A Dream Local Church?
There is an interesting article in the October 2009 issue of Christianity Magazine. It is called ‘A Dream Come True’ and is written by Mark Greene, the CEO of the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC) about his visit to large churches in Kuala Lumpur.
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In the article, Mark describes the vision of one of the church leaders, Pastor Daniel, who writes:
“My vision of the dream (local) church is of a church that seeks to reclaim the eight domains of human culture back for God. The eight domains or spheres are business, education, politics and government, the media, the creative arts and entertainment, sports, science and technology and the family.
The church is seen to be an equipping station where members are given training and a vision to bring their gifts and capacities to bear in these domains of society to effect change and transformation. Members are constantly thrust forth to fulfill their call and role. It is not enough for a Christian, for example, to be an exemplary worker and a good witness for the Lord in one's workplace. It is not enough to lead some colleagues to the Lord, although that is highly commendable and to be desired. What we need to see happening is that one's workplace becomes so transformed that kingdom values and practice are the norms in the company. When that happens then we have fulfilled our role as 'salt' and 'light' in society. I believe that when these eight domains are restored back to the Lord then the Church would have moved into the mainstream of human culture bringing its contribution to bear at every level of society.”
So when Daniel asked the people of Damansara Utama Methodist Church (www.dumc.com.my) to stand in response to a sermon (by Mark Greene) about transforming the everyday places we find ourselves in, he wasn't asking most of them to make a first-time response to a new message. He was asking them to reaffirm a previous commitment and seek the Lord's continuing help in pursuing it. Does your church have such a robust, comprehensive biblical vision for cultural engagement? Have you ever prayed corporately in such a way? Have you ever been commissioned like this? The interesting thing is that the leadership team really believes in each church member's capacity to reach and transform the bit of the world God has placed them in.
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