Threshingfloor’s mission is to cultivate Kingdom communities. That three word statement carries a lot of weight.. We aren’t just about creating groups of people that are good friends who get together regularly and do nice things for the people around them, nor are we about starting a bunch of Bible studies that talk really “deep” theology. A Kingdom community has a culture that is, Lord willing, radically different than any other.
Here are ten truths about the culture of a Kingdom community. Note that none of our communities fulfills these perfectly, but they are all moving intentionally toward embodying these truths in their day-to-day lives and interaction, cultivating Kingdom community in their midst.
In communities that reflect the culture of the Kingdom of God, the following things are true:
1.Jesus is King
Jesus, the incarnate son of God is ruler of all things, and therefore the center and foundation of any kingdom community. This means that in a Kingdom community Jesus is the primary focus. Who he is, what he has done and is doing, and what he says shapes and defines reality. What he says goes, regardless of how community members feel about it.
The implications of this are as massive as they are wide-ranging. If Jesus is indeed, “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come,” and the church is his body (Eph. 1:21-23) then all that the Kingdom Community does must be done under that rule and authority.
2. Love is preeminent
Jesus declared that the greatest of God’s commands is,
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40
This means that love is the most prominent factor within a Kingdom community. People treat each other with love, express their love and affection verbally and visibly, and demonstrate that love powerfully to the world around them. As already pointed out, Jesus is the King in a Kingdom community, and his example of sacrificial love sets the tone for how love is lived out.
3. All are welcomed.
One result of the preeminence of Jesus-like love is that a Kingdom Community serves and welcomes the outsiders and outcasts – those that the religious and successful have rejected. Like Jesus who spent so much of his time with lepers, tax collectors, party-goers, and others that the religious system of his day had soundly rejected as far from God, Kingdom communities often focus on the margins and in the unexpected placed.
A Kingdom community doesn’t carry a list of requirements for entry. All are welcomed, loved, and valued. However, this doesn’t mean that the community is lax on proclaiming the Gospel and the call to holiness and obedience to Christ.
4. The whole Gospel is proclaimed and demonstrated
Will a Kingdom Community is open and welcoming to all, neither the beautiful nor the hard truths of the Gospel are hidden. Instead, those who are followers of Jesus in a Kingdom Community make both the proclamation and demonstration of Gospel truths a (super)natural part of every interaction. Jesus’ words and actions in the Gospels, or those of the many Jesus-followers recorded in Acts give numerous pictures of what this looks like: healing the sick, lame, and blind; declaring forgiveness; confronting sin and religious superiority; speaking boldly to civil authorities and working humbly behind the scenes; and much more.
5. God’s word and Spirit are foundational
If the Gospel in all its fullness is to be proclaimed and demonstrated, then both Word and Spirit must be foundational to the community. When a Kingdom Community gathers scripture is read frequently and learned deeply, and the Holy Spirit’s leading is listened to attentively and followed willingly. Those who are a part of a Kingdom Community make regular practice of reading God’s word and follow the Apostle Paul’s example of praying in the Spirit without ceasing.
6. Is boldly counter-cultural in any place that the larger culture departs from God’s established truth and rule
As a result of its embrace of the entirety of the Gospel and saturation in God’s word and Spirit, a Kingdom community is inevitably counter-cultural. Every human culture departs from God’s communicated truth, and where this happens those who are part of a Kingdom Community are bound to follow the Lord’s call rather than that of the culture. As Peter declares to the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men,” even if it means rejection and being declared heretical or judgmental or morally backwards.
7. Humility, repentance, and putting others above self is highly valued
However, this bold, counter-cultural stance doesn’t come with the antagonistic, holier-than-thou stance that has so often been the norm in western conservative evangelicalism. Kingdom Communities understand that it is humility and valuing others above self that most accurately demonstrates God’s heart toward humanity. Like Jesus washing the Judas’ feet mere minutes before Judas would leave to betray him, a Kingdom Community seeks ways to humbly serve each other (Philippians 2:4) and those they have been sent to reach with the Gospel.
8. Is a place where people get free from the bondage of sin and live in the freedom of righteousness
One of the results of the proclamation and practice of Gospel truth, partnered with humble and repentant serving of one another is that people discover freedom from the bondage to the sin that has held them captive. A Kingdom Community is made up of people who are progressively coming to know the truth and being set free by it to live in the freedom of righteousness (Romans 6:20-23).
9. Everyone has significance and purpose, regardless of their skill level, age, gender, or race.
As Paul writes in Galatians 3, “as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (v.27-29) Every member of a Kingdom Community who has put their faith in Christ and been born again is a priest indwelt with the Holy Spirit, equipped and gifted for the building up of the rest of the community. This means that every member of the community, whether a six year old boy or a 80 year old woman are valued and needed by all others. As a result, every member of a Kingdom community is expected to receive from the Father and share with their brothers and sisters in faith.
10. Has purpose both in and beyond this world.
Jesus says to Pontius Pilate that, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36a) and declares to his followers over and over again that those who believe in him have received eternal life. As a result the perspective of a Kingdom Community is an eternal one. Yet, at the same time, a Kingdom Community has clear purpose in this world because God has appointed it to bear witness to Christ and the Gospel message. This dual scope of purpose creates a simultaneous seriousness and playful joy. Seriousness because of the significance of the missional task at hand; playful joy because of the freedom that comes from knowing death has no ultimate say.
My prayer for this year is that each of Threshingfloor’s communities would embody these ten truths, and that as we do so the beauty Jesus would become increasingly clear to us and the world around us. Or, to use Jesus’ own words:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:9-13
May it be so.
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