The Rest of the Story
These words above first came to me in the early 1980s, when I was pastoring in Chicago. They are found at the beginning of my book, Liberating the Church: The Ecology of Church and Kingdom.
The contrast between church business and kingdom business is as pertinent today as ever.
Recently, at St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church in Bristol, England, a tall man named Tony came up to me after worship. Tony is an attorney and also part of St. Mary’s praise ensemble.
Tony said he had been at a Christian businessmen’s luncheon recently where the speaker quoted the statements above on the difference between church business and kingdom business. He found the words pointedly helpful; he is part of a group at St. Mary’s that is re-examining the church’s mission.
Only later did Tony make the connection that these comments came from one of my books.
The next week, coincidentally, I met the same pastor who spoke at the luncheon and quoted these comments. I was glad to get acquainted with him. He pastors a rapidly growing multisite church in Bristol.
Life is full of surprises! It always interests me to see where things I have written turn up. Sometimes it’s on Internet blogs. Sometimes in books; at other times, in situations such as I’ve just described.
In any case, it’s all in God’s hands.
The important point: God works through the church to fulfill his kingdom purposes—the full economy of God—whenever God’s people catch a vision for God’s kingdom and allow the Spirit of Jesus to work in and through them.
Once you catch a vision for the kingdom, you’ll never be satisfied with anything less.
