drew moser : : theological riffs, cultural rants, anecdotal quips

E-Dialogue: Kingdom & Mission

19 July 2006

A few of you have asked me about my thoughts on 'kingdom' and 'mission'. These two concepts are currently dominating my thoughts, readings, and writings. They are two terms thrown around quite frequently in the emerging church world, but I wonder how many people have actually stopped to think about the following two critical questions:

1. What does the kingdom of God look like, here and now?
2. In light of question 1, what's our mission on this earth?

Here's an excerpt; some thoughts I offerred in an email conversation I've been having with a fellow young adult pastor in Seattle. It paints with broad strokes, and leave many unanswered questions. But, maybe you all can help with some of the gaps:

"re: mission and kingdom...Newbigin deals with the concept of mission quite explicitly, though not really in kingdom terms. NT Wright and McLaren have opened the 'kingdom' door for me lately, though originally wrestling with these issues came about via George Eldon Ladd.

Ladd introduced me to the term 'realized eschatology'. Basically, the kingdom is 'already/not yet'. It is already here through the life, message, blood, and resurrection of Jesus. It is not yet fully consummated until he 'returns'. (there's a lot more to this concept, but for this purpose, this will suffice)

Thus, the church finds itself in a 'tweener' role (my term, not Ladd's). Christ has commissioned His church, guided by the Holy Spirit, to participate in God's kingdom work here and now, until He 'returns' (I realize this is a very loaded concept, a topic for another day).

This is where NT Wright comes in for me...His view is that the gospel, the Good News that Jesus brought was the "kingdom". And to further explain, it's about 'God's future breaking into the present'. That's the kingdom at work here and now.

We then move to McLaren's latest work: The Secret Messages of Jesus. To be frank, I thought the title was weird, and seemed to cater more towards a publisher's idea to captialize on the current climate of discussion on gnosticism, da vinci code, etc. But beyond the title, the book was great. It should have been called The Kingdom Now. McLaren really delves into the idea of what the kingdom means here and now.

Beyond that, I'm really getting more into what 'mission' really means in a pomo culture. People throw the term around all the time, but nobody can really explain it. I believe it starts with the missio dei (the mission of God). What is God doing here? Where is he at work? And then, how can we participate? This takes control of the mission away from humanity, and recognizes it in its rightful place: God. But we are called to be agents, humble servants of the kingdom now.

I belive it was Holmes who once wrote, that some people can be "so heavenly minded they're of no earthly good."
I suppose, the inverse would also be true: people can be so earthly minded that they're of no heavenly good.'

Therein lies the balance: we must live in the tension of the 'already/not yet' kingdom.

What are your thoughts?

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Drew Moser @ 9:52 AM : : permalink : : 2 comments : : links to this post