When Jesus started the greatest movement on the planet, He spent most of His effort with twelve ordinary men and taught them Kingdom culture. He used stories: “parables”—a word rarely used today. These stories began, “The Kingdom of God is like….” In the Kingdom approach, most of Jesus’ focus was not about what you do to change the world, but who you are, who you become. This is the essence of Kingdom weirdness.
The Ten Paths to Kingdom Weirdness
- Focus on the stories Jesus told through the lens of your values, beliefs, attitudes, priorities, and worldviews.
- Read the letters written to the churches in the New Testament. How are the apostles correcting “drift” from Kingdom culture in these young congregations?
- Look at every aspect of your church through the lens of Kingdom culture. Focus on areas of “how” your church operates (strategies).
- Look at your own life through the lens of Kingdom culture, as you study the teachings of Jesus.
- Look at what Jesus taught, and how the disciples demonstrated making decisions. How does that mesh with your congregation’s approach to decision making?
- Focus on how people are invited to be involved in service. Do they know their spiritual gifts? Are they discipled into ministry by another person? What does it mean that Jesus never once asked, “Can I get a volunteer?”
- Jesus spoke a lot about generosity. The Scripture says, “It is better to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). How does this fit your approach to life? How does it fit your church? Does your church spend more time, energy, and money on others, or itself?
- Jesus’ approach to reaching others is to “go” to them. Is this the direction of your church? Or does your church focus more on a “y’all come” approach? Is your church building a destination or a launch pad?
- Do you see yourself as a missionary to those in your social network who don’t know Jesus? Or, do you see the mission as something you support, so staff and a few others can do the work of outreach?
- Are most of the people in your church open and excited about appropriate change? Or are they stuck in the “good ol’ days”? What about you?
We welcome your comments below.
This is excerpted from Are You Weird? Jesus’ Counterintuitive Kingdom — July/August 2015 Church Doctor Report.
Kent Hunter, founder of Church Doctor Ministries, is known as the Church Doctor. His most recent e-books are The Future Is Now and The J-Dog Journey, available at no cost. Contact him at (800) 626-8515, by email, Twitter, Facebook, or visit www.churchdoctor.org.
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