from September 2, 2012 prayer update

Below are some excerpts from Steve Smith’s article, “Getting Kingdom Right to Get Church Right”, in the July-August 2012 edition of Mission Frontiers magazine. If you don’t currently receive Mission Frontiers, it is an outstanding and free publication of USCWM (U.S. Center for World Missions), published six times annually. You can subscribe at www.missionfrontiers.org.

“What comes to your mind when you hear about a movement of God in which almost 200 churches were started within three years in a remote people group?

What comes to your mind when you hear about a movement of God in which 150,000 urban and rural churches were started in a ten year span?

Incredulity may be your first response, perhaps followed by suspicion or excitement. Yet Church-Planting Movements (CPMs) like these are spreading around the world in all types of cultures and religious worldviews. In these movements, successive generations of disciples and churches move consistently past the 4th generation in a short duration of time.

These movements sound foreign to many of us who have lived in more traditional churches where the kingdom has been established for centuries. But CPM-like movements are not simply a modern phenomenon. They have characterized the kingdom of God from Acts onward throughout church history.”

“As disciples throughout history have made it their priority to see the kingdom explode among lost populations, they have often seen churches multiply rapidly generation by generation through ordinary new believers. Unfortunately, as churches become established, a tendency emerges to consolidate efforts and focus more on the church development than on kingdom expansion.”

“Jesus’ entire ministry was focused on initiating the kingdom of God. He used the word ‘kingdom’ over 100 times, while He used the word ‘church’ only twice. … In Acts, the word ‘church’ is used twice as much as the word ‘kingdom’. The next progression in Jesus strategy was taking placing – planting multiplying church as agents of His kingdom coming on earth. … The word ‘church’ is used more in Romans to Revelation, almost three times as much as the word ‘kingdom’.”

“It is easy for churches to subtly shift their focus from the King and His kingdom, often becoming obsessed with themselves and their own successes, structures or traditions. … How easy it is for us to elevate the church along with our structures, programs, and traditions above the vision of knowing the King and establishing His kingdom. We easily lose sight of the end-vision. When we focus on church first, we get kingdom wrong.

Yet make no mistake: Church is at the heart of God’s kingdom plan! It is not either church or kingdom. It is both. When the church submits herself to the King and His kingdom ways, then the church emerges in all her intended glory!”

“The church was meant to be the agent of filling the whole earth with the glory of God -- His King-reign -- as the Body. The church was meant to be the eternal companion of the Son as the Bride.”

“This is why we focus unquestionably on Church-Planting Movements, not simple people movements. We don’t start churches because this is the most pragmatic way to reach people. We start churches because this is God’s plan in His eternal kingdom."

What a privilege to be part of an organization whose mission statement reads: “Pioneers mobilizes teams to glorify God among unreached peoples by initiating church planting movements in partnership with local churches.” Pioneers has 2450 workers on 229 teams among 146 UPG (unreached people groups) in 95 countries.