Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Church Planting and the Kingdom of God

There is one more theological perspective to consider in relation to church planting in the 21st century and that is:

The Kingdom of God and Church Planting
To consider this third theological perspective it will be necessary to clarify the relationship between the kingdom of God and the church. Murray states this correctly by stating: “A third theological perspective that might helpfully undergird church planting is the kingdom of God” but then he warns that “identification of church and kingdom is not justified biblically or contextually.”

The question of the relationship between the kingdom of God and the church is a vast one and it will not be possible to develop this question in this article. However, it may be profitable for 21st century church planters to think through Murray’s three perspectives to which will be added George Eldon Ladd’s insights on the relationship between the church and the kingdom of God.

Murray states that “First, the church is a community; whereas the kingdom is an activity: God extending his rule throughout creation.” If this theological insight is kept in perspective, Murray believes, churches will be planted that are not characterized by static but rather dynamic movement as “agents of this kingdom . . . on the move.” George Eldon Ladd agrees stating that “the Kingdom creates the church. The dynamic rule of God, present in the mission of Jesus, challenged men to response, bringing them into a new fellowship.”

Then Murray states that, “Second, the kingdom is broader than the church.” For him this means that the church gets a greater vision for action from “the implications of the kingdom.” While this is no doubt true, it would appear that the vision for action came from the working of the Holy Spirit rather than a vision for the broader implications of the kingdom. The kingdom and the Spirit work together but the emphasis in Acts is upon the ever and increasing outreach as the Holy Spirit led church planters into new horizons. The emphasis in the book of Acts is upon the Spirit of God constantly moving God’s servants to new horizons. This is powerful seen in Acts 13:2: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’” – a work of evangelism leading to church planting.

Finally, Murray states that, “Third, the kingdom rather than the church defines the scope of God’s mission.” Ladd states in relation to this that “it is the church’s mission to witness to the Kingdom. The church cannot build the Kingdom or become the Kingdom, but the church witnesses to the Kingdom—to God’s redeeming acts in Christ Jesus both past and future.” Here, depending on how one interprets Ladd, it would seem that the redeeming acts in Christ Jesus are the scope of God’s mission. Again this would depend upon how one interprets God’s mission and refers us back to the relationship between church planting and the mission of God.

This author is convinced that if the mission of God (missio Dei) is interpreted to mean all that God is intending to do in the work today then that extensive definition of mission could slow down the intensive Great Commission which is the making of disciples integrating them into local churches. It is as the 21st century church planter majors on that vision that more and more dynamic churches will be planted and make a difference in our world today. It does mean, however, that the implications of the gospel will be worked out in the local church as people not only accept the gospel but live out the gospel as will be seen in this next section.