Kingdom Conspiracy Quotes

“the way to inscribe the will of God on the hearts of people in this world is not by way of law or vote but by way of redemption through Jesus. Jesus’ kingdom vision is for his redeemed people and for them alone.”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“First we are to seek peace in our local fellowship, to end strife and to seek reconciliation with God and with one another, and out of this peace-shaped, kingdom-shaped church we spill over peace into the world.”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“we need to learn to tell the story that makes sense of Jesus. Not a story that we ask Jesus to fit into.”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“Power has always been a temptation, and I want to argue that majority rule in America carries with it an empire temptation for many Christian citizens. Those of us who know our American history might be tempted to say, “That’s precisely the opposite of what our democracy, or representative democracy, stands for.” True enough, at one level, because giving everyone a voice vastly surpasses anything less. But take any heated political issue, from abortion to same-sex marriage to national health care to free-market enterprise to nuclear build-up for security, and you may glimpse what I’m trying to say. The political left takes one posture on issues while the political right draws swords from another posture. If we step back we see that each side seeks to impose its view on the minority. This is ruling over the other. Now to a few questions. Is this imposition of power over others consistent with following Christ? Do we ever wonder if the right to vote is the right to coerce and impose, the right to use the power of the majority against the minority?17 Is the power of the majority that different from the power of King Charles when the pilgrims and Puritans left England to establish the “city on a hill”? We would all agree that empowering the people improved the conditions, but I want to ask another question: Does it make the political process of voting the source of seeking for power over others? What is the best Christian response to the drive for power? I call this quest for power through the political process the “eschatology of politics”—that is, the belief that if we usher in the right political candidates and the right laws, then kingdom conditions will arrive. Every two years America goes through convulsions as one candidate after another promises (all but) the kingdom if he or she is elected. Every two years Americans go through the same convulsions as they lather up for the election because they believe if they get their candidate, not only will they win, but (all but) the kingdom will come. This is idolatry and yet another example of Constantinianism”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“In one simple sentence: what Christians want for the nation should first be a witnessed reality in their local church.”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“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.”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“The kingdom is the people under King Jesus who fellowship with one another and form churches. These churches are the politic of Jesus in this world. That is, a local church embodies—or is designed by God to embody—the kingdom vision of Jesus in such a way that it tells the kingdom story. That is a politic, a witness to the world of a new worship, a new law, a new king, a new social order, a new peace, a new justice, a new economics, and a new way of life. Engagement at the pulpit level to endorse or denounce a candidate is a minor chord in God’s masterpiece. Rather than spending our time with candidates, kingdom politics means we embody all that the country could be and far more than it is by living out what Jesus calls us to do. As John Howard Yoder has said, “If in society we believe in the rights of employees, then the church should be the first employer to deal with workers fairly. If in the wider society we call for the overcoming of racism or sexism or materialism, then the church should be the place where that possibility first becomes real.”2”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“There is no kingdom mission apart from submitting to Jesus as King and calling others to surrender before King Jesus.”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“kingdom mission is church mission, church mission is kingdom mission, and there is no kingdom mission that is not church mission.”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“Jesus is the gospel-shaped King. There is no other messianic story like the one Jesus told and lived.”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“That is, until we find the story that leads us to the gospel claim that Jesus is the Messiah, we don’t have the Bible’s story right.”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church

“As John Howard Yoder has said, “If in society we believe in the rights of employees, then the church should be the first employer to deal with workers fairly. If in the wider society we call for the overcoming of racism or sexism or materialism, then the church should be the place where that possibility first becomes real.”
― Scot McKnight, Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church