When looking at the birth and ministry of Christ, we will see that what He taught and represented was entirely different to what the cultural norms were around Jesus. Many have looked at what Jesus represents and call it the upside-down Kingdom. It's really messes with the things we enjoy to feel about ourselves.
Those things that make us important in our world become unimportant in the upside-down Kingdom. Here are some of the things about His Kingdom:
The Upside-Down Kingdom
- To lead, you must serve.
- To live you must die.
- To gain favor you must cease your labors.
- To be strong you must be weak.
- To be promoted you must promote others.
- To be rich you must give everything away.
- To win you must be last.
At our church we are experiencing growth in some very exciting ways. We are near full capacity in our children's programming space, and our youth have begun meeting on multiple nights during the week to accommodate their rapid numerical growth. In addition to our people are serving one another well, they are regularly finding ways to serve local neighborhoods and make the presence of Jesus Christ known to people within their own communities.
You might say: "Wow!" You might say: "What an improvement!" You might even say: "Keep that up and people will really start to talk about our church again!" You might not realize however, that in these moments a church must make a choice. As Jeff Christopherson writes: Are we going to be Self Seekers, or Kingdom Seekers. Are we going to be Brand Expanders or Kingdom Expanders? Is it going to be about us, or is it going to be about Him?
This book was a great reminder. Which kingdom are we serving? The Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of Darkness. It is a tremendously practical book that will not only convict the reader of selfish ambitions, but also get him the tools by which to lead the church forward in Kingdom Seeking and Kingdom Expanding. I highly recommend this book for any church leader, but specifically for the church planter, and church revitalizer.
The Kingdom Matrix and the Upside-down Kingdom is why we must plant churches. The Upside-down Kingdom is why we must plant autonomous churches.
Is your church designed to be upside-down?
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