What's the Difference?
In 2005 I learned something. I learned something life changing. I learned something that changed my perspective and focus. I thought I had operated biblically, but found I was operating under the realm of American Christianity.
For me, it all changed in 2005.
In the chart above, American Christianity is on the left (Attraction). That's where I was. And I was there a long time! From the early 70's in fact. Then 30 years later I read this (prompted by the Holy Spirit) ... Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."
It was almost instantaneous. I was transformed from Attractional to Incarnational! Study the chart. The words of Isaiah above were the beginning of a framework to transform me from a Local Church Builder to a Kingdom Builder.
I had to abandon all that I thought was vitally important (but was actually not a God movement at all). Things like, "Come" - "All are Welcome" - "Join Us" - were not Incarnational. Being Local Church Builders meant getting people to fill seats, give money and build buildings. We would pay to advertise who we are and what we do to attract people ... which more often than not were other church goers who were disgruntled with where they were attending. So seats would fill up with new people but they were not new believers. And in the eyes of the L.C.B.'s (Local Church Builders) CHURCH GROWTH WAS HAPPENING! But it was NOT Real Growth At All. It's what has been termed at "transferal growth". That growth is not long lasting because if people came to you disgruntled where they were at, they will become disgruntled with you at some point and cut out. L.C.B.'s Transferal Growth violates Jesus' final words to His disciples in Acts 1:8 (NIV) "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." and His other words found in Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV) "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." I see strikingly absent terms like ... "come" - "join" - "welcome" ... in these words of Jesus. Because those words don't describe Kingdom Building.
In 2005, I became committed to Kingdom Building. I was a pastor in a local church that was committed to being L.C.B.ers. I was ushered out less than a year later! A few months following that we led a few families in a home fellowship that exploded with growth (not transferal but redemptive). A number of new Christ-Followers were added and the Holy Spirit's presence was evident in this Discipleship process. In 2008 we were contacted by another home fellowship that had begun meeting to restore faith in being Christ-Followers after a painful experience and again, the Mission of Jesus (Kingdom Building) became the focus and was life changing for many. The painful experience faded, the mission of going began and the Kingdom was being built.
I have a dear friend who sent me an email overnight with an observation he has been making of a local fellowship we both know about. He is a Kingdom Builder and he loves to see the Spirit's activity explode in our world. But his heart was heavy when he wrote these words to me: "(this group has) become another marketed religion with the Rev titles and new physcogable programs and stuff ... only God is to be revered not man"! He is so right. If the desire is to be Kingdom Builders but we use non-God type methods to Build ... it becomes "L.C.B."
So, What ...? Again, I ask you to study the chart. Open the Word. Find the Fact of Kingdom Building. Ask God to Form your Heart.
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