Tag Archives: Evangelism

Janine Roberts ~ Connecting Local Congregations to Global Missions

When I was in middle school, I developed a deep desire to go anywhere in Africa.  At the time I had no idea why.  I just knew I wanted to go there someday.  As I entered high school and then college, this desire only increased, until I finally heard of a United Methodist mission team traveling to Zimbabwe for three weeks.  I quickly checked a map, verified that Zimbabwe was in fact in Africa, and began the process of begging my parents to go.  They finally relented a few years later when I was over the age of 18 and were no longer legally allowed to stop me.   

From the time I stepped off the plane in July 1998, I was smitten.  My love for Zimbabwe was cemented that first day and has only grown each year since.  I lived there for many years at a Children’s Home, and I still go back each year to visit people who are now as close as my biological family.  They are a part of who I am.  My life is richer and fuller because I was able to see a new piece of who Jesus is by experiencing another culture. 

Now I serve as Mission’s Director at Chapelwood UMC in Houston, TX.  We are still wading through the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and trying to figure out how we can assist other states and islands that were devastated by the hurricanes and storms that followed.  With so many disasters occurring around the U.S. this past year, it is natural to ask, “Why should we help people in a different part of the world when there are so many in need throughout our own country?”  As with many issues, the answer is not always either/or, but requires a both/and mentality.  Either/or signifies a limited capacity and in turn can limit God’s ability to work fully in our lives as individuals, families, and churches.   

Similar to when we are told to put on our own oxygen mask in an airplane before we help others, we do need to make sure that our own well-being and that of our family and community are met first so that we have a stable base from which to serve.  When I was in the middle of weathering Hurricane Harvey, I had no capacity outside of trying to do my job and figuring out how to move around a city where most of the streets were still blocked with water.  But – before long the streets and businesses opened back up, and most people were able to find a safe place to stay even if it will be a long time before they can achieve a new “normal.”   

We have churches, organizations, and government programs all working together to provide immediate assistance, and they will stick around for the next few years to make sure the city is back up and running. Unlike many other parts of the world, the structures we have in place throughout the U.S. make it much easier to respond quickly in disaster situations. In many cases, our resources far surpass the services available in other areas around the world.

Yet after we have experienced devastating disasters, our desire and ability to practice generosity to those outside our small bubble may fade even though the needs of our family around the world has not decreased.  We need to remember especially during these times why it is so important to continue serving and building relationships with our brothers and sisters around the world.  

We serve because God calls us through his Word to participate in his mission of reaching out and loving people from every nation and culture.  We have the opportunity to form genuine relationships as a means of building up and unifying God’s kingdom, to learn from each other, and to see new ways that Jesus is at work. We grow in our faith when we observe how God has moved in the lives of people in so many different and difficult circumstances.  The faith that I saw exhibited by my Zimbabwean family throughout the years shaped and changed how I responded when going through traumatic events, including Hurricane Harvey.  

My experience is unique to me, but God has a unique experience ready for each of us who are willing to listen and respond in faith daily.  Go where God asks you to go and do what he asks you to do, whether it is as a missionary in your own community, or in a place that starts out entirely foreign to you.  The main reason I believe that we are to serve both at home and around the world is because when so many have looked into the eyes of Jesus and sat still enough to listen, that is what he told them to do.    

So find out which partnerships your church has formed in different parts of the world and how you can participate in growing these relationships.  Research an organization in your town that welcomes refugees and international students and invite someone to dinner.  Check out the work supported through World Methodist Evangelism or other connectional mission organizations.  Choose a country that God has set on your heart and educate yourself and your family so that you can actively pray for individuals and situations in a place you may never physically be able to visit.   

Or go.   

Whatever you feel led to do, you are guaranteed to discover a richer and fuller love for Jesus and the life he has given you. 

 

Five Things I Learned at the End of the Earth

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We often hear exciting things about evangelism and the spreading of the gospel in Africa or other places in the Global South or East. For those of us in the secularized Global North and West, it can seem discouraging. And yet, people are being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit everywhere – even in places where the culture is highly secular and the church is small.  

New Zealand is one of those places. 

I had the opportunity to visit New Zealand last month. Richard Waugh, our Regional Secretary for the Pacific region, says New Zealand is the place Jesus is talking about when he says his followers will be his witnesses “…to the ends of the earth.” That rings so true! New Zealand is literally at the end of the earth – the last inhabitable landmass to be settled by human beings, only about a 1,000 years ago. 

New Zealand was also the furthest ripple of the Wesleyan revival when in 1823 Rev. Samuel Leigh set up only the second Christian mission of any kind in the country. Our Wesleyan family has been present ever since – first as Wesleyan Methodists, Primitive Methodists, United Free Methodists, and Bible Christians. Now the John Wesley family of churches present in New Zealand includes The Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand, the Methodist Church of New Zealand, the Church of the Nazarene, the Chinese Methodist Church of New Zealand, Korean Methodist churches, Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga churches, Samoan Methodist Conference churches, Tongan Wesleyan Methodist churches, and Evangelical Samoan Wesleyan Methodist churches. 

What a diverse family! All laboring on behalf of Jesus Christ in one of the most highly secularized countries in the world. 

And New Zealand is definitely secular and diverse. Currently the top 19 most non-religious countries in the world are all non-English speaking countries – think North Korea, Estonia, and the Czech Republic. But the 20th most non-religious country – and the first English-speaking one – is New Zealand. In 2013, 41.9% of the population said they were “non-religious.” In the United Kingdom it’s 37.9% and in Canada it’s 23.9%. The United States is well below that. New Zealand is also culturally diverse, especially its largest city, Auckland. In 2016, Auckland, with a population of 1.5 million, had the fourth largest foreign-born population (39%), which makes it more diverse than Sydney in Australia, Los Angeles in California, London in England, or New York City in New York. The only cities that are more culturally diverse are Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Brussels in Belgium, and Toronto in Canada.  

So what can we learn about evangelism from the small but growing Wesleyan family in New Zealand?  

Quite a lot: 

1) When 41.9% of the population are self-proclaimed non-religious people, the mission field is huge! Couple that with the diverse presence of migrants, many of whom bring a strong commitment to Christian faith with them, and you have a dynamic environment ripe for the work of the Holy Spirit. 

2) The gospel is always a countercultural movement. When there is little to distinguish people of faith from those who claim to be non-religious, the gospel becomes a mere shadow of itself. There are a wide range of norms, moral commitments, and social and political understandings in every culture in the world. Some of these are consistent with the gospel and others are not. The growing churches in New Zealand have recognized that if, as we follow Jesus in our daily lives, in our communal life together, and in our engagement of the community around us, others are not able to see a uniquely different way of being in the world, our evangelism will always fall flat, or we will not evangelize at all. 

3) Cultural diversity requires new expressions of church and a commitment to church planting. The gospel is spread not as often by leading congregations toward their own growth, but by leading congregations to multiply themselves, birthing new congregations and fresh experiences of church. 

4) Evangelism is a “long obedience in the same direction.” We must walk with people for a long time if they are to come into a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. This is true in secularized environments like New Zealand but equally true in other environments as well. If we don’t care enough about people to walk with them as they journey through life, then we likely are not as committed to sharing our faith as we think we are. 

And finally, 

5) We must begin to take third-culture people seriously. In many places in the world, there are people who have their feet in more than one culture: the children of migrants who are growing up in a “new” culture, but whose family is steeped in their culture of origin; minorities who live in both the culture unique to their ethnic group and the dominant culture of their environment. Young people all over the world are often third-culture people – living in a culture of globalization and technology, while at the same time navigating the “old world” norms of their elders. These third-culture people are also multilingual. Whether it be the subtler differences of the language of youth or a particular ethnic group, or the more obvious differences of a completely separate language like English, Swahili, Portuguese, or Samoan, these people are able to speak multiple languages because of their presence in multiple cultures. 

This is of particular importance for evangelism, not simply for communication, even though that is paramount, but for leadership. The kingdom of God needs third-culture leaders – those who understand the importance of building bridges from one culture to another, who understand what it means to be in between worlds, whether those worlds be cultural, generational, economic, or linguistic. 

Our brothers and sisters at the ends of the earth have discovered some important insights about evangelism. I dare say they are not unique to New Zealand, but are applicable to many other parts of the world as well. 

Our mission field is great, no matter where we live. If we are willing – in all parts of the world – to walk with people, caring for them while we follow Jesus in tangible ways that can be seen and experienced; to risk multiplication, birthing new churches and ministries beyond our own congregation; and if we are willing to invest our time and energy in mentoring leaders to be bridge-builders into the lives of others, space will be created for the movement of the Holy Spirit and people will be transformed everywhere. 

 

 

 

 

Janine Roberts ~ Notes from Houston: Giving and Receiving

I am writing from an air mattress at my coworkers’ house late at night. I just ate some fabulous fajitas around a table filled with laughter and shared stories after watching the sun set slowly from someone else’s backyard.  

I drove home from work last Thursday night jovially saying goodnight to everyone, knowing we would probably be “hunkered down” for the next few days to ride out Hurricane Harvey and his aftermath. It felt a little exciting at first, like anticipating a snow day when I was younger and growing up in West Virginia. But over the next days, which has now turned into a week, the excitement drained away with every tornado warning, every flood warning, every flash of tragedy that unfolded from the news reports and social media.  

I am back in the place of being the recipient of others’ generosity and overwhelming support. This is a familiar place for me, after living many years in Zimbabwe as a missionary and knowing that both my programs and personal finances depended on the kindness of others. When I could no longer renew my work visa and had to leave Zimbabwe, I somehow ended up at Chapelwood UMC, a large church community in Houston, Texas, as a Missions Director.  

All of a sudden, the tables were turned and I was now in charge, along with my committee, of dispensing funds to hopeful missionaries and programs around the world who were just as eager as I had once been to be good stewards of what they were given. When disasters happened around the world and closer to home, Chapelwood generously donated funds and manpower in whatever way was most needed.  

Over the last three years working here in Houston, I have been privileged to have other staff and members become my family. My family has also grown to include people from Haiti and Kenya and other parts of Texas. My family now includes people from Estonia and Louisiana and Costa Rica. When our family in Haiti was suffering from Hurricane Matthew, we were there. When flooding devastated Louisiana, we were there. When Kenya experienced famine from drought we were there.  

Now we are the ones who are in devastation. We look out our windows and see swimming pools where parking lots should be and boats where cars used to drive.  

And the emails and phone calls and social media posts pour in: from Stanley in Kenya, from Meeli in Estonia, Pastor Carlos in Weslaco, Texas and Paul in Haiti. And all over the U.S. they assure us: We are praying for you. We are sending support. We are coming.  

I had to evacuate my home this morning, to join the tens of thousands of others who are now displaced. But we will be okay again one day soon because of your prayers and your presence and your gifts, service, and witness.  

And because of the beautiful, compassionate, resilient people of Houston who have rallied around each other. We represent every tribe, tongue and nation here in Houston. Although we are in the midst of deep waters this week, we have also experienced a hint of heaven. 

Faith Sharing in Seasons of Crisis

Sometimes it can feel like the world is in crisis. 

It feels that way because often, that’s true. It is.  

But it is also true that that is nothing new. Our beautiful world is exquisite one moment, like when middle America held its breath to witness the majesty of the eclipse last week, and reeling with brokenness the next. 

Christ followers are called to follow Jesus rain or shine. When there is no dramatic crisis – when the streets aren’t flooded, when hurricanes aren’t on the weather map – we are called to follow Jesus faithfully. We are called to proclaim the good news of the inbreaking kingdom on slow, boring Thursdays or quiet news cycles. We share the grace of God through word, deed, and sign, whether anybody notices or not. 

At the same time, faith communities have learned the skills to mobilize in a crisis. Whether Jesus’ disciples are fishing refugees out of the Mediterranean Sea, bringing them to dry land, or whether Jesus’ disciples are filling flood buckets for disaster relief in the United States, or whether Jesus’ disciples are helping neighboring villages attacked by Boko Haram, or whether Jesus’ disciples are digging through earthquake rubble south of the equator, we are able to be present to each other in moments of heartbreak and crisis. 

Do you balance faithfully plugging away on quiet days with a ready response to unfolding emergency? Each demands something different of us. But each also demands the same posture – that of Jesus Christ. 

So, then, whether rain or shine, in all things, let us give thanks for the opportunity to be Christ’s hands and feet. And let us serve faithfully long after the news cameras leave. 

Philip Tallon ~ Two (More) Ways to Integrate the Arts into the Church’s Mission

A friend kindly directed my attention to a recent blog post over at Christianity Today, “Seven Evangelism Environments Artists Create: How the church can leverage the arts for evangelism,” by Dr. Byron Spradlin. I give a hearty ‘amen’ to what I take is Spradlin’s main thrust, which we find in the final line: “If you are a church or mission leader, invite the artists you know to help you take a fresh look at the way you think about, plan for, and implement evangelism.”  

The bulk of the post is aimed at offering some frameworks for how artists can aid the mission of evangelism by designing environments, creating community through shared artistic endeavor, helping to express the gospel, and so forth. All of this is offered with the modest disclaimer that these are just preliminary suggestions for getting started:

These seven environments mentioned above are simply a start in stating how artistic expression specialists (artists) bring powerful and beautiful resource to the Lord’s assignment of evangelism. In fact, when it comes to evangelism, the Church cannot do without them in the mix.

This is good. The church can’t do without artists.  

However, I do have some quibbles, though I’m reluctant to pillory a post whose main point I affirm. (Lord knows, I’m not eager for some smart aleck to nitpick all my blog posts.) In lieu of a very direct response, I want to offer two things to keep in mind as we try to thoughtfully integrate the arts into the church’s mission. 

1. The arts are already and always involved in the church’s mission.

Throughout the post, Spradlin relies on a common distinction between the message of the gospel and the mode of its expression. He rightly points out that without being able to “feel” and “imagine” the truth of the message, the news will not seem good. This is right, but could still mislead the reader into seeing the truth of the gospel as something distinct from its mode of expression.

What the study of theology and the arts reveals, however, is that our understanding of the truth is always mediated through aesthetic categories. Metaphor, the interconnection of two networks of meaning, fundamentally shapes all thinking. Encountering and explaining are inextricable. Imaginative intuition and artistic sensibility are necessary for accessing the objective truths of the gospel. Divine communication is already artistically shaped, because God himself uses artistic expression. Through parables, metaphorical language, and the medium of story, the Bible assumes that the arts matter. It is impossible to access the propositional truths of theology without relying on creative expression. Punching it a bit: God has already bound up the task of theology with the power of poetry.

With this in mind, we should approach the arts not first as powerful vehicles that amplify our expression and encounter with the truth, but as a necessary element in all theological knowing. A ministry that sees the arts as intrinsic, rather than instrumental, will already be two steps ahead in fruitfully integrating the arts in ministry.  

Perhaps this all still seems nitpicky, but many Christians hold to a reductively sharp distinction between content and expression. I once heard a famous mega-pastor exclaim that the “only thing that makes music Christian is the lyrics.” By this I assumed he meant that worship could work in all manner of musical modes, so long as it kept the same message. But this overlooks, of course, that the mode of expression mediates our understanding of the message. Transpose almost any song from a major to minor key (or vice versa) and the meaning shifts dramatically. (YouTube offers many, many examples.)

2. Artists are not special (or, at least, not in the sense we sometimes think).

Even among those who value the arts, there can be a temptation to put them in a “gilded ghetto”: a separate space of distanced admiration. The same happens with artists. They can be construed as specially gifted, yet also alien. More than one working artist I know has felt this simultaneous admiration-with-distance. Theseus’s lines in Midsummer Night’s Dream comes to mind:

  Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend

More than cool reason ever comprehends.

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet

Are of imagination all compact.

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold—

That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.

The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven. (5.1)

For Theseus (though probably not Shakespeare) the poet, like the lover and the madman, is a frenzied genius who mysteriously sees more than reason can comprehend. Many people in the pews will likely hold a similar view.

Much of this is come by honestly. Plato seemed to distrust the artist as an irrational-yet-inspired creator, (cf. Ion). Likewise, Kant separated aesthetic judgment from the rationality. These ideas still haunt the Western mind, even among those who have never cracked the pages of Kant or Plato.

An important step for integrating Christian artists more fully into the life of the church is to honor their talents as meaningfully connected to the larger concerns of the church. Artistic making is often closely bound up with careful reflection on big ideas and cultural context. Spradlin goes a long way to suggesting how artists can be integrated. His generalizations are broadly true, but might also be misread to propagate the idea of artists as a special class of people touched by the muses with a mysterious gift:

Artists are hardwired to be curious about culture expressions and intrigued by and interested in culture’s ways. Through their curiosity—and a wonderful product of it: looking at familiar realities in fresh ways—they always create situations and places where relationships are formed.

Again, my goal is not to correct Spradlin’s notions, but to nuance their reception. Artists come in all shapes and sizes. Artists are people, no more trustworthy or untrustworthy in their powers than any other group. (Even here, there’s a danger in grouping artists together. A broad view of the arts accounts for the ad-man and the ballerina; the game designer and the book binder.) Those who wish to shepherd artists should plan to pastor the whole person, including the expression of their craft.

If this seems intimidating, it is worth noting that pastors are artists too. They shape sermons, and they also shape souls. As Hans Urs von Balthasar points out, the most beautiful work of art is the life of the saint.

***

Philip Tallon (PhD, St. Andrews) is an Assistant Professor of Theology at Houston Baptist University. He is the author of The Poetics of Evil (Oxford, 2012), and The Absolute Basics of the Christian Faith (Seedbed, 2016).

The Difference Between Evangelism and Conversion by Kim Reisman

A common mistake that undermines our integrity and impinges on the integrity of the other is to equate evangelism with conversion; but they are not the same. Authentic evangelism is not conversion. The Faith Sharing New Testament gives us an excellent definition of conversion: Christian conversion is “the change that God works in us as we respond to God’s grace in repentance and faith.”1 

God is responsible for conversion. When it comes to evangelism, we are only responsible for making the gospel known. This is a liberating concept. We are not responsible for making converts. We may desire conversion to happen, we may pray fervently as we discussed during our last session, but it is not within our power to make it happen.

It is better to stop worrying about the results of our evangelizing and instead worry about whether we have truly made the gospel known in our relationships with others. The results are in God’s hands. Releasing the responsibility for conversion also enables us to see that evangelism is never something we do to people. It is something we do with the gospel. We make the gospel known.

If we think of the evangelistic task as making the gospel known, the way in which we make it known is significant. When integrity is an essential value, we make the gospel known in a way that reflects the completeness of our lives. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we share the good news of Jesus Christ through our words, through our deeds, and through the signs that the Holy Spirit makes evident in our midst. And as the metaphor of embrace illustrates, we wait and watch in respectful humility and work with expectant hope.

Wesleyan Accent ~ Interview: On Mission with Rob Haynes

Wesleyan Accent is pleased to share an introductory interview with Rev. Dr. Rob Haynes, World Methodist Evangelism’s new Associate Director of Education and Leadership Development.

 Recently earning a PhD in Theology and specializing in Missiology and Wesleyan Theology from Durham University, his thesis is a dive into “Consuming Mission: Towards a Theology of Short-Term Mission and Pilgrimage.” He is a Senior John Wesley Fellow and a Senior Harry Denman Fellow. His publications and presentations include “The Overlooked Globalizers: Wesleyan Short-Term Missioners, The Missio Dei, and World Christianity.”

Wesleyan Accent: In your experience, what’s the biggest misconception about “evangelism” or mission?

Rob Haynes: I don’t know if it is a misconception, necessarily, but it is important to consider the source of the missionary enterprise.

A few years ago, some people knocked on my door with some literature in hand. They initiated their discussion with, “Do you know why Jesus came to earth?” I quickly replied that I did, in fact, know why Jesus came.

Jesus explicitly tells his hearers why he came. In Luke 4 he is teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth when he reads from the scroll: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

This is the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry and he demonstrated it with his life, work, teaching, death, and resurrection. But the work did not stop there. Jesus inaugurated the Church, his followers, to carry on the work he began.  This initiation is recorded in John 20:21, one of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit….’”

The work of mission and evangelism hinges on four little letters: two in “as” and two in “so.” As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sent his followers, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is done in both words and deeds. Evangelism is mission, but mission is not merely evangelism.

God invites, even commands, his followers to be involved in the work he is doing still: that which he announced in Luke 4. As his followers, we have the amazing privilege, and responsibility, of participating in his ongoing work of redemption.

WA: While globalization brings specific challenges, it also brings new opportunities. How do you think the realities of globalization will shape Christian faith around the world and in North America over the next 20 years?

RH: In 1792 William Carey proclaimed that the mariner’s compass was a gift of God to the work of the missionaries of his. We may be experiencing a similar opportunity in our day.

Travel is becoming easier and cheaper all the time. Communication is instantaneous. Social media platforms play a significant role in the revolutions (like the Arab Spring) and relief work (like follow-up to natural disasters). Mass movements of people, that are both voluntary and involuntary, are impacting communities and national governments alike. Issues of globalization will only accelerate.

Many of these can be used in the work of developing mission leaders. As of 2010, there were 43 million people living in the United States who were born overseas. Three quarters of whom identified themselves as Christians. (I recommend “Diaspora Missions: East Meets West (and North meets South): Reflections on Polycentric Missions.”) While many see the church in decline in the United States, it is worth examining the new things that globalization is bringing to the American Church. Old forms may need to be re-evaluated to faithfully make disciples and evangelize those yet outside the church.

Trans-cultural mission is available to many in their own back yards. This does not replace the need for foreign missionaries, but opens the doors to new possibilities. Similarly, globalization provides significant opportunities to form faith, deepen discipleship, and cultivate leadership across borders and cultures alike.

WA: What are some of the benefits of theological education, sometimes seen as superfluous in an era of religious and doctrinal pluralism?

RH: Mission and evangelism are scrutinized by people inside and outside the church. Often the discussions about these address the how, but they sometimes fail to address the why. Our theologies shape the why, which will make a more lasting impact on the how.

It is important to point out that everyone does theology, at some level. It may not always be good theology, but we all do theology:

“God helps those who help themselves.” This is not scriptural, but it is a theological statement.

“I am spiritual, but not religious.” Usually I hear this when someone doesn’t want to go to church but wants to talk about God.

“All roads lead to the same place.” This is a theological rejection of Christ’s exclusivity.

Theologies shape motivations and motivations shape actions. Teaching sound missional theology is the essential to any renewal of missionary efforts.

By teaching a sound and robust biblical theology of mission we can impact the how and the why of missional service. Wesleyan theology is a missional theology. We embrace God’s invitation to participate in his redeeming work as he invites all to be saved. That work is a part of the effort towards the full restoration of God’s Creation, and everything and everyone in it. No one is excluded in the invitation, though not all may accept it.

By emulating the self-sacrificing love that Jesus demonstrated (see the discussion of Luke 4 and John 20 above) we can reshape the why that will naturally reshape the how.

And Now We Begin

Now that we’ve celebrated God’s decision to put on flesh and bone and move into the neighborhood, we’re left with the question, what do we do now?

How do we follow this one who entered the suffering of humanity? How do we follow this one who proclaimed that the kingdom of God is at hand? E. Stanley Jones provides an excellent answer, especially in this season of New Year’s resolutions.

How do we begin and where?

We can’t wait till everyone is ready…we must begin with ourselves. “Religion that doesn’t begin with the individual doesn’t begin, but if it ends with the individual it ends.”

I suppose we must go out and begin to think and act as though the Kingdom were already here. And as far as we are concerned it will be already here. That means that if we are to think and act as though the Kingdom were already here, if we have said personally that Jesus is Lord and have made a personal surrender to him with all we know and all we don’t know, we belong… to the Unshakable Kingdom. Then I prayerfully consider how I can apply the Kingdom spirit and principles to all my relationships as far as it depends on me, to my personal thought, life, actions, and habits, to my family life, to my professional or business relationships, to my class and race relationships, and to my national and international relationships, to my recreational relationships, to my church relationships. I can’t change everybody but I can change me and my relationships as far as they depend on me. In each of these I can say: As far as I am concerned the Kingdom is already here.

In light of its being already here, how do I think and act? I am certain of one thing about that kingdom, that the Kingdom is the kingdom of love. So I will begin to love, if not by my love, then with his love – for everybody, everywhere, I am a disciple of the kingdom of God, under its tutelage and control and unfolding sovereignty. I may make blunders and fall, but if I fall I will fall on my knees, and if I stumble I will stumble into his arms. I have a destiny – I am a seed of the new order – “the good seed means the children of the kingdom” (Matthew 13:38). I am sown in this particular place to be the interpretation and meaning and message of the new order. I know the seed and the soil are affinities, so that all the resources of the Kingdom are at my disposal. So “in Him who strengthens me, I am able for anything” Philippians 4:11, Moffatt).

I have a total Gospel, for humanity’s total need, for the total world. I ought to be happy – I am!

  1. Stanley Jones, The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person, Abingdon Press, 1972, p300-301