The Ekklesia is not primarily for religious activity
“I will build my ekklesia and gates of Hades shall not prevail…” Matt 16:18
Jesus spoke about being “salt and light” in the sermon on the mount, and told His disciples that he would build His “ecclesia” – the Greek word we often translate as “church.” That word had no religious connotation to it at the time. It was well understood as referring to a citizen assembly that met together to solve community problems. It was closer in meaning to what we today might call a city council with real political authority.
Jesus wants His followers to meet intentionally for shaping the affairs of their cities but with an approach based on a Biblical worldview. Later He commanded His followers to go into all the world and “make disciples of all nations.” The spreading of citizen assemblies that understand God’s principles of public policy, is His way to bring national transformation. But if the church is only a place for religious activities, it undermines the intent of Christ’s Great Commission.
Please do not misunderstand. I served as a pastor for over 35 years and loved it. To help the lost come to faith, and for believers to grow in their Christian walk, was a wonderful calling. To be able to focus on the study and teaching of God’s word, was a great privilege. To seek and promote revival, and grow and plant churches was of vital importance. Yet, all these things alone are not enough to overcome evil in the world.
Many Christian books explain the importance of prayer, evangelism, and planting churches. To bring full transformation and reformation to a nation, the hearts of the people must indeed be transformed. Personal repentance and conversion are where all godly change begins. But after God changes the hearts of men, what then? When God transforms men, their families, businesses, schools, churches, neighborhoods, towns, cities, states, and nations should see the effects of that change. But this does not always happen today. We need only to look at so-called revivals where culture is left unaltered despite many people turning to Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor 3:17). This is true for both men and nations. True revival and awakening must necessarily impact all areas of culture and their institutions.
For successful outcomes though, a strategy must be in place to see true transformation in every area of society.
The Mission of the Church
In the Great Commission found at the end of the Gospels, Jesus clearly defines the church’s purpose: “go . . .and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). In the historic church that first transformed pagan Europe into a Christian culture, they understood this mission. Places of worship, churches, cathedrals were not built for several centuries. Instead their primary focus was on building people. These people would become ambassadors of another kingdom sent by the church to every sphere of national life (i.e. the 7 mountains in each locality).
Too often today, the measurement of pastoral success is numerical growth, and the constant construction of new buildings in which to house growing congregations. A mega-church is the ultimate attainment. Accomplishment is measured by the amount of activities and events that fill up church calendars even though these rarely relate to transforming culture. These measurements of success in the modern church are non-existent in the New Testament. Jesus himself and all the Apostles would have been criticized as failures by this criteria. No one built a church building and membership in their fellowship was small.
When Jesus gave the mission to go “make disciples of all the nations, he gave the disciples his criteria for measuring success. In the parallel passage of the Great Commission found in Mark 16, we can see that Jesus added “signs” that would follow this mission in which he detailed a way to measure progress of evangelism and discipling nations:
1. “cast out demons”
2. “speak with new tongues”
3. “take up serpents”
4. “drink anything deadly”
5. “lay hands on the sick”
Many times we read this in a personal manner, but Christ clearly references “nations” (Mt 28) here, indicating that these signs should be equally applied not only to individuals but to the larger mission as well.
[For those paid subscribers, below is a summary of Christ’s 5-Sign strategy for National Transformation.]
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Christ’s Strategy – 5 Signs of National Transformation
It is my belief that the 5 signs Jesus mentioned were understood by His disciples as referring to very practical ways of seeing national transformation. They were rooted in Old Testament stories of nations being changed. The phrases He used were prophetic language for measurable evidence or signs that indicated they were on the right track to disciple a nation. Let us look at each sign.
“Casting Out the Nation’s Demons”
There are three fundamental best practices to help Christians deal with cultural sin and spiritual oppression and help the community to “Cast Out its Demons”:
· City-oriented Research-based Unified Prayer and prophetic Proclamation
· Apostolic outward-oriented and service-oriented strategic Evangelism and wholistic Revival
· Pastors providing Worldview Training and Mobilizing Christians in coordinated 7-Mountain strategy
Jesus told his followers to disciple the nations. He expected them to “cast out demons” from individuals and nations. Their mission was to become effective in deliverance from the national sins and spiritual oppression over society.
The church has been given authority to shape history. If our nation is in an awful condition, God holds us responsible. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 He says: “If… My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
The first action is humiliation and prayer. Prayer cannot be over-emphasized in this process. Prayer movements today in our nation, 24/7 houses of prayer, and prayer marches are all essential to unite the church in intercession for the nation. Churches must start prayer meetings that focus on the nation instead of themselves. Churches must develop unity with other Christians and churches in prayer events. Research and prayer will uncover local and regional demonic strongholds. After discovery, Christians can then resist demonic activity with prophetic proclamation. A united church can then pray and prophetically proclaim these seven characteristics to come alive in the hearts of the all the people and leaders of society.
However, if one believes this alone will be enough, it is a serious deception. Prayer, evangelism and revival alone have never completely changed any nation in over 2000 years of church history.
Prayers must be accompanied with a strategy of raising up leaders for the nation. A nation’s decline never occurs because various secular organizations have overcome Biblical ideas. The church abdicates its responsibility to lead and leaves a void or vacuum in the public realm, surrendering by default. Even if there are enough Christian leaders in society today with a strong Biblical worldview, there must also be a unified strategy, teamwork that is only concerned with God receiving the glory, and long-term plans and goals will bring transformation. It is not massive numbers, it is a focused few.
Churches must emphasize the importance of teaching the Bible for all areas of life that develop, support, and send out those who understand the importance of a missional approach to cultural change. Together, pastors and business leaders must strategize to create new initiatives and ongoing services for advanced training of professionals in their spheres of influence. This includes returning seminaries to a clear understanding of pastoral leadership and 5-fold ministry that teaches about nations.
Finally, churches must do more than just teach and train. They must send out these leaders into their areas of influence. Pastors and business leaders must form or join organizations that are doing strategic planning, credentialing, and placement of upcoming leaders in influential positions for the transformation of nations in all seven areas.
“Speaking the Nation’s New Tongues”
There are three fundamental action strategies to help Christians deal with community ignorance and error and help the community to “Speak with new tongues”:
· Parents and teachers providing home or church-based education of children
· Restoring Universities to Biblical Worldview to include the 7 mountain concept or start new ones
· Get Arts and Media to include biblical worldview of culture and national affairs (not just salvation)
God caused the nations to “speak with new tongues” at Babel in order to stop the centralization of power and enslavement of people under Nimrod. Jesus likewise told his followers to disciple the nations. If they did their job well He expected them to see the nations “speak with new tongues.” Their mission was battle for the soul and mind of the people in their cities and countries by becoming influential voices in the schools and media.
Christians must win the ear of culture by being involved in education and communication at the highest level of professional excellence. When Christians are in positions at Harvard or Hollywood, they gain the ear of the public with a “tongue” that unites people. Speaking God’s language of liberty rooted in the Bible empowers good people to liberate their nation while rejecting immoral and statist institutions and men whose worldview and morals lead to spiritual and cultural bondage.
Training parents, teachers, professors, artists and journalists to “speak with a new tongue” will transform a nation. First, churches must emphasize the parent’s role in education and develop plans to train and supplement those who wish to home school. The church must be persistent in this truth because the brainwashing that only the state can successfully educate is strong. The idea that “it won’t work” will be a normal reaction but once new models begin to bear fruit, naysayers will be silenced. Parents and grandparents must begin to strategize and find a way to work together, creating the income needed and still teach their children at home. If impossible, cooperate with other families and churches. Christians must form or join cooperative organizations that train, equip, and connect home-schooling parents, not just in one church but in the community at large.
To transform teachers and universities, churches must emphasize the missionary role not of the children but of teachers and professors in government schools while developing plans to train, support, and send out those who are called and equipped to be salt and light in the universities. Pastors and business leaders must work together to create new Christian elementary schools that can serve the non-Christian community, especially the poor who cannot afford to go to private schools. Parents, working with pastors and business leaders, must begin to find ways to help establish cooperative organizations to supplement parents in their teaching role at home, much like the Levites did in Israel.
Pastors, professors, and business leaders must work together to create new Christian colleges and universities that become the best institutions of higher learning in the country. Also believers should form or join organizations that train, equip, and support good teachers and professors, especially those who train in a true biblical worldview and the principle approach teaching method. Pastors should also work to get bible schools and seminaries to include a theology for all of life (civil government, etc), not just about church.
In order to transform artists and journalists, churches must emphasize the missionary role of artists and journalists while developing plans to train, support, and send out. Pastors and business leaders must work together to create new film studios, television networks, and newspapers that can serve the non-Christian community. In addition, churches need to form or join organizations that train, equip, and support good artists and journalists, especially those that will train them to communicate in a true biblical worldview.
“Taking Up the Nation’s Serpents”
In conclusion, there are three fundamental action strategies to help Christians
deal with injustice and tyranny and help the community to “Take Up Serpents”:
· Limiting government to protection and punishing corruption in taxes, banking, spending and labor
· Voting for good government
· Opposing tyranny and injustice with protest, flight and defensive force
God liberated the nations in the past through efforts of His people to serve in politics. Jesus told his followers to disciple the nations and that he expected them to also “take up serpents.” In other words, like Moses, they would have to confront the “pharaohs” of their nations. Is not politics where we find most of the snakes? Ignore it and nation cannot never be completely changed.
The Great Commission of Jesus then means we must also become effective in the battle against corruption and injustice in society.
First, the basic limited purpose of government as defined in the Bible must be recovered and emphasized. Then, when possible, this limited purpose must be enshrined in each nation with a constitution that keeps that purpose in place over many generations.
Second, Christians must overcome the evil in politics by modeling godly practices in voting, advising government, submitting to good law. Their government practices must be at the highest level of professional excellence. When Christians are in positions at the top of governments, then they can begin to replace the pagan approach that looks to the state to solve most problems and takes away more and more of the liberty and property of the people.
Finally, it must be acknowledged that in a fallen sinful world, more often government power is going to be abused or at the least, misguided in attempts to solve problems the way God never intended for the state to do – leading to more problems. Therefore, the third way that godly people must act to overcome corruption and tyranny is to speak up and protest peacefully against injustice. When government itself becomes corrupt, then peaceful protest is often unable to bring change. Then the option of emigration becomes necessary. Finally, if that option seems impossible, then the last option is to use force to defend oneself or others being oppressed. But even then it is only allowed if believers can persuade a lower government official to deputize citizens to resist and fight against the higher officials that are perverting the law.
Christians have applied these practices over the last 2000 years and have thus changed the history of the world.
“Drinking the nation’s deadly things”
There are three fundamental action strategies to help Christians deal with corruption and poverty and helping the community to “Drink deadly things and not be harmed”:
· Working, Doing business and trade
· Banking
· Giving
God liberated the nations in the past through efforts of His people to serve in business. Jesus told his followers to disciple the nations and that he expected them to also “drink anything deadly.” In other words they would have to confront the “deadly things” of their nations. Is not business and finance where we find most of the corrupting influence? Ignore it and nation cannot never be completely changed.
The Great Commission of Jesus then means we must also become effective in the battle against corruption and poverty in society.
Christians must overcome the evil in business by modeling godly patterns in work, business and in trade. Diligence and excellence in the workplace comes first. Their business practices must be at the highest level of professional excellence. When Christians are in positions at the top of corporations, then they can begin to replace the pagan approach.
Being good in business, leads to the growth of our property and resources that then requires of a stewardship responsibility. We must enter the marketplace and learn to trade in order to both grow our own wealth but also to gain respect and influence the community for good.
Besides simply being excellent in our business, the Bible tells us to save and invest our resources together in a cooperative way by creating banks and financial institutions that we lead in a manner that is different from the world. Honest money and banking is important, but with the added view to making those pooled resources available for other institutions and individual initiatives that really are healthy for society.
Finally, the biblical best practice that transcends all others in community is a commitment to compassionate giving of finances for the needy. Christians must win the hearts of the popular culture by being involved in practical acts of compassion for their physical, emotional, and financial needs. Christian health care must be at the highest level of professional excellence.
Instead of looking to the state to solve most problems, which ends up just taking away more and more of the liberty and property of the people, Christians working cooperatively can begin to replace failed government handouts with real compassion. There is no personal righteousness in the coercive state taking taxes from everyone for the poor. The poor never feel real love and compassion when it receives money from government and they begin to feel entitled to it and lose the incentive to change. Human beings alone caring for their neighbors, is the key to meeting needs and helping get people back on a path of lasting independence and dignity.
To raise up the church that defeats poverty, the church must train individuals, churches and business people to work together. First churches must emphasize the personal responsibility of each person to care for the poor. Then churches can also help those with a mission to serve the poor to work together in a coordinated fashion by using coordinated funds and talents. Pastors and business leaders must strategize to find a way to work together to create new community funds and to manage them effectively. If not yet legal, then churches should begin to talk to their political leaders to establish the right to have private services for the poor and to manage funds for the purpose without interference from the state. Finally, believers should form or join organizations that train, equip and support those who are caring for the poor and needy.
Christianity has changed the world with its work ethic and compassionate giving.
“Laying Hands on the Nation’s Sicknesses”
There are three fundamental action strategies to help Christians deal with disease and divisions and helping the community to “Lay Hands on the Sick”:
Doctors and nurses teaching health and applying Medicine consistent with biblical worldview
Families, Businesses & churches providing help for the elderly and emergency relief for disaster victims
Churches touching and reconciling racial, tribal, religious, economic and age divisions
God healed the nations in the past through efforts of His people to serve in reconciliation, health care, and emergency aid for victims of disasters. Jesus told his followers to disciple the nations and that he expected them to also “lay hands on the sick” individuals and nations. Their mission was to become effective in the battle for rescuing the wounded, hurting and downtrodden in society.
When Christians are in positions at the top private hospitals and charitable agencies, they can begin to replace the pagan approach. We need to get families, doctors, relief workers, and business leaders trained to “heal the nation.”
To train and mobilize doctors and health care workers to “heal the nation’s sicknesses,” churches must emphasize the missionary role of those in the health care field and develop plans to train, support, and send out those who desire to do. Christians should also form or join organizations that train and support health care professionals but also develop new medical schools to train in a non-pagan medical ethic.
Emergency organizations must be raised up or supported with better moral leadership if they already exist. Pastors and business leaders must begin to strategize to find a way to work together to create new clinics and services for those who cannot afford it. The same is true for emergency aid organizations. If not yet legal, then churches should begin to talk to their political leaders about establishing the right to have private medical services and medical schools, and emergency relief organizations that are uncontrolled by the state and its pagan ethics.
Churches must emphasize the importance of efforts at reconciliation and develop plans to train, support, and send out those who desire to do. Pastors and business leaders must begin to strategize to find a way to work together to create new initiatives and ongoing services to reach out to those who are wounded and alienated, forming or joining organizations that are already doing reconciliation.