In this video, Hugh Halter offers some helpful suggestions about turning church consumers into people who live on mission for and with Christ. While this is a long video, in the current climate of American church culture, I found it worth taking the time to consider. I broke it up into viewing sections – watching 15-20 minutes at a time, making note of the point at which I stopped, and picking up again as I had time. While I don’t embrace all of Halter’s ecclesiology (i.e. ways we govern and do church), I am hungry to chew on any ideas in-line with the compelling mission of the gospel. Halter has proven to have both an appreciation of the gospel and good ideas for missional mobilization.
hugh Halter
On My Reading Table: The Tangible Kingdom
Recent travel has made it difficult to get to a number of things – like posting on this blog. I have one more trip to make this week, then I should be settled in for the better part of the Summer.
Posting on the blog is not the only thing that has been put on the shelf recently. I have not had opportunity to read as much as I like, either. But I have been reading some. It’s rare that I go anywhere without a book or two. It’s just that while I usually juggle three or four books, these past few weeks I’ve been limited to one: The Tangible Kingdom.
This book by Hugh Halter & Matt Smay is focused on cultivating an incarnational community, or on turning the local church into a vital and visible presence in our local community. The premise is that the Body of Christ is called to be a visible and authentic expression of the Kingdom of God as it presently exists.
I think it is important to remember the Kingdom of God is both a present reality AND future hope. At least that’s what Jesus taught. Sadly, though, I think we are prone to focus solely on its future coming. To the extent we focus only on the future manifestation of God’s Kingdom we miss out on a lot. And we fail to give the world around us a glimpse of what will one day be universal – only far better; more perfect than we presently express even on our best days.
I long for such an expression of the Kingdom, so I am excited whenever I can catch a glimpse through those who are practicing such community in their churches.
I’m not quite finished yet, but I’ll probably give a summary and review in a few weeks. In the mean time you might want to check out the related web site: TangibleKingdom.com.
GRACE & PEACE 