Why 'REVIVE, REFORM, RELATE'?

Greetings,

In my last post I took time to explain the practical and prophetic precipitating factors behind us changing the name of the church from London Church International to KingsGate. I do trust that was helpful in clarifying any clouds of confusion relating to this, as well as answering any questions that you may have had regarding the name change. It is important to us that critical issues like this are fully explained so as to eradicate any confusion that the enemy may take advantage of, and that we create increasing measures of ownership through education and understanding.

So, with that, I would like to take some time to unpack the thinking behind the 3 key words that undergird both our vision and mission as KingsGate Church - Revive Reform Relate!


Firstly, we like the fact that in 3 simple words any person in the life of the church would be able to explain to a curious questioner what it is that we are passionate about, what we are in pursuit of and what our purpose under God is. These 3 words say volumes in themselves, but they are actually 'coat hangers' upon which all our belief systems, statements of faith and values are 'hung'. However, a new person would not need to plumb the depths of a list of 50 values etc to get who we are and what we are on about; a brief, explanation of 3 words would give them enough info.

Secondly, this may sound like a religious cop-out but the Holy Spirit popped these 3 words into my head toward the end of '09. I will shortly explain how these words perfectly work and how they perfectly sum things up succinctly, but we love that it was and is God's initiation as a leader team. There is much talk world wide of being 'intentional' and I love that. I am discovering more and more that our Heavenly Father is highly intentional and we are simply called to tune in to His frequency and respond. As a team we do not buy in to 'super spirituality', on the one hand, where we have our heads so in the clouds and have no idea how to incarnate on earth; and we equally do not advocate pragmatic Christianity, on the other hand, where we expect God to bless what we initiate! God is Intentionally Inspirational - He is Author, Originator and the most Creative Artist and Architect beyond the Universe; we are Intentionally Responsive - we get to passionately and practically incarnate His Eternal and Specific genius on this planet. So, He inspired the words and we have figured out how perfect they are and how it fits!

Thirdly, without us knowing it, God had been shaping our thinking through a series we did in the church for around 10 months last year. We spent the best part of this time plumbing the depths of Ephesians 1 through 3 where there is an overarching emphasis of Positional Christianity as a vital and significant part of the Gospel that under girds the church. The Gospel unpacked here in these chapters are as follows : Ch1vs3-14 ... we are 'In Christ' saved, sealed and satisfied as Sons, Ch1vs15-Ch2vs10 ... we are seated 'With Christ' as Sons to serve with Throne-room power here on the earth, and Ch2vs15-Ch3vs21 ... Christ has broken down every dividing wall in the Gospel that He would 'Dwell in Us' by His Spirit! I say all this to explain that Revive - Reform - Relate has its roots deeply set in this Gospel truth. This is not a clever catch phrase, but rather a deeply Gospel-saturated, Christ-centred, Kingdom-focussed statement. This we are excited about and it was only in the last few months that we realised that the Spirit had inspired us from the series of preaching from Ephesians.


So, what is the meaning behind the 3R's?

Revive - At first mention this word conjures thoughts of mass crusades, revival meetings, prayer cloths, old revival hymns, altar calls and so on. While these are all good and true, this is not what 'revival' is in essence. It is our firm conviction that before the lost are reached on mass with the mercy and grace of God, He is reviving His people to the greatest Prize, Passion and Pursuit ... and that is Himself! It is a revived church that will revive the hearts of the lost, and while we believe that a harvest of salvations is most definitely part of 'Revive', it begins with a church revived! So, here, our vision and mission is to first facilitate a family of faith where Sons (and daughters of course) prize the Person and Presence of God, revealed in Christ Jesus, above all else in all areas of life. Whether through preaching, teaching, worship or any other form of in-house ministry, this is our first pursuit - the Person and Presence of God in us and with us! This clearly facilitates 'church-ward' type ministries where our endeavour is to set each believer on fire with passion for their 'First Love'. We believe that this is only done through the perfect and complete work of God the Son on the Cross on our behalf in irrevocably opening the way to God the Father, being made alive eternally through God the Spirit. This emphasis opens the way to live a life of personal and overflowing revival where we long for all to know 'First Love' as we do, through personal lifestyle evangelism, or organised regular events together as a community. This one word opens the door to dozens of related beliefs, related values, and our kingdom practices. We will 'hang' these on the coat hanger at a later stage.
Reform - While 'revive' expresses the establishing and flourishing of Sons saved, sealed and secured in Christ with Him as the first passion and pursuit, 'reform' expresses the natural and intended consequence of this. And that is that saved and satisfied Sons are seated 'with Christ' presently in order to serve in this world with the life, love and Power of God! In as much as the first is generally 'church-ward', this is expressly 'world-ward' where we are the salt of God in all places and spaces of society to effect kingdom change. We are not only here to evidence that we are obviously different as Sons of Light, we are here to be Salt and bring impact and change. We believe this includes the reaching of the lost with the Gospel (and herein there is an overlap with the former) and transforming society from the inside out, life by life; but we also are convinced that we are called to positively engage society to positively influence society with Kingdom ways, life and power. So from people to policies, from hearts to the family, from sports fields to the halls of government, we are called to be light and SALT so as to bring about transformation and ultimately a reformation of thinking and living in this day. In as much as we want to raise up Wigglesworths in this day, we long to ignite new Wilberforces for the sake of the Gospel. The latter, along with the William and Catherine Booth and many others, is an example of a revived man who could not help but bring reformation in the place and the space he found himself in, politics. Our vision and mission is to engineer and mobilise Sons who heal the sick on the streets and other who have creative insights and wisdom in business to positively impact society for the flourishing of the Gospel! Again, many belief systems and related values will be hung here!
Relate - With all the energy and passion of the above, together with its subsequent ministries and endeavours, this will all fall apart if it is not held together with the glue of love and 'one anothering'! After all, before Jesus declares the Great Commission, He establishes the Great Command, which is to love one another extravagantly. It is this that sustains the revival and reformational move of God - the Spirit of Unity - where God commands His blessing. Faith will result in a Visitation but faith expressing itself in love will result in God's habitation and it is that which He is on about. So, we want to facilitate passion for God and the People of God as we win the world. From how we minister, meet and greet, live together, fit out our facility ... people are very important, not as members and congregants, but people with names who are significant and treasured. Of all things this is truly the most difficult to ongoingly sustain, but we will continue to hinge many key values and belief systems thereon! Also, in endeavouring to be family, which most importantly means that we celebrate each and every son and daughter in the house uniquely, we do not seek to conform people to a particular style or preference, but rather create space for them to be who they are under God. Our longing is that the 'conservative' and 'crazy', while not necessarily 'getting each other', will love each other and celebrate each others uniqueness. So, family is not about slinking and moping around at home, it is about celebrating and honouring one another under God! Biological families are diverse in some many ways as they flourish under a Dad and Mum, and we believe God has called us to that. Inasmuch as we will not put up with the erosion of the family unity in society, we will not put up with critical and conformist church!
This is a brief run through of our vision and mission expressed in the 3R's. There is so much to add on each but this will follow in due course and we will have it on our new website in September. More than values and vision statements, it is something we want to live as best we can by the Spirit where our lives are the letter. Moment upon moment, grace upon grace we will do so, raising a generation of Sons who Revive - Reform - Relate. And by God's grace we will have the privilege of replicating this as we plant churches, mutli-site venues, homegroups and ministries at home and abroad.

Hugest love,

Ryan with the team