KC (12) Back to the Church

In the last three theses of Kingdom Conspiracy, Scot McKnight hitches the kingdom tightly to the church.

Theses 13

Connecting kingdom to church does not “disengage” the Christian. It redefines engagement toward

• an alternative community in the local church;
• a loving community of good deeds, seen in Matthew 5: 13– 16 but especially in the “good works” in 1 Peter (public benevolence) out of love. Christian public actions are, then, the “spillover” of the church’s inner workings. A Christian not engaged in the world in “good works” has failed to live according to the kingdom vision.

Thesis 14

Kingdom mission, then, is local church mission.

• Evangelism
• Worship
• Catechesis: wisdom
• Fellowship: love
• Edification: advocacy
• Discipleship: nurture
• Gifts: Spirit unleashed

Thesis 15

The only place kingdom work is and can be done is in and through the local church when disciples (kingdom citizens, church people) are doing kingdom mission.

These ideas are expanded in the earlier chapters.

Kingdom is people; church is people. A people under King Jesus begins to live into an alternative society that witnesses both to and against the world system.

Kingdom mission cuts deep into our way of living. Instead of seeking to make the world a better place through the political process, kingdom citizens are called to live into the kingdom with one another
What shocked the Jews living in Jerusalem when the earliest kingdom communities formed was that the community became visible. The people became a family (Chapter 7).

Anyone who calls what they are doing “kingdom work” but who does not present Jesus to other or summon others to surrender themselves to King Jesus as Lord and Saviour is simply not doing kingdom mission or kingdom work. They are probably doing good work and doing social justice, but until Jesus is made know, it is not kingdom mission (Chapter 8).

This stuff is good, but it will need a radically transformed church.