Subversive Kingdom

This blog highlights books from Ralph Winter’s Library and compares excerpts to Winter’s own writings on one or more of the themes from his list of twelve “Frontiers of Perspective.” (See the full list at the end of this blog.)

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(6) The Reclaiming of the Gospel of the Kingdom 

Stetzer, Ed. 2012. Subversive Kingdom: Living as Agents of Gospel Transformation. Nashville: B&H.

This book was not actually in Ralph Winter's library until I put it there, since it was published 3 years after his death. But it is one I'm sure he would have ordered. 

The printed title of the book whimsically conveys the main point—God’s Kingdom is backwards to the world’s expectations. This is Stetzer’s meaning of the term, “subversive,” that is the key to living the way Jesus lived and taught. Subversive means turning the other cheek, going the second mile. Stetzer interprets these examples of Jesus’ kingdom illustrations from the Sermon on the Mount in light of good cultural understanding of the ancient Mediterranean world.

 The title’s whimsical graphic also hints at the informal, easy reading style of the book. But don’t be misled. This book is based on sound biblical scholarship, although cleverly disguised at times as a friendly chat, stories in illustration of a point, or a challenging sermon.

I particularly appreciated the succinct truths punctuated throughout the book. A few examples:

If you are a follower of Jesus, you have been made a citizen of this kingdom (p. 8).

[The kingdom] is subversive. It turns against the way most people think and act—even the religious (p. 12).

We are far too pleased with the comforts of the church rather than the work of God’s kingdom (p. 48).

As big as the church is, the kingdom is even bigger (p. 55).

We carry around an agenda designed to get the kingdom of God both brought up in conversation and brought down to earth” (p. 121).

Actually, the church doesn’t have a mission; the mission has a church (p. 166).

God’s mission is God’s glory (p. 167).

We are God’s “store window” on earth where he shows off his kingdom (p. 186).

The kingdom’s work is done in small ways by people living as agents of the King (p. 227).

The kingdom of God has come near, and our families and churches are outposts for the kingdom of God (p. 231).

I’m glad I read this book when I did, as it was a helpful resource for the chapter I’m writing on health, shalom, and the church for a book Bryant Myers is co-editing for a health practitioners conference at Fuller Seminary.

I wish Dr. Winter could have read this book. He tried to introduce the label, “the Kingdom era,” for what he saw as a fourth major era in the spread of the gospel in the past three centuries. (The first three were the geographic emphasis on coastlands, then inland cross-cultural work, and now unreached people groups.) I think Winter would have especially appreciated Stetzer’s section on the need to work in community to demonstrate what God’s will for his people looks like.

Ralph Winter’s 12 “Frontiers of Perspective” represent major shifts in his thinking that “profoundly modified and molded his perception of the mission task”:

(1) Unreached Peoples

(2) The Great Commission and Abraham

(3) From the Unfinished Task to the Finishable Task

(4) Failure with the Large Groups and the Off-setting Trend to “Radical Contextualization”

(5) Reverse Contextualization, the Recontextualization of Our Own Tradition

(6) The Reclaiming of the Gospel of the Kingdom

 (7) Beyond Christianity

(8) A Different Type of Recruitment

(9) A Trojan Horse

(10) Needed: a Revolution in Pastoral Training

(11) The Religion of Science

(12) The Challenge of the Evil One

From the Unfinished Task to the Finishable Task, Part II

Ralph Winter’s list of “Twelve Frontiers of Perspective” shows the major shifts in his thinking since 1976 that “profoundly modified and molded” his “perception of the mission task." 

(1) Unreached Peoples

(2) The Great Commission and Abraham

(3) From the Unfinished Task to the Finishable Task

(4) Failure with the Large Groups and the Off-setting Trend to “Radical Contextualization”

(5) Reverse Contextualization, the Recontextualization of Our Own Tradition

(6) The Reclaiming of the Gospel of the Kingdom

(7) Beyond Christianity

(8) A Different Type of Recruitment

(9) A Trojan Horse

(10) Needed: a Revolution in Pastoral Training

(11) The Religion of Science

(12) The Challenge of the Evil One

Today I found another book on this theme with contributions by Ralph Winter. Other authors include: David Bryant, Elisabeth Elliot, Gordon MacDonald, Robert Munger, Peter Stam, and J. Christy Wilson.

Kyle, John E., ed. 1984. The Unfinished Task. Ventura, CA: Regal Books.

From the back cover: "In August 1806, five Williams College students, caught in a thunderstorm, took refuge under a haystack. There they prayed for an awakening of student interest in foreign missions. Although none of them knew it, this was the launching of the modern missionary movement. On the 175th anniversary of the Haystack Prayer Meeting, a key group of leaders met to examine ways to finish the task of reaching the world for Jesus Christ. Their comments are found in The Unfinished Task, a book which presents new perspectives for missionaries and those considering a missions vocation."

     In Winter's chapter, "Missions Today--A Look at the Future," he discusses the three eras that he is known for coining. In a section titled, "The New Era: The Nature of the New Frontiers,"  he wrote, "We've mentioned that the first era represented the impacting of missionaries on the coastlands and the second era their moving into the interior. What then is the nature of the new third era of missions? It is what is left--the residue--what you might call the 'bypassed' peoples. … In the third era today, where the frontiers? They're everywhere.…" (pages 71, 72).

     Winter also contributed the final chapter of the book, "A Prayer for the Nations" (p. 277 ff.).

Exceprts from his prayer:

* "Many of us are wayward people, rebellious children; we have not obeyed with a beautiful, filial love. Heavenly Father, will you forgive us for the coldness of our hears, for the busyness of our lives as we have bustled about even attempting to do your work, without being with you in that work!"

* "We pray that we might be more useful than we've been, as we seek to serve and to do your will. We're glad, Lord, that we're not going backwards; we're glad that there are more people in the world now but fewer nations to be penetrated. We're glad, Lord, that the rate of population growth is not exceeding the rate of growth of the Christian movement."

* "Father, we really await your voice. Our prayers, Lord, must be listening prayers. So much has been given to us. It seems as though we have many, many people but are not organized as teams. Thousands of people are mired and ensnared by many trivial and secondary concerns, available only theoretically for your highest. Oh, God, we thank you for the challenge to give our utmost for your highest.

* "We pray for these nations, nations which have never been closer to us or better understood by us of more accessible to us."

* "And Father, I pray most of all that as we go from this place we might have a firmer grasp on your task of world evangelization and its role in our lives. Give us collaborative energy…. "

* "Oh, Father, give us renewed courage, not for our own benefit, not for our careers' sake, not for our program's sake, but only for your glory. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."