Most of us have some type of understanding of theology. Theology is a systematic approach to describing what we believe. It is how we are able to explain the relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament. Theology helps us explain the simplicity and complexity of things such as redemption, justification, sanctification and so forth. It ‘unpacks’ a word that describes the nature of God –trinity. The word trinity is not in scripture; theology helps us to explain the trinity, to systematically understand, the person and work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Now, we have been raised on the theology of the church. We understand it, right? Hmmm… I think many of us are beginning to realize that somehow what we believe and do as ‘the church’ doesn’t quite work what we should do in the Kingdom.
The time has come…
We need a Theology of the Kingdom. A good theology will have a simple, easy to understand Biblical foundation. If the theology is good, mature people look at it and just ‘know it’ – they know if this describes things accurately.
How we build things is important. How we build our lives, our marriages, our families, churches, ministries is influenced by theology. It is influenced by our understanding of how God works through us, his word and his Holy Spirit. This understanding is described as theology. Theology extends our understanding of the base principles and the relationship of the principles one to another and to God. The neat thing is this, when we can describe and understand these relationships we have a solid basis to approach building our lives and ministries. When we build on an underlying framework of understanding, this understanding is what is we call a 'model'. It is important to note: having a mental model does not -in any way- take away from the soverignity of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as being able to explain the theology of salvation does not take away from the role of the Holy Spirit in drawing a person to Christ. Theology, expressed in specific application or models enables us to describe the action of God through the word, his work in our lives and how he has determined how we should relate to one another.
There is an understanding of the Kingdom that I have shared on KingdomInsight and elsewhere. This understanding has been jointly developed by myself and others. It is a simple (3 diagrams, 25-30 elements in the diagrams). Yet, it describes how we should relate to each other, how the church relates to the Kingdom. It describes why much of the current system doesn’t work and best of all, it gives a solid understanding regarding what to do about our current problems. It is a ‘plumbline’ to test ourselves and our service. It describes the foundations of the Kingdom; it describes Kingdom foundation ‘stones’, the Theology of the Kingdom.
Now, any good theology can bear up to scrutiny. I am planning a time to bring pastors and believers together in our region. Together, we will review the model and then break into small groups to discuss it. We want to discover this: are there elements missing from this foundation? What are they? Are there items in the foundation that we can take away without creating a gap?
As I was planning this, I though – maybe you would like to participate in such an exercise? If so, I will arrange for us to do it with a webinar and some group discussions on KingdomInsight.
What do you think?
PS For PREPARATION... If you are interested in being part of the critique, please view -and if you would like, comment- this 20 slide power point. http://t.co/VWIDEV7
Replies
I just had to share - my power point presentation on why the church doesn't work AND what to do abou it - now has over 8000 views! WOW!
Juanita said:
oops... yesterday I posted the wrong discussion!
This is the one with over 7700 views ~~~ wow!!! http://bit.ly/k9ULi6
I have been telling you about this power point.. In a nutshell, it covers why the church doesn't work (and what to do about it!).
It is being talked about on LinkedIn, too.
It is now the most viewed slideshare from SlideShare!!! (below is the email I just received!). The SlideShare people have put it on their homepage.
Here is the powerpoint http://j.mp/ChurchCore
From: SlideShare a target="_blank" href="mailto:donotreply@slidesharemailer.com">donotreply@slidesharemailer.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 7:07 PM
Subject: Congrats, "The Core Unit" is hot on LinkedIn this hour
To: "juanita.berguson@gmail.com" a target="_blank" href="mailto:juanita.berguson@gmail.com">juanita.berguson@gmail.com>
"The Core Unit" is being talked about more than anything else on SlideShare right now. So we've put it on the homepage of SlideShare.net (in the "Hot on LinkedIn" section).
Well done!
- SlideShare Team
We have your email address as juanita.berguson@gmail.com.
Thanks, Richard! I will appreciate your input!
For preparation, could you view -and if you would like, comment- this 20 slide power point. http://t.co/VWIDEV7
Richard Mayhan said:
Wow, Mark... Your thoughts are like water coming out of a fire hose. Great thoughts.
I will invite you to the webinar and private group commentary. Your thoughts will be appreciated!
Mark Edward Kroger said:
Hi Juanita,
This is such an awesome subject. And as this age gets closer and closer to culminating, the Kingdom Picture is coming more into view. As Christians, we view the New Birth through the work of Christ through the lens of Grace. But when we enter the Kingdom Picture, we leave the milk and start getting into the meat of the Word.
On twitter, I have been following Israeli Jews and by accident, I ended up following a young Palestinian girl. The intensity over there is so great, it is a ticking time bomb. We hear our Lord's words, "I must be about My Father's Business."
It is so easy to get sidetracked in our daily lives and diversions, but Kingdom Theology puts first things first. I need to be reminded of that on a daily basis.
It is so easy to pray at work because I run Work Orders-nonstop brush fires and continual people interaction, but it is so easy to let our hair down so to speak when there is no crisis and things are going well. It is easy to forget the there is a kingdom of lost souls out there.
I search for motivational tweets and God tweets so I can intermingle the two as not to overwhelm someone who doesn't know the Lord. I don't want to bash them, I want to woo them to get some seeds in the ground and then pray over them. One plants, one waters...
One of the young girls I found in NYC claiming female wisdom, tweets about sexual liaisons on a daily basis. A young man claiming wisdom, doing the same thing. How to reach them? That is Kingdom business. "I must be about my Father's business.'
Someday the Lord will sort out the Jew/Gentile thing, the grafting in, the merging and how we will all have our place in eternity. But Kingdom thought, Kingdom business puts an emphasis on right now; living a holy unblemished life while reaching out in any way we can to a dying and lost world.
I was listening to a minister talk about a survey on why so few Christians witness. We don't feel worthy. Our lives aren't what they should be and so we are afraid to sound hypocritcal. Kingdom Theology helps us put our house in order while keeping the emphasis on Christ. We chew on the meat while feeding our neighbor the milk.
I don't have much background in Kingdom Theology, but I like Kingdom Thought. Christianity is not a side line to work, its Kingdom focus is our life's work within what we do to make a living. "A good name is better to be chosen than riches." That governs my thoughts when no one else sees me. I'm sure not perfect at it, but the Lord lets me know when He's disappointed or He is about to send me to the Woodshed.
Kingdom Thought is we have one life, Kingdom Life and everything else just makes up the details of that Life.
Looking at Israel, God's timeclock, we are close, very close. Time is short. Whatever we would do, we should do it now.
I sidestepped the Jew/Gentile Kingdom relationship because I only get glimpses of it. Jesus came as Messiah to Israel. That word is so multi-layered. Before He could become their King, He had to first be their deliverer to deal with the fallen nature of man. He then blinded them and use His people as instruments to bring redemption to the Gentiles. As we were reborn into a New Bloodline not under the Law of Sin and Death, we were grafted into the Vine and Received into the Kingdom, something He has not done for His Chosen People yet. As the Age of Grace and Times of the Gentiles wind to a close and the Lord reaps His Harvest from the Gentiles, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah will appear as The King of kings and Lord of lords. Time's up.
Right now we are His Kingdom Representatives, His Ambassadors to a lost world. The Kingdom is at hand.
Theologically my interpretation may be 100% correct, but it helps me keep things in focus; to keep little things little, so as not to divert from our purpose.
What do you think, Juanita? :-}}
Mark
Here is a PowerPoint Presentation that outlines the core concept...
What is the 'core unit' of the body of Christ? The Local church? Maybe not... http://t.co/VWIDEV7