The Tangible Kingdom

... newest American fad or inspirational model?

Irish church leaders and mission workers from Greater Europe Mission came together in Dublin for a two-day seminar with American authors Hugh Halter and Matt Smay in April. Exploring principles from “The Tangible Kingdom” and their newest title “AND – the gathered and scattered church”, they challenged people to create incarnational communities.

Despite an unexpectedly extended visit to Ireland thanks to a certain Volcano in Iceland, Hugh and Matt appeared unfazed as they took time out to share their thoughts with VOX readers:

We are trying to express that the culture has changed so that the past focus of church does not fit the new context.

We are not saying let’s not do church. We believe that the church is still God’s primary means of reaching culture. Most existing churches want to be missional but they simply don’t know how. The church [as a whole] is not connecting with the culture and we are not representing Jesus well.

If people think the church is working, they do not want to look at new ways of doing it. We need honest critique of the church. The goal is not de-constructing church but re-constructing church. For us, that is loving the church.

Our story is how our church formed by not ‘doing’ traditional church. We lived as a missional community and people were coming to faith, so eventually we had to form a church.

We believe the Kingdom of God becomes tangible to those around us when we integrate three essentials:

• Inclusive community – living among and building deep and lasting relationships with those around us (whether or not they know God).
• Communion with God – helping people connect with God through worship, prayer and scripture.
• Mission – blessing our community, the maginalised and those in need.

Jesus could have become king and changed the whole Jewish nation but instead he chose 12 men and changed history.

Our intent isn’t to try and figure everything out for you, because we don’t have all the answers. We don’t care if your context is mega-church, house church or whatever-church. We don’t think it matters.

In the Irish context you might want to ask questions like:
• Why are we not good news?
• What would be good news to the Irish?
• How can we set Jesus apart from religion? How do you help people to make the kingdom tangible in a religious context?

The VOX verdict?
Hugh Halter and Matt Smay come across with refreshing humility despite their excitement and passion about the model they are ‘living out’ in Colorado. They are deeply rooted in American culture and some of what they say needs to be filtered through that reality; you may laugh at the idea that four years is considered ‘long term’ ministry.

However, there is still much of relevance, inspiration and challenge for us in Ireland. Check out “The Tangible Kingdom” and it’s sequel for yourself and let us know what you think!

To join The Conversation... add your comments and questions below.

Searching for a response by Ken Gibson

The script is already written. The day will come. The King will say to those on His left, 'Depart from me, for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink” (Matthew 25). “I didn’t know” will not be an acceptable answer.

The nakedness, hunger, loneliness and imprisonment Jesus spoke of are representative of human suffering, but not an exhaustive list. Much of Jesus’ teachings revolve around liberty for the oppressed and justice for the weak. When Jesus launched His ministry, He explicitly demonstrated these concerns:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Luke 4: 18-19)

Justice and liberty seem like sore points with God. Over and over in the Old Testament we read about God’s demands to defend the weak and set captives free. In the New Testament, it was one of Jesus’ primary focuses. Why? Because all humankind is made in God’s image and wherever mankind suffers, Christ suffers.

As always, Christ chooses His words carefully. The King won’t say, “You knew I was hungry and gave me nothing.” No, it’s lack of action, not lack of knowledge that is condemned. On that day, Christ’s people, the Church, will not be able to claim ignorance.

Before we protest and scream, “That’s not fair, I wasn’t aware” we’ll find the warning was given centuries before Christ. God, speaking to His people through Isaiah the prophet commanded them to “learn to do right, seek justice, encourage the oppressed”(Isaiah 1:17).

In this command alone, never mind the full volume of scripture, we see that God places the onus on us to learn - to educate ourselves - in promoting justice. God is even more explicit through the prophet Hosea when He says, "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).

Our generation has access to a volume of information that is historically unparalleled. We’re never more than a click away from a vast world of statistics, figures and facts. There’s no excuse for not knowing anything! The real issue is our desire, or lack of desire, to know.

Experiment now. Open any search engine. Type in “Human Trafficking”. I’ve just done it. In 0.6 seconds it located 3.57 million entries. That’s certainly more than entry-level knowledge. Narrow it down by adding “Ireland” in your search bar. Still overwhelmed? Add “Christian response”. I hate to say it, but now there remains no excuse.

We’re not overtly bad people, we just turn a blind eye to human suffering, assuming someone else is taking care of the “problem.” It’s the government’s job anyway, right?

As Christians, we already have the template. While we were still slaves: slaves to sin, corruption, and our own carnal nature, Jesus heard our cry, giving Himself as a sacrifice to free us. He paid the ultimate price. He set the example.

We might say we didn’t learn, but we can’t say we didn’t know. We might say we were fascinated by the virtual world and the ease with which we kept abreast of our friends’ every fleeting moments and social contacts.

But it’s just as easy to invest that time learning to do right. We were created to love each other. If we just start somewhere, we can someday say, we learned about injustice and we learned to do right. Yes, that’s uncomfortable. We’ll have to gaze at human suffering but these are lives we can change. Jesus calls us out of our complacency. He demands that we serve.

Last month I encountered Anik from Africa. She had been a prostitute. Before you condemn her, consider this. Her passport had been taken and her children were being held captive. Every sexual encounter was an exercise in hope: a hope that her captors would release her children unharmed. They had no such notion. Freedom was denied her, until Christ’s people intervened.

Jesus launched His ministry quoting Isaiah the prophet. “…proclaim freedom for the captives.” In our modern day world, His servants, fighting for justice, made this a reality for Anik and her children. That’s what His people are supposed to do.
The script is already written. The actors are being chosen. Which part for you? Which part for me? Which part for the Church in Ireland? Ultimately, there are only two supporting characters: Those on the left who depart from the King for doing nothing and those on the right, who enter His courts for serving the oppressed.

Today you choose which character you will be.

Ken Gibson is CEO of The Leprosy Mission Ireland, serves on the boards of Christian organisations dedicated to fighting injustice and acts as development consultant to organisations across Europe. Watch out for his book on Overseas Aid being published this autumn!

Join The Conversation: Would you prefer to be ignorant of what is going on in the world? What can you do to avoid the apathy trap? Is cutting down on things like social networking the answer? How should we invest in doing right? Post your comments and questions below.