Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

by Scot McKnight

Statisticians are all telling us that Millennials are leaving the church, and it is usually observed that they are leaving the church because it has become too political. Agree? If you agree, listen to this: Millennials, who are shaping the Skinny Jeans vision of kingdom, have turned the kingdom message of Jesus into a politically shaped message.

The kingdom now is not the perfect kingdom of the not yet, and that means kingdom citizens are not yet perfect, not yet fully loving, not yet fully holy, not yet fully just, and not yet fully peaceful. But Jesus’ redemptive lordship is at work in the now, so kingdom citizens are to reflect that lordship.

When this is what “kingdom” means, “kingdom” means nothing because it means everything. I doubt that when Jesus said the “kingdom has drawn near” he was talking about mowing the lawn or washing the dishes!

There is no kingdom that is not about a just society, as there is no kingdom without redemption under Christ. Yet I’m convinced that both of these approaches to kingdom fall substantially short of what kingdom meant to Jesus, so we need once again to be patient enough to ponder what the Bible teaches.

The cross-shaped kingdom mission means a life of self-denial in sacrifice to others. In the cross, then, we see God’s love and a model for our love. A cross-love revolutionizes our attitude and practices of possessions and money.

we need to shape church life into kingdom gatherings by enhancing opportunities for fellowship. How can we do this? Small groups that don’t overdo the Bible study or theology study dimensions but include generous times for sharing life. Potlucks or social events for the whole congregation. I grew up in a potluck church, and not that long ago I was invited to speak at a church in the heartland of America—Pekin, Illinois—and it began with a potluck. Kris and I loved the weekend, and for us the highlight was the potluck! Sure, it brought back old memories, but it also created space for us to talk with the folks to whom I’d be preaching and teaching the next two days. Some churches develop dinner fellowships where folks mix with those they don’t know just to get to know one another better. Before we go too far I must say a word for the introverts among us. Churches tend to magnify what appeals to extroverts and ignore what appeals to introverts, and surely the very proposal of more social events can scare what remains of a social desire out of the introvert. So some may prefer the quiet evening instead of the potluck, or the smaller group with someone more trusted than the random gathering of Christians. Maybe the final kingdom will calm down the extrovert and excite the introvert into social fellowship. With this sensitivity in place, let us remind ourselves again that the future kingdom is a fellowship of God and God’s people. If that is the u-topia, then our attempts to bri...

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Kingdom is a both-and, a now and a not yet. The church also is a both-and, a now and not yet. The church, then, is an eschatological reality.

This means it is reasonable to say that the kingdom is the church, and the church is the kingdom—that they are the same even if they are not identical.