A year has past since I had made my decision to transplant myself to another church.
It has been a humbling one-year period but yet spiritually enriching.
But I would be lying if I said that it has been all plain sailing for me. Cos it hasn’t.
What I Have Missed
Two things I missed most and have had to come to terms with:
First was the close ties that I shared with people in Hope, especially my cell group/care group.
Second was the loss of ‘privileges’ that I had as a pastoral leader where I was in a position to disciple others towards loving God and fulfilling their God-given destinies as Christians.
Now at where I am, I have to re-establish ties with a new group of people from scratch and re-build the trust as well in earning the ‘privileges’ to disciple.
However, through this period of ’stepping back’, I’ve gained a paradigm shift in how the church is commonly perceived and about servant leadership.
True Kingdom Living
For instance, too often we quote “seek first His kingdom and righteousness” from Matthew 6:33 with the emphasis on prioritising church-related activities as “seeking His kingdom”. In my opinion, this is unbalanced and flawed.
The kingdom of God does not equate to the church. The kingdom of God encompasses not only the church but also beyond the four walls of the church. God is not only alive in the church but in our world that we live in.
As He dwells in us, the kingdom of God can only cover as much as we allow it; in our family or community, at our workplace or campus, and with our finances or health.
Though this shift towards kingdom living might seem to appear obvious or insignificant, but if so then it ought to drastically change the way we live our lives in representing Christ accurately.
Right Living for Right Fruits
To further explain my point, let me share a brief testimony from a local pastor.
He shared how he and his wife had struggled to decide whether she should resign from her job after they discovered she was pregnanted with their second child.
What made the decision a challenge was because the wife was a long-serving personal assistant to the senior pastor of their church. Hence, her role was considered important to the leader and the church.
But with faith rooted in kingdom-living, they were convicted of their intentions in desiring to fulfill their role as godly parents and believed that having more time with their children would be the right thing for them to do for the kingdom’s sake (and not the church’s sake).
Obviously, they had their senior pastor’s support and blessings, and today they have four happy children.
I can’t imagine how things would have turned out if they had adopted the unbalanced ”seek first His kingdom” approach in making their decision.
As another famous local preacher said, “The right believing will produce the right living.”
Question to ask ourselves: “Is our walk and faith based on kingdom-living or church-living?”
Let’s pray that we will be able to differiente one from the other.
Andrew: Inside & Insights 
Amen to what u shared, bro! 🙂 think it’s critical tt we Christians understand wat Jesus really meant when He spoke about the kingdom of God… wat its nature actually was and so on. ‘Cos the kingdom of God means the rule and reign of God’s authority over every area of our lives… be it church ministry or finances or r/ship or whatever else.
Think a helpful book I strongly recommend (i’ve just finished reading it) is Henry and Melvin Blackaby’s book: A God-Centred Church. Fantastic reading…
Hmm… just a thot… while it’s impt to know that while the church isn’t the whole of God’s kingdom… i was thinking, there’s the risk that we may swing to the other extreme and downplay the importance and role of the Church in helping usher the Kingdom of God.
Personally, from wat I understand so far, the church is Christ’s intentionally ordained means of impacting the world, and declaring His glory. A channel, a gateway, for the kingdom of God to enter the world. Maybe can think of the church as an aircraft carrier in the middle of a battlefield to train, ready and send out “aircraft” aka disciples into all the various spheres of the world… ‘cos the church has the unique task of showing the world what God really is and looks like… so the church isn’t meant to be comfortably docked in a harbour… but neither shld it be neglected, just like how we must ensure tt the carrier is safe and sound from enemy threats…
(LOL. I think I’ve been reading too many WWII / Cold War wikipedia entries recently… :P)
Haha… yah… just my 10-cents’ worth… haha… wat do u think bro?
Yes it is the church. But a question I have had lately is this; is the church that we see today the church that God intended or is it what we have made up? Unless we love each other they will not know that we are His deciples. I don’t see the denominations loving each other.
Eh! Yeah, will miss ur presence in Hope… still, great to know u miss us… do mention us in ur prayers k! =) anyway, we’re all serving the one King… just different camps LOL… 3 DIV, 6 DIV… haha… but all in the same army – and proud of it! 🙂
great insights! 🙂 Kingdom vs ‘Church’ living
Just a clarification on the definition on church in this entry which refers not so much the spiritual body, but rather an organisation (or organised religion).
But in truth, we should BE the CHURCH, and not go to church. That’s Kingdom Living.
The answer to address the other extreme where the role and importance of the church is downplayed is having a biblical and balanced understanding of the CHURCH.
We ARE the CHURCH. Going to church or the role of the church ought to equip and strengthen (feed) us so that we can launch out beyond the four walls to BE the CHURCH.
However, from my personal observation and feedback, the irony these days are that most churches equip and strengthen its flock to “go to church”- placing emphasis on committing to church activities rather than empowering/releasing.
Yeuann you said, “Personally, from wat I understand so far, the church is Christ’s intentionally ordained means of impacting the world, and declaring His glory.”
You’re right and wrong. Right that Christ ordained His CHURCH but wrong that the responsibility lies solely on the church as an organisation.
In this shift, we will be able to see things in a larger perspective that the responsibililty lies on you and I, the people of God. The difference is ownership and empowership.
However, I am not encouraging Christian mavericks. Cos we are a family and need to be committed to the fellowship of fellow bethrens for accountability.
Hence in going abt from Mons-Sats in being the CHURCH, church offers that haven for covenantal friendships, and to study scripture, pray and p&w together.
Jeusu declared in JOhn 4…
21″Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Let’s be the (new covenanted) CHURCH- true worshipers where we do not limit God in a certain place or organisation 🙂
Note: Please feel free to debunk any points that you (any reader) think is wrong. Leave your comments so that I can learn and widen my viewpoints. Thx
Yup 🙂 … We serve God, not any particular church.
Serving as part of a local church is, or should be, a subset of serving God.
God is Bigger than any local church. All biblical churches belong to Him and none is the “one”.
So exciting!! Yay!!! 🙂