WANTED URGENTLY: A KINGDOM-DRIVEN CHURCH (3)

Adelaja at a ChurchShift event

"Yet all we do is gather on Sundays in the no-longer-safe ambience of our sanctuaries and pray. We pray and assure ourselves that all will be well, and there is nothing wrong with that. But there’s a lot wrong with stopping there. We are the salt of the earth (see Matthew 5:13), say the scripture, but salt only savours, flavours and preserves when it engages with other substances. Ever had a delicacy called salt-a-la-carte for dinner?"

Pastor Sunday Adelaja, from whose book I have been quoting extensively in this serial, had been praying. God’s Embassy, the church he founded and still runs in Ukraine, was about to go homeless, thanks to a government agency that was determined to muzzle the gospel.  Now when you realize that as a former socialist soviet republic, Ukraine only had a semblance of rule of law. Impunity was still alive and well, while freedom of worship was a novelty.

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing in his spirit. He thought he heard God saying “the people are the power;” and that it was time to take that power to the streets. He was shocked. But once he became convinced that it was truly the voice of God that he heard, he tok all the necessary steps to obey.

The result: “As I and the people in my church began to grasp our kingdom calling, our fear melted away. We decided to take the massive risk and march on city hall, even in the face of danger…Little did we know that this act of obedience to a divine instruction from heaven, though unconventional, would go a long way to shaping the history of our nation…”

It was that experience and the principles that he learnt from it that led him to ChurchShift, the book, and the international ministry that has evolved from it.

In concluding this serial, let’s read a bit more from ChurchShift: “…The church is the primary vehicle God uses to train people so they know how to find their promised land and rule in their nation. Church is the headquarters, but battles are not fought at headquarters. They are fought in the field.

“First Timothy 3:15 calls the church the pillar and foundation of the truth. It upholds the kingdom by being the school, the equipping place, and the place of support for world changers. But our focus must remain outside, not inside. We are to go from the “school” into the world and bring the powerful kingdom principles to bear on its problems.

“When Christians change the goal of the church and make it a place of conservation and escape rather than equipping and sending, we are working against the Great Commission. We are conserving crowds, not sending them out. We are hoarding kingdom resources, namely, people and their gifts. In many churches, God’s workers are in captivity. They are like prisoners and the pastors are the wardens.

“We are not called to huddle inside the church sanctuary but to restore the kingdom of God to the world. But some Christians and preachers misinterpret the word ecclesia, the Greek word for “church,” which means literally “called-out ones.” They mistakenly believe it means we are to be “called away from the world.” This is a grave error. Jesus said in John 17:15, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”

“As a church we are “called out” from the evil principles of this world, but we are still required to live here. We are not built for monasteries. Our calling is to operate from a different and superior set of principles than the world we live in. The church is to train us to be Christlike, to embody Jesus and His principles, so that in everyday life we may operate from a godly perspective. “That’s what the church is for. That’s why we come on Sunday. That’s why we preach, teach, and worship together.

“God holds the church responsible for societies. It is the most potent organization in the world because it was started by Jesus and is His bride. No other entity in the world is as important as the church, in spite of all its failures; it is the hope of God because through it, and only it, the kingdom can come…”

In 2007, this column carried a four-part serial, A Wake-Up Call to Church Leaders. In the third part published on August 12, I wrote: “…For too long, we have been contented to sit by and watch while politicians, of all hues, toy with the destiny of our nation and the future of our youths. We have become like the clean-up specialists who waiting in the wings to clear the mess made by politicians. Or like fire fighters after the act of arson is well under way.

“When they start sectarian violence, we rush in with words of comfort and relief materials for the victims. When they bastardize government universities, we fall over ourselves to build our own. When they rig elections, we sermonize on the need to move our nation forward. One wise man said politics is too important to be left for politicians; we say politics is too dirty to be played by “real Christians.” The result is what we are seeing today – five of six governors accused of wrongdoing in office; one already convicted; one already singing canary-like and one almost certainly irredeemable – are Christians, nominal or not!”

Today, five years later, the situation is not any better. Corruption still bestrides the land colossus-like, and Christians - nominal or not - still have the same dubious statistical advantage among its perpetrators and beneficiaries. The Church is still playing the emergency manager. In parts, the church has slipped from being passive by-standers and collateral victim to the perennial direct victims. The beat goes on, but the song has changed from the slightly melancholic to outright dirges.

Yet all we do is gather on Sundays in the no-longer-safe ambience of our sanctuaries and pray. We pray and assure ourselves that all will be well, and there is nothing wrong with that. But there’s a lot wrong with stopping there. We are the salt of the earth (see Matthew 5:13), say the scripture, but salt only savours, flavours and preserves when it engages with other substances. Ever had a delicacy called salt-a-la-carte for dinner? The Lord Jesus, who described Himself as the light of the world (see John 8:12; 9:5) says exactly the same of the Church (see Matthew 5:14). Did anybody ever notice that He didn’t say we are the light of the Church? So, what are we doing huddling behind closed doors?  What use is a 1000 watt bulb street light on a bright tropical sun-lit afternoon? Think on these things. (CONCLUDED)

WANTED URGENTLY: A KINGDOM-DRIVEN CHURCH (2)

The Book

“'Imagine that! We are meant to inherit nations. We are responsible not for sanctuaries and Sunday school rooms but for our nations. We are not separate from our nations in God’s sight. We belong to nations. God will hold us responsible for nations. We cannot flee into the church and think our hands will be washed clean of all that happens outside. We are called to the world to restore the kingdom'. - Pastor Sunday Adelaja"

As I have said so many times, in so many words, in this space, the Church needs to re-examine its theology, I am on record as saying that the Church that Jesus Christ built and against which he firmly affirmed the gates of hell will not prevail, is a pro-active one. It is a Church that sets the pace, not one that sheepishly reacts to trends set by the world.

Contemporary history has shown that where the church abandons its light-bearing role and focuses, as somebody has well-meaningly put, on lighting its corner, the world takes over and warps things up. In that situation, the church becomes the “clean-up guy.”  Meaning, when the system messes up the educational system, we abandon it and create our own. When they create mayhem, we organize relief materials for living victims and join in burying and mourning the dead.

But even, as I have been writing about it here, a Nigerian pastor based in Ukraine, Rev Sunday Adelaja has been doing more than write about it, although, write about it, he has, in a book the titled ChurchShift. But he didn’t stop there. Flowing from his experience in that Eastern European, former soviet socialist republic, he has created a ministry taking the message of the kingdom-driven church abroad, including the United States.

In the first part of this serial I pressed him into action as I quoted extensively from the first chapter of his book, ChurchShift, published by Charisma. In this part, I am virtually yielding this space to him as he continues his review of most of the state of the church today. As we saw last week, he characterized the church as either church-focused, or kingdom-driven.

He pointed out that “the Great Commission is not what many of us have understood it to be. We have understood it to be evangelism—bringing people from the world into our church buildings. But the Great Commission mandate is to go out and disciple nations. The focus is not in here, but out there. This was Jesus’s goal in coming to Earth. It is supposed to be our goal as redeemed people.”

Continuing, he wrote: “The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 says: Go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus did not say, ‘Go and build great churches.’ He did not even say, ‘Go and save individuals.’ He never said, ‘May thy church come on Earth as it is in heaven.’ Neither did He say, ‘Seek ye first the church and all its righteousness. Rather, His heartbeat is for nations to be ruled by kingdom principles. That is the calling of every believer and of every church…

Now, please read on:

“So why has our attention been lavished on personal evangelism and building churches? The problem is our mind-set. We often forget that the kingdom has come. We forget we have been called to rule our promised lands—and to rule nations. We forget about the power we received from Jesus Christ, So our attention is drawn to churches. Building a church seems much more manageable than transforming a nation.

“My own religious background taught me that the kingdom of God was all about heaven, not Earth. I thought kingdom work took place after we die, once we had passed over into the kingdom.

“I misread the Bible and the words of Jesus. I made the kingdom of God all about the future, and so my focus and purpose in life were off course. I was having little impact on the world around me. But because God wanted to do something in Ukraine that was much bigger than our “big church” or me, He graciously taught us to take a proactive position in society, to go outside our building and enforce His authority over an ungodly nation and government.

“Today many people sit in church pews hoping to make it to the kingdom of God, and they don’t realize that, according to Jesus, the kingdom is here and now. Nobody has to die to see the kingdom.

“We are as close as we will ever get. Jesus didn’t leave the kingdom of God in heaven when He came to Earth. He brought it with Him. The born-again believer is in the kingdom at this moment. We can stop hoping for it—it came two thousand years ago, and it is present with us now.

“When we forget that the kingdom is here and now, we shrink from our calling to disciple nations. We want to use the church as our escape hatch from the world’s problems. The battle is certainly fierce, but God is sending Christians not to hide out in, or even build, churches but to have impact in their lives and on the nations of the world. If you are trying only to build a church, your goal is wrong. The promise of God is, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance” (Ps. 2:8).

“Imagine that! We are meant to inherit nations. We are responsible not for sanctuaries and Sunday school rooms but for our nations. We are not separate from our nations in God’s sight. We belong to nations. God will hold us responsible for nations. We cannot flee into the church and think our hands will be washed clean of all that happens outside. We are called to the world to restore the kingdom.

“And if there is any nation that is suffering under a godless culture, it’s because Christians have not subdued it with kingdom principles. God did not answer our church’s many prayers to resolve our problem of having a place of worship because He had something bigger in mind—the salvation of the nation, not just providing a new place for us to gather.

“Some people believe that if they work in the nursery or sing in the choir, they are fulfilling their area of ministry. But this is not really ministry. It is merely housekeeping. Your work as a choir member, nursery volunteer, or usher is what we all must do to keep the church functioning, but it is not necessarily fulfilling the Great Commission. The Great Commission happens outside the church.

“Ministry is what you do to bring your life and your sphere of influence under kingdom rule…” (TO BE CONTINUED)

WANTED URGENTLY: A KINGDOM-DRIVEN CHURCH

Rev Sunday Adelaja...
Author, ChurchShift

"The more I think about this and other challenges facing our nation, the more persuaded I am that the Church and its members are guilty of gross dereliction of duty, in a manner of speaking. This is because the theology that we have embraced, which assigns to us the role of clean-up men and women, and gives the church as the role of society’s fire-fighting brigade is simply out of sync with the true intentions of God for us."

In Election 2011: How-To Guide for Kingdom Persons (April 10, 2011), I attempted a voter-advisory. I listed a few issues that Christians should consider as crucial in the exercise of their right of choice through the vote.

Access to education, corruption, and the structure of our federalism were among the election issues I identified then. The recent carnage in Barkin Ladi area of Plateau state and the subsequent death of a senator of the Federal Republic and a state legislator, however, has brought to the front burner, the subject of ethno-religious crisis in Northern Nigeria, which predates, feeds, and exists, side-by-side with Boko Haram.

In highlighting the need for Christians to make the crisis an election issue, I wrote:

“The Bible says we are one body in Christ (Romans 12:5). It says that when one part hurts, the whole body hurts. Yet, for years, Christians in certain parts of Northern Nigeria have been hurting for ages and the rest of us do little or nothing about it. Many have died; many have lost loved ones; many have been maimed; very many are living in mortal fear of their neighbours. In some parts, churches cannot own property, including places of worship. The persecution and marginalization has gone on for too long while our governments and intellectuals are busy debating whether the problem is religious or ethnic or both. Yet the bottom line is that the Christian has become an endangered species in many parts of Northern Nigeria. The Christian-friendly candidate, particularly Presidential and governorship candidate has to be the one who has a clear programme, with timelines for solving this problems. Timelines are particularly important here because life is involved.”

Well, the elections have since been won and lost, and those elected have had some i4 months to demonstrate that they considered the problem and have solution to it. If anyone, including a President who has been consistent harassed by Boko Haram has done so, I do not know about it.

But the focus of this piece is certainly not on what those already elected have done or failed to do. I am more concerned here about what next. I am more concerned, as always about the role of the individual kingdom person, and the church in general.

The more I think about this and other challenges facing our nation, the more persuaded I am that the Church and its members are guilty of gross dereliction of duty, in a manner of speaking. This is because the theology that we have embraced, which assigns to us the role of clean-up men and women, and gives the church as the role of society’s fire-fighting brigade is simply out of sync with the true intentions of God for us.

I have written about it on this forum for so long that I might have started sounded like a broken record to many, but I guess I should never tire of saying it; since I consider it to be the truth. The church simply MUST change, for the benefit of society.

In one of my earlier exertions on the subject, I recalled how the Catholic Church played a major role in the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos from power in the Philippines, and subsequently bringing about democracy.

I also mentioned the role played in Ukraine by God’s Embassy, a church founded and run by Pastor Sunday Adelaja in restoring liberty to that former soviet socialist country.

Pastor Adelaja has not looked back since that feat. He has since been led of God to put together a movement he calls ChurchShift. Flowing from a book of the same title, ChurchShift, according to information available to all on their website has the following objectives:

To help transform nations by introducing a new way to do church; reveal how to “pastor without tears;” help avoid splits and division; change our view of ministry; and inspires to believe for supernatural outcomes.

Other objectives are: to equip church members to impact the seven spheres of society; teach Kingdom values for societal transformation; activate the potential of the local church; help change nations by emerging from four walls of a church building and provide the keys for NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION!

 It is the last set of objectives that really interests me and which I like to strongly recommend to the Nigerian church. In recommending it, I like to press Pastor Adelaja himself into action here by quoting from his book to give the scriptural basis for ChurchShift. In the book, published by Charisma, Adelaja identified two kinds of churches, the Church-Focused and the Kingdom-Driven.

In discussing the former, he wrote:

“Too many Christians and Christian leaders spend their energy, creativity, and precious time promoting churches instead of the kingdom. They work for the success of their church, or perhaps for a group of churches in their city, or they work for their ministry or denomination. They believe that by building churches and ministries they are building the kingdom. They think church and kingdom are practically synonymous. This isolation of the church from the world has led to ineffectiveness and failure to carry out the Great Commission.

“But the church is not the kingdom. Jesus said in Luke 17:21, “Nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” It’s not confined to temples and churches. No church can contain or control the kingdom of God. The kingdom is meant to inhabit the entire earth, not just your church sanctuary.

“The Great Commission is not what many of us have understood it to be. We have understood it to be evangelism—bringing people from the world into our church buildings. But the Great Commission mandate is to go out and disciple nations. The focus is not in here, but out there. This was Jesus’s goal in coming to Earth. It is supposed to be our goal as redeemed people. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 says: Go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus did not say, ‘Go and build great churches.’ He did not even say, ‘Go and save individuals.’ He never said, ‘May thy church come on Earth as it is in heaven.’ Neither did He say, ‘Seek ye first the church and all its righteousness.’

“Rather, His heartbeat is for nations to be ruled by kingdom principles. That is the calling of every believer and of every church. So why has our attention been lavished on personal evangelism and building churches? The problem is our mind-set. We often forget that the kingdom has come. We forget we have been called to rule our promised lands—and to rule nations. We forget about the power we received from Jesus Christ…” (CONTINUES NEXT WEEK)

WHEN MEN RESOLVE…GREATNESS BECKONS! (3)

"It is noteworthy because the belief that diligent work is the source of provision for self and family is the most important single cause of the rat race and the frustration that follows it. Diligence at God’s assignment for us is an act of obedience, which results from the love we have for our Father. It is NOT a means to provision for the family or any other end for that matter. God is our source and our sustainer and He does it in love."

In justifying the seemingly extravagant claim in the title of this serial, on account of what some might see as a mere resolution, I have made a number of points.

First, that the almost 300 men who signed on to The Resolution for Men at the closing session of Christian Men’s Network Nigeria’s Men’s Summit 2012, were motivated by a desire “to reclaim their place in God’s original plan…”

The divine plan they were determined to reclaim their place in, we pointed out, can be gleaned in outline from Genesis chapter 2, which was the theme scripture for the conference. Succinctly put, that plan bestows upon the man, as distinct from the woman, the responsibility to run the affairs of God’s earthly kingdom and therefore, strictly speaking, also the accountability to God for how that kingdom is run.

I also tried to show that in subscribing to the resolution, the men didn’t do it lightly. I pointed out that after watching the movie, Courageous with the theme, Honour Begins at Home, some of us recognized ourselves in one or the other of the actors, and while identifying with their macho image, we also saw the faults and failings that it masks.

In identifying with and seeing ourselves to varying degrees in those actors, we were helped by the life-giving spirit in the word that we had soaked in through four days of “prayerful, spirit-led soul searching, self-evaluating sessions on Rediscovering Manhood and its many sub-themes.”

We therefore did not need to be cajoled or induced in any way to make the commitment that the resolution required. Nor were we under any illusions that it was some non-binding statement of intentions from which we could walk away lightly.

This was the background against which I made the bold declaration “that a sizeable percentage of the nearly 300 men…were led of the Spirit of God to do it and will stand by it, through the challenging days ahead.”

 As I conclude this serial, permit me to draw attention to the salient points of the resolution and there import for the growth and sustenance of real manhood and the effect it was sure to have on the family, the communities and ultimately our nation.

The first two items saw the men resolving before God concerning their family… to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children; to love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.

Think about that, dear reader. If more men see themselves as the spiritual leader of their homes and from that standpoint, be truly responsible for the family members; love, protect, serve and teach them the word of God, imagine the quality of men and women who would emerge from such homes. Imagine that more of the parents of those of this generation were like that, how much less of the current woes of our nation today would have had!

Imagine that more of us men are…faithful to our wives, love and honor them and are willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for us…that more of us bless our children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength and that more of us train our children to honor authority and live responsibly.

Loved and honoured wives would translate to blissful homes where the women will blossom as Proverbs 31 women, virtuous, loving, godly women whose husbands and children will proclaim as blessed. Look around today, what percentage of our women fit into this mould? Even among those who do, what percentage became so because their men played their part?

What about teaching our children to love God with all their hearts, minds and strength and training them to honour authority and live responsibly? How many of us truly love God and demonstrate it before our children? How  many see honouring authority as a duty? How can we teach it, if we don’t do it? You can never give what you don’t have!

The other items in the resolution address broader issues of true Christian living, many of which men not too many men might be found guilty of embracing. Is it to “confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy”?  For many of us evil is too powerful to confront, justice too elusive to pursue and mercy, the stuff of weaklings.

Pray for others and treat them with kindness, respect, and compassion? I can hear many men say, “yes, on Sundays; the work-a-day pace is much too fast for all that!” Much the same attitude applies to the rest of the items: forgive those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged; learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God; seek to honor God, be faithful to His church, obey His Word, and do His will.

A particular item on the resolution which we at Christian Men’s Network Nigeria tinkered with and which therefore reads different from what you’ll find elsewhere is this: “I WILL work diligently at God’s assignment for me and trust Him to provide for the needs of my family”. It is noteworthy because the belief that diligent work is the source of provision for self and family is the most important single cause of the rat race and the frustration that follows it. Diligence at God’s assignment for us is an act of obedience, which results from the love we have for our Father. It is NOT a means to provision for the family or any other end for that matter. God is our source and our sustainer and He does it in love.

The last item on the resolution emphasizes the life-long nature of the commitment and the truth that it is God himself who will provide the ability for us to stay the course when it declares: “I WILL courageously work with the strength God provides to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).” So help us God, (CONCLUDED)

WHEN MEN RESOLVE..GREATNESS BECKONS (2)

"They had become fully persuaded that they need change in certain areas of their lives as men upon whom God is depending. They had come to see that for the sake of their family, their communities and the nation and, most especially to reclaim their destiny in God, the resolution will be a good starting or restarting point. And most also know that they need the grace of God, the oversight of their spiritual father, Rev Dr Tunde Joda and accountability to their peers within the men’s group to stand by it."

I reported last week that about 200 (nearly 300 actually) men signed on to a Resolution for Men at the closing session of Men’s Summit 2012, the annual gathering of men organized by Christian Men’s Network Nigeria I described the men as “of various age, ethnicity and socio-political status, but united by the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ…” And I gave their motivation as a determination “to reclaim their place in God’s original plan…”

Two questions arise from this: One, what is their place in God’s original plan?  And how does a mere resolution help in reclaiming it?

The first has been dealt with here on at least two occasions in recent times. But for the benefit of those who might have missed it, I shall quote as briefly as possible from those previous exertions upon which my two ministrations at the Summit were based.

In my three-part serial on Rediscovering Manhood which itself derives chapter on of my forthcoming book, Manhood Rediscovered, I made the point that man, the male, is at the very centre of God’s divine plan. I showed from the Bible, specifically in Genesis Chapter 2, how that  he is the first being created in God’s image and after His likeness and how that he is one He chose to partner with in defining the identity of virtually the rest of creation.

I went on to make the point that having regards to the sequence of events that led to the creation of the female,  she may never have been made, had man found an acceptable companion among the creatures that God brought to him to name.  In other words, had God not perceived that man would need help and relationship; and had man found a help meet for him, in, for example, the dog, the course of human history might have been different. That is awesome, isn’t it?

Admitting that these points might sound chauvinistic and therefore offensive to the sensibilities of the western-educated, modern mind, yet I asserted that it is true; as true as the Bible is the word of God.

Flowing from all these truths, which the reader may wish to check in verses 4-7, 15, and 18-23 of Genesis chapter 2, is the truth that man, the male, as distinct from the female has preeminence in the divine order of things. This explains so many critical things both in Biblical times and today. It explains why when man had fallen; God’s query was directed at Adam, not Eve. It explains, why of the 403 persons identified by name in the Bible (according to Who’s who in the Bible section of the Lion Handbook to the Bible), only about 50 are women. That also explains why all twelve of the Lord Jesus’ disciples were men. It explains why it makes news when a woman becomes head of government or of a very strategic institution.

The import of this creation scenario, is neither to demonstrate that man, the male is superior in any sense to man, the female; it simply shows who is RESPONSIBLE AND ACCOUNTABLE for the overall headship of the new enterprise. That being the case, if the new enterprise is doing so well that each time God looks at it, he can continue to declare that it is good, as he did after creation, then his man would be seen as succeeding in his assignment.  Many reading this would agree that the converse is true, and therefore, that man, the male, is currently neither being responsible nor accountable.

Now, let’s take a close look at the resolution and why it is not just a mere resolution.

First is its origin. Extracted from the movie, Courageous with the theme, Honour Begins at Home, the resolution is the product of a process of self-discovery by a man, Adam Mitchell, a police officer.  He was failing in his responsibility as a father and husband, and didn’t know it until he had lost his daughter, the younger of his two children. His search for a way out of the sorrow and regret he felt led him, inexorably, to the Lord and to the kingdom principles enunciated in the resolution.

The men gathered at Men’s Summit 2012, watched the movie. Some recognized themselves in one or the other of the actors, identified with their macho image and the faults and failings lurking underneath. Like Mitchell in the film, who told his friends that he wasn’t inviting anyone to sign the resolution, only to help him witness it; the coordinators of Christian Men’s Network Nigeria made it clear that  the decision to sign on was absolute that of each man to make. That explained why although the film was screened on Friday, the call to take the resolution was not made until Sunday. The point of all of these is that those who eventually signed felt a need within them to do it.

Also important is that the men, including yours sincerely, who finally signed on had, over four days, been led through a series of prayerful, spirit-led soul searching, self-evaluating sessions on Rediscovering Manhood and its many sub-themes. They had become fully persuaded that they need change in certain areas of their lives as men upon whom God is depending. They had come to see that for the sake of their family, their communities and the nation and, most especially to reclaim their destiny in God, the resolution will be a good starting or restarting point. And most also know that they need the grace of God, the oversight of their spiritual father, Rev Dr Tunde Joda and accountability to their peers within the men’s group to stand by it.

That then is why I can boldly say that a sizeable percentage of the nearly 300 men who will be receiving the Resolution Certificate from today, were led of the Spirit of God to do it and will stand by it, through the challenging days ahead.