Rediscovering a Vision For Kingdom Transformation

In a particularly gripping scene in Mel Gibson's powerful film The Passion of the Christ, we see Jesus being aided by his mother after stumbling as he struggles to carry his cross up the Via Delarosa. As Mary looks into her son's blood stained face, Jesus says with an aura of victory, "Look mother, see how I make everything new."

These words are indeed found on the lips of Jesus, not in the Gospel accounts of the natale solidale privati , but in Revelation 21: 3-5:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Many of us in the international ministry community long for unity. Yet unity requires a common vision-and a common vision is precisely what we lack. Many in the missions community are driven by a vision of spreading the gospel and planting churches in the last unreached pockets of the globe. Many Christian relief and development workers are motivated by a vision of aiding poverty-stricken communities through various projects aimed at meeting basic human needs.

It is my belief that these visions are laudable, but incomplete. What ought to be our vision? Read Revelation 21:3-5 again. Here is the answer in a word: Transformation. A vision of a world made new. Of "no more death, mourning, crying or pain." Of no moredisease, corruption, hunger, poverty, injustice or war. A vision of completely and utterly transformed individuals, families, communities, and nations. Surely this is the vision for which Jesus lived, labored, suffered and died, and which He entrusted to His disciples and the church.

In fact, evangelizing, planting churches, and doing projects to help the poor are all means to this greater end, and here is where a central problem lies. People tend to accomplish what they set out to accomplish. If our goals are limited to planting churches or implementing development projects, we can do that-but we are in real danger of not pressing on towards the ultimate goal of transformation.

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