How our members are becoming Kingdom citizens
What does it look like when a church adopts a Kingdom mindset? Newcastle’s Kingdom Life Church is focused on finding out, says pastor John Bullock
When the former Newcastle Elim was renamed Kingdom Life Church in 2021 they had no idea the move was part of a bigger journey God was taking them on.
But over the three years since the church has been discovering what happens when God swaps a church-based mindset for a Kingdom-focus.
The main way this has been achieved is through teaching, explaining the difference between the two and emphasising the need to seek first the Kingdom of God, explains church pastor John Bullock. And making ongoing connections to God the main goal and taking responsibility for growing in righteousness have also been a focus.
“It’s been a big change for us spiritually,” says John. “The difference it has made is that people are becoming Kingdom citizens rather than just church attenders.”
The shift has been important, he explains, because we need to question whether doing ‘church’ sometimes gets in the way of advancing the Kingdom.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’re absolutely lovers of God’s church, but we have to ask where and how it fits into his Kingdom?
“The way I explain it is that on the basis of the fall, we lost relationship with God. A Kingdom emphasis places responsibility on people to focus on that relationship; to grow in God and become more Christlike so they’re not just going to church but living as Kingdom citizens.
“We need that if we want to see God move. We have to become more like Jesus and do what he did.”
Intentionally focusing on a Kingdom outlook in every section of church has had an impact on ministry leaders and members across the board, says John. That’s from children and youth and the church’s eleven life groups to its Golden Years group for older people and popular Underground Café and Message Trust grocery store.
“We’re investing in leaders who will pass this mindset on to these ministries, and have been really pleased with the development we’ve been seeing.
“We’ve had our youth out as a group in our Sunday services praying for sick people, for example, rather than the leaders doing this. We’ve been quite surprised with who’s been willing to do it!”
It is also helping the church become bolder when it comes to community outreach.
As John spoke to Direction, Kingdom Life Church was getting ready to join 30 other local churches in an ambitious project with Good News for Everyone, the former Gideons organisation, to door-knock 3,000 homes in Newcastle with copies of Luke’s Gospel. “It won’t be easy knocking on doors and speaking to people so we’re building our strength and faith up with prayer and fasting before we go,” says John. “I’m telling people we’re reaching the masses to find the chosen. We’ll obviously experience some rejection, but alongside that we’re going to find people God will save.”
Another project fuelled by a Kingdom mindset is the outreach team run by GP Sue Sorensen. This project faithfully sets out every week to minister on the road the press have dubbed ‘Britain’s worst street’. “It’s a place called Shields Road, about a mile out of Newcastle, and it’s infamous,” says John.
“I don’t think it deserves its reputation because there are decent people and shops down there, but it’s like any other struggling area with graffiti everywhere, drug addicts, pawn shops, pubs full as soon as they open and people who are obviously in trouble. We’ve deliberately chosen to go there because of that need. The team take a trolley out with biscuits, coffee, tea and soup and set up on the street. They wear ‘Kingdom Life Church Team’ vests so they’re visibly obvious and go round building relationships with people.
“This is tough work done by a good, keen, generous team in a difficult area. But people get saved from that ministry. Some come to church and others to the drop-in we run for people we reach on the streets. We’ve connected numerous people with Teen Challenge over the years too.”
These examples help answer John’s original question of how church should fit into God’s Kingdom.
“The church is a servant of the Kingdom, not the be-all and end-all, and if what we’re doing isn’t serving or advancing the Kingdom we need to check it.
“Through our teaching and our different ministries, we’re trying to put our time and resources into things that will result in Kingdom growth.”
Reaching out in Wales
In August, a team from Kingdom Life Church spent four days on mission in Wales.
“We worked with two churches, one in Bridgend and one in Cowbridge,” says John. “We did outreach on the Wildmill estate in Bridgend, door knocking, inviting people to events like a festival with bouncy castles, stalls, musical outreach and testimonies.
“It was a sizable team so we were able to split up and do a men's event in Cowbridge while the ladies did a ladies’ event in Bridgend.
“The church put on a pantomime-style show at the end, which was great for getting people over the threshold into church.
“We also saw some salvations, which was the absolute highlight.
“Another thing we did was intercession at the top of a mountain in the Rhondda Valley. We stood at a place called the Bwlch, which means ‘pass’ in English, at the point where you pass into another valley.
“It was so satisfying to minister through prayer, looking down from that vantage point to the villages below.
“It struck me on the drive up there that in my vehicle we had an Englishman, a Nigerian, a Ugandan and a Zimbabwean, none of whom were from the Rhondda originally but who all felt called to intercede there.
“When we first went to the Rhondda in 1989 that wouldn’t have happened. Hardly anyone from outside the valley went there, certainly not for the purpose of interceding for the lost. It’s amazing how God has changed things over the years. The whole four days proved to be extremely life-giving.”
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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