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Kingdom and church leadership

December 1, 2009
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December 2009

Kingdom and church leadership

In the meetings we hold regularly with pastors to look at the Kingdom the biggest challenge they face is to pull back from their focus on leading their church and to see the wider dimension of the Kingdom. This does not mean they are to neglect their leadership role within the church but rather it helps them to prioritise and to be able to endorse and realease members of their churches into the wider work of the Kingdom.

In a very helpful article for leaders Eric Swanson outlines 10 ways that seeing the Kingdom changes the outlook of those in pastoral leadership.

Here is an extract.

“All over our world there is a quiet movement of the Spirit of God that is causing believers to re-examine how they “do church.” Churches are throwing out the old measures of success. It’s no longer merely about size, seeker sensitivity, spiritual gifts, church health, nor the number of small groups. It’s about making a significant and sustainable difference in the lives of people around us—in our communities and in our cities.
There is a growing awareness that we cannot continue to do the same old things and expect a different result. If we want to be the salt and light, we as the church were created to be, we have to do something different…we have to be something different! Community transformation is not found in programs, strategies, campaigns or tactics. For most of us it will take nothing less than a shift of seismic proportions in what the church is to be in the 3rd millennium

To read the full article click here

8 statements about the Kingdom

As mentioned in our last newsletter I have developed 8 key statements on the Kingdom to help promote discussion. These 8 keys are now available as an article – see link below and in MP3 formatPlease pass both of these resources on to your friends and contacts. Here is an extract from the article.
“The question must then be asked. If the Kingdom is the central message of the gospels and really summarises the essential heart of Christianity – why do we hear so little about the Kingdom of God from the pulpit or in the books we read and the DVDs we watch.
The answer is quite simple. We have substituted the church for the Kingdom. In other words many Christians believe what God is doing in the earth is predominantly expressed thru the church. Accompanied with this has been the reduction of the gospel to the gospel of salvation not the gospel of the Kingdom. As a result much of Christian thinking has been focused on individual salvation and the building up of the church.

To read the full article click here

Future resources

I am in discussion with one of my colleagues from Awakening the Nations about developing a 4 part study guide and DVD series on the Kingdom. We are planning to develop notes, DVDs and study questions around the 8 key themes we are developing. Once these are produced they would be made available for churches and home groups to purchase and use. Please pray for us as we take steps to record and produce this series over the next few months.

We are keen to keep building resources on the Kingdom. So if you come across articles or links you find helpful please let us know or if you would like to submit articles for us to consider using please send them thru.

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