Kingdom Citizenship

The church culture in the United States has destroyed what it means to be a follower of Christ. By "church culture" I mean the conglomeration of religious bookstores, magazines, radio and television media and a music industry that buttress the never-ending mutations of either denominational or movement-based experiences of what is called "church."

While each grouping parcels out teaching from the Bible in various concentrations, the essence of the gospel that Paul preached is almost entirely missed. In its place another gospel is being preached that is more palatable to a sinful world, that the church has invited to be in its midst. Today, what many of us would call "the church" is more of a whitewashed rendition of the godless society around it than an identifiable representation of Christ. Either we have stepped down into the world so far that we are indistinguishable from it or the world has successfully infiltrated our ranks to where our community, identity and mission are totally neutralized.

Whichever cause has created these effects, the current condition of the church in this country is antithetic to the purpose for which Christ started it. When the unregenerate world looks at us they ought not to see a reflection of themselves; they ought to see a reflection of Christ! Sadly, the non-believing world knows us for a lot of other questionable things besides our lack of love, e.g. a reflection of Christ. Either we need to redefine what following Christ is so that it reflects our waywardness, or we need to quit suggesting we are following Him.

I want to make it clear that books, television, music, radio and various other media are not bad. But when these buttress mediocrity or an aimless status quo we need to go back to the straight and narrow way which is outside the easy-believism teaching that is so much a part of the modern church in the Western world.

The word citizenship, in the earthly associations, is bounced around a lot in today's church culture. The problem is that the focus is on a patriotic/nationalistic mindset. Little is ever taught about a heavenly citizenship; see Philippians 3:20. The organized church is in large part sold-out to the State and living according to a temporal physical world. The modern church has come to many false conclusions about who it really is and what that means. Consequently, it relates poorly to the world around it in some very unhealthy ways. These are not empty broad-brushing comments. There is clear research and statistical information that paints a dreadful picture of the institutional church in this country. I relate many such facts in Chapter 2 of my book, The Diluted Church.

We must be refined from the raw material of our own desire for a deeper more meaningful experience of church, which has been buried underneath all sort of religious garbage. God wants to skim off the dross which has encrusted us in order to recast us as the Kingdom of God, which will represent God to the kingdoms of men. It is to this end that this site is dedicated.

This site is comprised of links, resources and eventually dialog that will help you to be a productive Ambassador of the Kingdom of God.