Well this our first ever blogsite. I know this isn't like Kortni and I to do somehing like this but I have had this desire in my heart to dialogue about this Kingdom revolution taking place around the world. I know there are literally millions of people out there who genuinely love God and desire for Him move in a way that affects everything around us (especially us as individuals). But usually in our pursuit of the Lord we find ourselves getting "stuck" in a "traditional model" of church that fosters pacivity and superficiality. This tends to make us spectators rather than legitimate sons and daughters who move in spirit as a lifestyle conducting the life of Jesus 24-7 .
I believe one of the key reasons we have not seen a great expression of this magnitude is due to the way, or model of church that we communicate the gospel. I believe that a relevant gospel demands a relevant "means" or way to express the gospel. If the "message" and the "means" are not congruent, we will find oursleves short of revealing the authentic gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus preached and died for.
PART ONE
Our starting point: God revealed as Father
- If God wanted His church to be something other than a spiritual "family" He would have called Himself something other than a "Father." I think this is critical for us to understand how God builds His Kingdom. The "means" to the message must be spiritual family! The word"Father" is a very relational term. Despite many of our natural experiences with our fathers, the term "Father" speaks volumes of how He desires Himself to be viewed. He does not want to be known as a stoic taskmaster nor some distant force that doesn't have emotions, feelings, or compassion. So if He is a Father, and we are His children, the church should not be an institution but a bonified family who loves each other covenantally from the heart. The spiritual family is an everyday community that walk out all of the "one another" passages in the New Testament. Here are some some sciptural references for the church represented as a family with delegated spiritual fathers: 1 Cor 9:2, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Cor 4:14-17, Gal 4:19, 2 Tim 1:2,18, Titus 1:4, Phil 2:19-25, 1 Thess 2:6-12.
