Most of you who are leaders will have read widely enough to have heard of the idea that the earth is full of jurisdictions or spheres of influence. Specifically, a jurisdiction or sphere is a place where authority is vested and exercised. For example, Government is a jurisdiction and so, therefore, are nations. The Church too is a jurisdiction or sphere and there are many examples of the way in which authority is vested and exercised within it mentioned in the Scriptures.

The judiciary is a sphere too (an Ezekiel-like sphere within a sphere) and once again, there are a variety of ways in which authority is vested and exercised therein e.g. solicitors don’t do criminal cases.

What fascinates me is the way the Kingdom advances through the missionary-church by releasing its people to move across from its jurisdiction to another and as they go, to carry the message of the King and His Kingdom and its application to human life in that new sphere.

Actually it is essential this happens in order that the Kingdom should advance throughout human life. This requires an incarnational approach, in that we as the ambassadors of Christ, cross personally into other jurisdictions to announce the King’s agenda. These same ambassadors sometimes stay within that jurisdiction a long time to exercise the King’s authority while others return again to their own sphere or jurisdiction.

Acts is full of this kind of thing. It seems to me this is the way the Kingdom advances into every part of the world. Let me show you what I mean, but please look out for the following pattern.

First there is the work of the Spirit on people within the initial jurisdiction; next, the crossing over itself which may be caused by any number of factors but always according to the purposes of God; then the planting of the Word in the new jurisdiction; followed by the observation that those in the affected jurisdiction are transformed and their sphere also; finally these newly transformed people proceed to repeat the process itself into another jurisdiction.

Look at Acts 2. The disciples are the first jurisdiction of the Kingdom – gathered together and in prayer (Ac.1:13-14). This particular jurisdiction includes people who carry a unique promise – yet unfulfilled – but who still carry within them the promise and command of God (1:4-5,8). As yet they represent the only jurisdiction where this promise applies – the company of disciples.

This first jurisdiction is, at that moment in time, the key Kingdom jurisdiction in the earth – at least in terms of the transformation of human society as a whole. They are not living it yet, but it is their destiny. This does not mean that this jurisdiction was the only Kingdom jurisdiction – a fact which will hopefully become clear soon.

Once the Holy Spirit is poured out (2:1-4) the switch is thrown resulting in those populating this first jurisdiction beginning to cross into other jurisdictions with a very new and challenging message which will carry enormous impact – into Jerusalem.

The next jurisdiction is mentioned in Acts 2:5. They are God-fearing Jews in Jerusalem to faithfully observe the Pentecost – many had been in Jerusalem since before the Passover.

This group of people is a jurisdiction normally untouched by the members of the first Kingdom jurisdiction in the earth for these men were from the fringes of Jewish society. The men and women from the first jurisdiction are neither priests nor trained in the ministry of the Temple nor are they permitted to minister. In the usual course of events, these God-fearing Jews would not be ministered to by such a company of men and women.

Yet, the Spirit anointed that company of disciples to cross into this new jurisdiction (God-fearing Jews) and minister a new message – the message of the Kingdom.

The signs of the Spirit create the moment and Peter advances into the new jurisdiction with a new and amazing message(2:14-36).

The effect was amazing (2:37) and Peter announces the promise of the Spirit to them exactly as it had been promised to himself (2:38-39).  I know the words are different, but it is the same Spirit. The promise in this first jurisdiction has now been announced to a second jurisdiction and many of those in that second jurisdiction took up that same offer of the Kingdom (2:41) and formed a significant Messianic community (2:42-47a)

The key here is that the two jurisdictions were parallel. That is, they shared some significant common ground which, when accented by the work of the Spirit, led to the transformation brought by the Kingdom, to leap across normal human divides into a new jurisdiction. It was a kairos moment.

Acts 2:47b needs separate comment. The community which had been drawn from the second jurisdiction and that from the first jurisdiction is now joined by faith. But they are very diverse with some real cultural differences. They form a new jurisdiction (ie the Church of Jesus Christ) which shares an amazing outcome – that of being a community whose aim is to engage other jurisdictions in a worldview challenge on a continuing basis.

And momentum is key.

For me, it’s proof the Kingdom is present. The Kingdom advances both because of intentional and non-intentional human action. Mark 4:26-29 outlines a parable about the Kingdom which I think is resounding here.

But what happens next is in some ways more amazing.

Acts 8:1-3 records a phenomena – a scattering of believers out of Jerusalem which was caused by a persecution of the followers of The Way by the Jewish authorities and their chief protagonist Saul of Tarsus.

Initially, these believers were scattered to Judea and Samaria (8:2). In addition, Acts 8:4-40 tells the story of the remarkable revival led by Philip which itself is an example of jurisdiction transfer in the name of the King and His Kingdom.

I mentioned earlier the initial group of believers carried in them a command and a promise to be witnesses to Christ to the ends of the earth – Luke’s version of this is in Acts 1:8 and Matthew’s is recorded at Matthew 28:19. But this did not happen spontaneously, rather, it was the result of an action.

The first expression of the jurisdiction we now know as the Church (the company of believers hidden between the ascension and Pentecost) did not advance into any new jurisdiction automatically – the action that created this was the pouring out of the Spirit.

Following this, the newly created jurisdiction advanced into the next “parallel” jurisdiction which turned out to be devout Jewish believers in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover and Pentecost. The effect was amazing. But again, the church as it was now (a group of believers who had known Christ personally, certain priests and members of the Sanhedrin as well as devout Jews from around the known world) did not automatically fulfill the plan and intent of God. Another action was required – this time, a persecution.

This however created a problem and it remains one for us today. The members of that first jurisdiction rightly saw themselves as “guardians” of the deposit left by Christ so they needed to confirm the veracity of what had occurred. The Church was now in a new city (another jurisdiction).

How was this being handled? What proved it was the real thing?

In this case as described in Acts 8:14-17 it was the presence and work of the Holy Spirit that was proving a jurisdictional transfer of the Kingdom had occurred. The Gospel had leapt across into a new jurisdiction through the work of ordinary believers.

Philip’s story also contains the contact with the Ethiopian (8:26-40) which together with the story of Peter and Cornelius (10:1-48) reveal the first major jurisdictional transfer of the Gospel and the Kingdom – that which is from Jew to Gentile.

This would eventually find its fullest expression in the work of the Spirit among the believers at the Antioch Church.

But all this is just an introduction. Let me finish this by trying to explain what it might mean to us now. What is the application for us in the 21^st century?

Right now we have several crucial jurisdictional transfers before us. The major one is one that is similar to that involving Peter and Cornelius and it will also take Spirit-led timing and content built on what the Holy Spirit is doing on the other side of the transfer to be successful.

I refer to the transfer from the Church of Jesus Christ into the Muslim world. Leaders like Stuart Robinson represent those who have crossed the jurisdictional barrier between western culture and that of Islam. His book “Mosques and Miracles” illustrates what is involved, what challenges exist and what opportunities abound. There will need to be more people crossing this jurisdiction in order for the Kingdom to move more purposefully into Islam with the good news of Jesus.

Another of these crucial jurisdictions before us is the new age movement. Thousands of Australians are engaged in this movement; buying the books and crystals, seeking the diviners and palm readers and adopting an extremely strong “spiritual” approach to life.

Outside this jurisdiction, inside the Body of Christ, there are people like Lyn Thomas who lives in Brisbane and goes to fairs and new age expos and offers prophetic ministry and dream interpretation. In 2005-2006 she and her team led almost 150 people to Christ. The real challenge for her is finding Churches to which she can send these new converts. So the second transfer is from the Church into the New Age Movement.

A third crucial jurisdiction that needs to be crossed is that across many unreached people groups scattered throughout the earth.

Unlike the previous two I have mentioned, this transfer requires the commitment of a whole life. It requires language and culture skills that take time to develop and the offer of a life given over completely to God in the tradition of Hudson Taylor who went into China. We might call this transfer from the Church into unreached people groups around the world.

Speaking nationally, there is a jurisdiction that is in urgent need of transfer – the indigenous Australian peoples. I have a vision for how The Pines Training Centre will move across this transfer. By preparing and supporting a specific team of Indigenous leaders I have a vision for the development of leaders fit for winning Indigenous people to faith in a culturally relevant way.

There are some wonderful examples of this jurisdictional transfer occurring. There’s an Apostolic Church based in Roeburn in north-west Western Australia.  From this church there are Aboriginal believers venturing out across the deserts to Alice Springs. The Church was planted by an Anglo-Saxon who gave his life to this cause as his son did after him. The kingdom is transferred now as all the ministry is done by Aboriginal converts and leaders.

Jeff Christopherson (Kingdom Matrix) speaks of assumptions made about the Kingdom. One is that you can often get a hold of “Church” and miss “Kingdom”; but when you get a hold of “Kingdom” what follows is a clear sense of “Church.”

Another of these assumptions is that there are only two Kingdoms – “at any given moment I am either building the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Darkness.” 

And – it is possible to participate in Church expansion and unintentionally be an agent for shrinking the Kingdom of God. 

But when I heard him speak in mid-2006 this was the one that impacted me most – it is possible to unknowingly value the Kingdom of God before acknowledging the value of its Source – the King.

I had felt for quite a while that Australian churches weren’t really impacting Australia, like we could or should.. like what happened in the Bible. I couldn’t see the blokes at high school coming along to youth group (though ironically some of the tougher guys did And I was frustrated with the lack of progress I was experiencing with the guys at work.

There was no way that the blokes there would come along to church or home-group!

In fact, I wasn’t even interested in getting them to church. Most of the blokes I dealt with had a low view of Christians and Pastors and churches. And church attendance wasn’t exactly in their diary.

That’s not to say I don’t think they didn’t entertain the idea of a biblical God existing. Nor have an appreciation of those who gave selflessly to help those in need. But they did have a problem with …

• Hypocritical Christians
• Preachers telling them what to do when they themselves had big expensive churches, flash cars, asking for money and getting caught in compromising scandals.. and that they were telling others what not to do … all when there are starving kids and people who need help.
• The paedophilia scandals
• Religions causing wars/terrorism
• Evolutionary and other belief systems and lifestyles, that were largely God-gospel resistant
• Christians’ lack of tolerance for alternate belief systems, and other lifestyles
• Bad experiences with a Christian
• Judgmentalism
• And why God would let innocent children suffer

[note : I am referring to perception, without addressing the validity of the perceptions]

You’ll have to forgive me, but back then I was kind-of a long way off considering church planting when it seemed to me that the average un/pre-churched Aussie had such a low opinion of Christians and the church.

To be honest, I would have killed just to see a slight change in people’s underlying negative perceptions of Christians, the Church and … ultimately our Creator. That being said, I can guarantee you that the average Aussie can pick the ‘real thing’ faster than you can say, “Can I tell you about Jesus..” and has a finely tuned ‘bulldust filter.’

Part of our problem is that they can see through us better than we can see ourselves.

But when the then Training Director brought some Pines students to help our local church at Kawana, I said to myself… ‘Here is a group of (young) people who could change the world.’

 And to me, they were dynamic and different to the young denominationally-trained pastors I had come across. I thought the young pastors I had met were awesome and committed Godly people and effective at what they were trained for.

But I saw these Pines students as people that could relate to and impact normal average Aussies (perhaps a bit like school chappys were doing). From where I sat, they were down to earth, full of life and love .. and had something different. And I figured that something good must have been going on, up the hill at The Pines.

And I wanted to get some of whatever they had, into me … 

If there was one aspect of The Pines’ training that I found most helpful, it was the cross cultural ministry training that I received. (Indigenous Theology, Ministry relevant to Australians, and Cross Cultural  Ministry).

The trainers explained how we could integrate and gain acceptance into different cultures and then transplant ‘the gospel’ … and allow the gospel to transform ‘their culture.’ (Hopefully not us transferring ‘gospel + our culture.’) But this required us to bridge the cultural barriers and challenges, which is hard work.

Then I began to realise the cultural divide between average Aussie culture … and our Australian Church culture. And every time we ask someone into our church culture, we are expecting them to bridge the cultural gaps.. and for them to become like us. We don’t realise how crazy we are

Hence, Jesus’ command to …‘Go!!’ ..and make disciples. Not… ‘tell them to ‘come,’ and be discipled.’… (though I’m not going to argue if they do).

I’ve learnt that there is a spiritual dynamic at work, and that when I jump on the train .. or go to a community, that I need to acknowledge that God is above every power and authority, and that it is ‘His’ work .. not mine. If I can get away from my distractions, and do this .. I have found it amazing how He brings things up and generates Godly instances, that I couldn’t concoct.

And I have had a revelation of God’s desire to extend his ‘grace and peace’ to us, and through us .. to the world.

I realise that we (.. or maybe just ‘me’…) are perhaps better at putting our laws and values and expectations on the world… and ultimately our judgements … rather than extending His Grace. If a person gets more acceptance and appreciation and love at the local bowls club or rave dance club or bikie gang … than the church they walk into, we have a big problem.

If they receive Grace there, and judgement and exclusion in our churches because they haven’t met our cultural norms, then we have a problem. And we’ve got heaps of norms for them to navigate, haven’t we?

I now view the sporting clubs and my workplace as a foreign tribe, that I need to integrate with … learn their cultures and ways … and then look for God-created opportunities that allow the things of God to be transplanted into that culture. I apply cross cultural and missionary principles to the Aussie communities I am a part of.

Have I seen any conversions? … No. Well, actually I have … but they are micro-conversions, of hearts and minds and perceptions and attitudes. One could say that they are small increments on the evangelism scale.

To me, we simply have to ‘Go’ … and just ‘hang-out with them.’ We might have to risk compromising our holiness (ha ha! Go and do their stuff with them, in their environment. For me, that meant going to a ‘buck’s party’. For me, that means riding a motorbike, risking death and painful injuries… crazy stuff.

An outward gospel.

We need to ‘wrestle’ with them … on their turf, and gain their respect somehow. We need to find out what tends to open doors in that culture, and what closes the door in that culture. To become one of them, that we might win them… whilst somehow remembering that we are an ambassador for Christ.. representing Him, and His kingdom. 

 Jesus lowered himself and hung-out in a sinful grotty world that really grated against Him… and literally killed Him. And in doing so, He won that world for His father. I suspect that we need to do that, in the cultural microcosms that we interact with.

no it is not me… but it is my identical brother

by Dean Thomas

trust in God looks like

I like this pic so much I decided to start a photo of the month… I think this would be great on a T-shirt

I believe there was a subtle theological shift in our country that has had a tremendous impact upon us and I think this happened almost without being noticed.

I remember it now because I was preparing for ministry at the time. I was at Bible College.

Here’s my theory.

The shift away from a sound theology of the Kingdom of God occurred in Australia, I think, somewhere between 1976 and 1981. It wasn’t sudden, but that was the point when I believe it became discernible.

There were two major factors. The first was the popularity of the mega-church model and the belief that the local church was the hope of the world. There is some truth to this latter idea of course, but there is a theological shift here that I think is unhealthy.

The other major factor I discerned was the false confidence born out of the Church Growth Movement. I don’t blame the movement leaders for this and I hasten to add that there were a lot of good things to come out of this movement. But in the hands of many practitioners, it birthed a false confidence in the church itself and a subtle shift away from the Kingdom.

It had an effect on the content of the Gospel we preached as well as the ideas that inspired us as believers.

What happened was that our ecclesiology became the lens through which we understood and interpreted the Kingdom.

We didn’t reject the idea of the Kingdom – this was a subtle shift and not a dangerous doctrinal plunge into oblivion!

But the effects, slow and small at first, have now become a problem of mammoth proportions.

What were these effects? Well first there was a lowering of conversion rates across the board in our local churches. Have a look at conversion rates now – it’s not a healthy picture. Then, there was a slowing in the rate of young catalytic leaders (both men and women) signing up for fulltime mission or ministry and finally, the issue closest to my heart, a slowing or even stopping in some places, to church planting and even evangelism generally.

Now I acknowledge there were additional issues arising out of post modernity, but I still think my theory holds.

Now we find the tide turning again.

Now, everywhere I go, I am aware of concern for the Kingdom of God and with this theological shift I am praying for a return in conversion rates; in the re-mobilisation of our catalytic leaders and in church planting. 

I hope it will happen like this, but I’m concerned that it won’t because so much cultural and western philosophy has to be stripped away from our notions of the Kingdom to get ourselves anywhere near the point of renewal.

But it’s worth a fight. Let’s think through our theology of the Kingdom again. It’s time!