15. 15. Jones, Unshakeable Kingdom, 155, 253, 291. See also Darrell L. Guder, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 93–97. 
16. Watch Dave Benson and Matthew Niermann, ‘The Dynamics of Trust: How the Global Trust Deficit Impacts Mission, the Rise in Self-Trust, the Impact of Echo Chambers on Gospel Outreach and the Role of Church in Rebuilding Trustworthy Communities,’ accessed 23 May 2024, https://lausanne.org/podcast/the-dynamics-of-trust-how-the-global-trust-deficit-impacts-mission-the-rise-in-self-trust-the-impact-of-echo-chambers-on-gospel-outreach-the-role-of-church-in-rebuilding-trustworthy-communiti.
17. See Cossi Augustin Ahoga, Judith Johnston, and Matheus Ortega, ‘Societal Influence of Christianity’, accessed 23 May 2024, https://lausanne.org/report/sustainable/societal-influence-of-christianity.
18. See C. J. Davison, Missional Friendships: Jesus’ Design for Fruitful Life and Ministry (Littleton, CO: Acoma Press, 2019).
19. This thesis was first established by Ralph D. Winter in his article, ‘The Two Structures of God’s Redemptive Mission,’ Missiology: An International Review, vol. 2, issu. 1 (1974), 121–39, available online at https://frontiermissionfellowship.org/uploads/documents/two-structures.pdf.
20. See the unpublished essay by Dave Benson, ‘A Theology for the 21st Century of the Church in Mission and Evangelism’ (2008), available online here.
21. This is the catch-cry of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC), seeking to empower every Christian to become a whole-life disciple who is learning to follow the way of Jesus in their particular time and place, thereby making a kingdom difference for the life of the world God loves. See here for more.
22. Covenant pt-15
23. ‘Lausanne 4: Collaborative Action,’ Lausanne Movement, 26 May 2023, https://lausanne.org/l4/act.
24. ‘The 25 Collaborate Session Gaps,’ The Fourth Lausanne Congress, accessed 23 May 2024, https://congress.lausanne.org/the-25-collaborate-session-gaps/.
25. See Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited, rev. ed. (Zondervan, 2016); also Mortimer Arias, Announcing the Reign of God: Evangelization and the Subversive Memory of Jesus (Fortress Press, 1984), xii, 115-16.
26. For a compelling overview of ‘The Gospel of the Kingdom,’ see the Bible Project video here. 
27. Michael Pucci, ‘The Gospel and Human Poverty,’ in Hearts Aflame: Living the Passion for Evangelism, ed. Michael Tan (Genesis Books and Eagles Communications, 2008), 219–20. 
28. See, for instance, Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire (Baker Academic, 2016).