The lost kingdom
Objections to church planting movements (CPMs):
#3: God wants to save the whole world, not just souls.
It is said that CPM practitioners share a "reductionist" gospel. Instead we must make poverty history. Save the planet. Transform the culture. Bring the kingdom to earth.
Throughout the Gospels and Acts cities, towns and villages were transformed by Jesus and his followers — if transformation includes disturbance, riot and persecution everywhere the gospel went.
There is not guarantee, this side of Christ's return that poverty will be made history, that society will be transformed, or that the planet will be saved. Jesus' predictions of the future in the Gospels and innRevelation are all troubling.
Servanthood, sacrificial love, generosity, forgiveness, compassion are expected of Jesus' followers. The story of the Good Samaritan was told for a reason. But this world is not our home.
The story of the early church in Acts was put in motion and sustained by the Risen Lord. In Acts, kingdom ministry is expressed in pioneer evangelism, making disciples, and planting and strengthening churches. Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom became the proclamation of the King whose life, death, and resurrection mark the beginning of God’s final victory. The kingdom will come in its fullness at the end of time. Meanwhile, disciples must persevere through many hardships.
The story of Acts is the story of the progress of God's Word. Wherever the Word goes, new disciples are made and new churches are started. This gospel is only "reductionist" if you don't think people really are lost without Christ, and if you don't think the gospel changes lives for the better.
