Towards A New Church Model: Revealing Key Features of a New Church Model, Part 3of3

Pioneering a Global Kingdom Civilisation: Introductory Remarks

Part 1 of this document (entitled: Shortfalls of the 21^st Century Church Model) identified limitations of the current church model within the context of the progression of the faith. The emphasis of this document is to identify and or outline the new model of the church that is compliant to the current emphasis of the Spirit. The two documents (when combined) then meet the principle identified in Jer 1:10 of destroying and building, uprooting and planting. Moreover, the two documents capture the principle of Heb 8:13, the principle is that when God announces a new mechanism of the faith, the old becomes obsolete.

Before we move on to identify key features of the new church model, let us make some general doctrinal statements:

• (1) In Heb 12:18&22 we are told that we have not come to a Mountain that can be touched (i.e. Mt Sinai) but we have come to Mt Zion, heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God. The thing we want to identify about this is that Zion defines the framework of the faith (the word says God lays the Stone in Zion – 1 Pet 2:6).

The thing we want to identify about this is that Zion defines the framework of the faith (the word says God lays a stone in Zion – 1 Pet 2:6) – in fact we the church, are referred to in the scriptures as Zion (you have come to Mt Zion…the church of the firstborn – Heb 12:22&23), also refer to Isa 62:1. The main difference between Sinai and Zion is that Sinai is a place of ceremony (as seen in Ex 19-21), a place where God manifested Himself in the midst of the people; whereas Zion is a city. Now the concept of a city becomes a metaphor for human civilisation. Cities always speak of a comprehensive systematic building of human life.

Zion is always referred to as a city (see Ps 48:1-3, Ps 122:3, Ezek 40:2, Heb 12:22, Rev 21:1&2). This is critical to note, that if we are in fact building within a Zion framework we then need to consider that what we are called to build is not church organisations, it’s not a ceremony, it’s not church programmes but it is a civilisation that is founded on the nature of Christ and the kingdom of God.

• (2) In the beginning God crafted a human civilisation (Gen 1:26). The word ‘man’ used in Gen 1:26 means both man as an individual and man as a collective (i.e. mankind or humanity). So God does not simply create an individual spiritual life, nor does He create a ceremonial life, but He creates a people who are collectively defined by the image of God; a people whose existence is shaped by the image of God. As such, man did not fall from a ceremony (as a matter of fact, long after the fall the ceremony was continuing, as we see in Gen 4). Man fell from God’s constitutional framework for human existence. God commanded the man in Gen 2:16&17. The word ‘commanded’ means ‘to constitute’. This means that God did have a constitutional framework within which mankind was supposed live. Man fell from this framework of human existence. In Rom 5:12 it says ‘sin entered the world’. The word sin here means aberration from truth, aberration from prescribed law. So therefore the fall was not just man stepping into unbecoming personal behaviour, it represented a serious deviation from the very framework, ideology and system of God for human existence. John 1:29 says Jesus is the Lamb who comes to take away the sin of the world. The word ‘sin’ in John 1:29 is the same word used in Rom 5:12. So that we need to look at redemption not only as personal individual experience (as seen in John 3:16) but also as process of redefining the ideological-systemic boundaries of human existence or of moving the parameters, the borders within which mankind finds himself. As we have already indicated, these parameters are reflected in human philosophy, ideology and value system.

• (3) We are getting a revelation that God is after building and producing mankind in the earth. As we have already stated in the point above, Gen 1:26 reveals God saying: let us make (adam) man or mankind in our image in our likeness. God was not creating a church member or a church attendee, He was creating a human (in all his dimensions: e.g. mindset, ideology, value system etc.) but also God was actually creating His Mankind (people collectively). So the word or name ‘Adam’ really describes humanity, the totality of humanity. We have the First Adam (the man who fell as seen in Gen 3, Rom 5) and the Last Adam (Christ). The fisrt Adam therefore represents humanity in her fallen state whereas the last Adam represents humanity in her redeemed state (i.e. church). Now, although the First Adam fell, Christ came to redeem the Adamic concept and so Christ is the Last Adam (1 Cor 15:45). The first Adam (in his pre-fall state) was a pattern of the Last Adam (Rom 5:14).

If we are the humanity of God then we can no longer express or represent the faith through the ceremony (meetings and programmes) but through our human existence. What are the issues that become elements of our human existence? It is: our philosophy (mindset), ideology, our value system, our collective existence etc. Human existence becomes the basis of expressing the faith because we have realised that God is crafting a Comprehensive Human System (through or in us) as seen in Gen 1:26.

• (4) The state of existence of the people of Israel inside Egypt was the basis for the journey in the wilderness. God said to Moses: ‘I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt and so I have come down to rescue them’ (Ex 3:7&8). And so therefore the objective of God for delivering His people out of Egypt was to change their state of existence (it was not to simply bring them to a ceremonial encounter, although this initially seemed to be the case – Ex 5:1).

What had God seen in Egypt? He had seen spiritual, political, economic and social oppression. And this then means that God wanted to bring the people to a better state of existence – this is why Moses would later introduce people to a new spiritual, political, economic, social and legal system.

The point about this is that we have taken these principles and have applied them only ‘spiritually’ – and yes they apply firstly on a spiritual level. But there is this imbalance in the approach of church building, where we have tended to create an impression that God is not really concerned about the political, economic and social state of the saints. This is well reflected in the limitation of our doctrinal framework and the emphasis on the so-called spiritual dimensions of the saints that does not extend over to the political, economic, social, ideological and philosophical dimensions. We have not taught the saints on kingdom ideology, philosophy, politics, economics etc. hence they continue to be victims of the world system. The word says God created the man – He did not create a church member. So we need a spiritual development process that is holistic and comprehensive, one that speaks into all dimensions of human life. God wants to remove the yoke of the Assyrian in His land (His church) and He has the same plan for the entire world (Isa 14:24-27). The yoke of the Assyrian is oppression – all forms of oppression. Spiritual, philosophical, ideological, cultural etc. There are many believers inside the church who have had demons cast out of their lives but who are still oppressed by the ideologies of the world system – ideological positions like liberalism and capitalism continue to haunt the saints. We therefore need a building framework that is not limited within the ceremony of church but one that begins to shape human existence of the saints.

This then means that church must undergo a structural overhaul; church must be moved from a ceremonial mode into a human existence mode. This issue of establishing a spiritual process founded on shaping human existence of the saints is the main emphasis of a Global Kingdom Civilisation.

What exactly do we mean by human existence of the saints?

• We mean the actual state of the lives of the saints outside the ceremonial framework – i.e. outside all forms of church activity. The question every church leader must ask is that what shapes the ideological framework of the saints today, is it teaching inside the church or the education system and popular opinion? Is there in fact any teaching inside the church designed to shape the ideological framework of the saints or we are teaching on that which only appears spiritual to us?
• Human Existence of the saints speaks of the arrangement of the lives of the saints outside the ceremonial framework - this arrangement of the lives of the saints is seen not just in the wonderful ceremonies we hold every Sunday and during the week, but in the value system, philosophy, ideology that shapes the existence of the saints.
• Within this human existence mode – we do not celebrate any spiritual growth that is not linked to the practical expression of the faith through one’s value system, philosophy, ideology and social attitude. The question that should be asked is, how many saints are equipped to capture their beliefs in their philosophy and economic ideology. And the answer is of course that not many saints can do this.
• Within the context of this ‘human existence mode’ – any spiritual growth, spiritual comprehension of scriptures, any revelational advance, any movement in the church etc. that does not produce the expression of the faith through philosophy, value system and ideology falls short of what God seeks to build in this season of church.
• Human existence mode seeks to take the church to the next level of existing as the redeemed mankind of God. As we have said, in the beginning God created man (Gen 1:26). The word ‘man’ means both an individual man and mankind. Human existence mode must therefore produce a civilisation – a Global Kingdom Civilisation.
• Global Kingdom Civilisation does not primarily refer to the name of some organisational structure, but it represents: A new consciousness or new understanding (emerging inside the church) regarding who we are as church (we are realizing that we are a civilisation of God, the redeemed humanity of God). God does say that we will be called by a new name (Isa 62:2). Since the Reformation of Martin Luther more than 500 years ago till now, the consciousness of the church has been evolving – and this consciousness evolution is facilitated by progressive revelation (Eph 3:5).

Pioneering a Global Kingdom Civilisation: Key Features of the New Church Model

1. Church is not a Ceremonial Entity but a Spiritual-Governmental System of Shaping Human Existence of the Saints and of the World.

In Matt 16:18 Christ declared that He would build His church. The word ‘church’ being the Greek word ekklesia – and this (ekklesia) was a parliament-like, political body within the Greek civilisation, which had responsibility over public affairs of a city state – (please refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesia_%28ancient_Athens%29 or Strong’s Dictionary (no. 1577) on a detailed definition of the word ekklesia. The ekklesia was a deliberative assembly that had powers to take decisions that would literally shape conditions of its city-state or of the citizens living within its jurisdiction. So when Christ declared that He would build His ekklesia, He was in fact referring to this model. This implies that church is not simply a place where people experience spirituality. Church is a system of shaping the nature of existence of its citizens (i.e. those who believe in and who have committed their lives to Christ). This means nothing but that church is in fact a catalyst for human civilisation – for church must not only give people spiritual handouts but it must define for the people how they ought to exist in this earth both as individual believers and as a collective. On a practical level, church must define spiritual positions, value system, philosophy, ideology etc. of those who are disciples of the faith. All that the church has done so far is to facilitate human redemption, provide a platform of (ceremonial) fellowship for believers and equip believers largely on ceremonial practices (e.g. praying, believing God etc.) – all of this is not necessarily wrong – but church has not really defined for the people how they need to exist, what political or economic ideologies they need to employ, how exactly they need to be raising their kids etc. This becomes one of our pursuits within the Apostolic Reformation as we evolve in our spiritual identity, seeing ourselves as a Global Kingdom Civilisation.

2. Church is a Civilisation and Not a Ceremonial Entity

Ps 122:3 says Jerusalem is built like a city… In Ezekiel 40:2&4, the prophet sees a temple whose buildings look like a city. It is a well established doctrinal understanding that church is a temple of God (1 Cor 3:16, 2 Cor 6:16). This temple image identifies us as a spiritual people, the very ceremony of God. Our collective growth is like a building of the temple of God (Eph 2:21, 1 Pet 2:5). But the scriptures also say that we need to be built like a city (not only as a temple) – Ps 122:3. Again I emphasize that the temple image identifies our spirituality in the Lord that we must never lose. In Rev 21 apostle John sees a city coming down from heaven (Rev 21:1&2) – i.e. church; and when he scans through the city, he does not see the temple for the temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (Rev 21:22). If the temple is the Lord and the Lamb then this means that our spirituality is not in performing spiritual activity but it is in growing in the very nature of Christ. Our spirituality is in the fruition of our redemption (the temple is the Lamb). Note that in 1 Cor 3:1-4 Paul says to Corinthians, I cannot address you as spiritual but as worldly because there is jealousy and quarrelling among you. That is, our temple image, our spirituality – is not in performing spiritual activity (like prayer – although prayer is important) but it is in stepping into the nature of Christ – His principles. So the word says when we collectively grow in the nature of Christ then we are becoming a temple unto the Lord (1 Pet 2:5, Eph 2:21). Again, this means that our temple image is not fulfilled in spiritual activity and programmes but in our collective spiritual growth. According to Rev 21:22 and 1 Cor 3;1-4 our temple-ness (or our spirituality) is rooted in our Christ-like nature or character and not in attending church meetings or performing spiritual services (although this remains important).

The scriptures say we are a temple (a spiritual people) who must be built as a city (or a civilisation). The concept of a city becomes a metaphor for human civilisation. If we are building a city then the word ‘city’ defines the Biblical architecture for building church (Jerusalem must be built like a city (Ps 122:3)…buildings looked like a city (Ezek 40:2)) – this is why we are talking about building a Global Kingdom Civilisation – this not defining a global organisation but a new spiritual consciousness and a new spiritual identity. So the word ‘city’ defines the Biblical architecture for building church whereas temple becomes our spiritual experience, identity and development in the Lord. The faith is a spiritual experience in Christ that must be expressed as a civilisation (a city). What does expressing the faith as a civilisation mean? It means expressing the faith through our value system, our philosophy, our ideology, and basically through the nature of our human existence (as saints). So this temple-city combination means that we will never have to lose our spirituality in Christ but at the same time, our spirituality will never prevent us from expressing the faith through our human existence or as a civilisation.

God says ‘I lay a stone in Zion’ (1 Pet 2:6). Zion is often spoken of as a city (Heb 12:22, Ps 48:1-3). If God lays a stone in Zion then it means Zion provides a framework for our building process; we are by default building a civilisation and not just a spiritual experience that is locked up in the ceremony (our church meetings and programmes). We are building a civilisation – meaning that we are building a human existence shaped after the pattern of God. In building a civilisation (a city), we are building a comprehensive human system that expresses itself in the multi-dimensional wisdom of God (Eph 3:10); this comprehensive human system expresses itself not just through the ceremony but through elements of the affairs of life, namely: value system, philosophy, economic-political ideology, family, business, education etc.

So the word civilisation defines a people (of common identity) who are collectively engaged in a process of development. This is what defines a people called church (we are Zion – Isa 62:1, we are a civilisation) – we are engaged in spiritual development that must take us to perfection and ultimately to immortality. What is the nature of such development?

• It is internal-personal development (our very hearts are set on a journey or on a process of development, each and every one of us must be presented perfect before God), Ps 84:5-7, Col 1:28.
• It is collective development (we are growing as a Body), Eph 4:15-16.

Church is therefore a catalyst for human civilisation, and so by default, church must be the leading voice on human civilisation. 2 Cor 5:17 says if a man is in Christ he is a new creation. Our redemption is not just in the fact that we used to be evil people and now we are ‘holy’ people. According to 2 Cor 5:17, our redemption is in the fact that in Christ we are undergoing metamorphosis (2 Cor 3:18) which makes us a new mankind. Note that 2 Cor 5:17 does not say, ‘if a man is in Christ, then he is a saint or he is a believer’. The emphasis of 2 Cor 5:17 is not to make the unreligious religious but it is to effect radical holistic change in human life (over a period of time), this is what makes us a civilisation.

Further Considerations on Church being a Civilisation (key components of a civilisation):

• (1) We are saying that what qualifies us to be a civilisation is the fact that we are a people collectively engaged in a process of spiritual development (Ps 84:5-7, Eph 4:11-16, Heb 6:1, Col 1:28).
• (2) What qualifies us to be a civilisation is that as a people we have common identity (in Christ – Gal 3:27&28), which means we have collective existence (Ps 133, Luke 3:10&11).
• (3) Becoming a civilisation necessitates that we have a clearly defined philosophy that glues our diverse lives together. The word talks of Christ as the Word, the Logos (or a system of thought) that was in the beginning (John 1:1,2&14). 1 Pet 3:15 also tells us that the faith has got to be built on clearly defined philosophical positions (saints must be ready to give reasons (or logos) to those who ask them about their hope – 1 Pet 3:15).
• (4) Becoming a civilisation necessitates that we develop our own (economic and political) ideological positions that become the foundation for our human existence, this is exactly what John the Baptist did, he taught the people on proper (socio-economic) ideological positions of the kingdom of God (Luke 3:10&11).
• (5) Becoming a civilisation necessitates that we become clear about our value system that we are progressively developing through progressive illumination of the Word of God.
• (6) Becoming a civilisation necessitates that we define our own progressive social systems that shape the interaction of the saints – e.g. principles like, ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ are not merely good scripture verses but become foundational principles upon which we develop powerful social systems. Acts 2:42 also says, ‘they continued steadfastly in…fellowship’. The word ‘fellowship’ is not only socializing but the word defines a powerful social system (& even an ideological position) of living a shared life (koinonia) – sharing in everything, including material-financial resources (Luke 3:10&11, Rom 15:26, Heb 13:16).
• (7) Becoming a civilisation demands that we build our own systems that serve to govern the existence of the saints – e.g. Paul spoke to Corinthians about the need for church to develop its own judicial systems (see 1 Cor 6:1-8), see also Matt 18:15-17.
• (8) Becoming a civilisation means that we adopt generational succession as a system of advancing the faith; it also demands that we then rethink parenting. God calls for the turning of hearts of fathers and sons in Mal 4:5&6 (which is one of the major thrusts of the reformation). A civilisation is not a one-generation phenomenon but a progressive reality that is trans-generational. And so God said of Abraham, that he would direct his children and his household after him (Gen 18:18&19). Ps 22:30 says posterity (or the succession of generations) will serve God. We cannot even begin to build a powerful spiritual expression until we become a civilisation.
• (9) Becoming a civilisation means that we must develop our own system of education. There is no civilisation that feeds on ‘foreign’ philosophy and wisdom. A civilisation must have its own indigenous wisdom and such wisdom must be the basis of parenting, education and generational succession. God does say that the sun and the moon will no longer be your light (referring to natural sources of illumination), see Isa 60:19&20, Rev 21:23. We do have the responsibility to train our children in the way they should go (Prov 22:6) – this is not some informal ad-hoc or casual parenting, this verse talks about establishing an education system that serves to impart wisdom to our kids.
• (10) Becoming a civilisation means that we must revisit the area of the Arts because every civilisation must find artistic expression through music, poetry, drama etc. Zion has her songs (Ps 137:1-3). Now the word does say that God will open His mouth through parables (Ps 78:1&2, Matt 13:35). The word ‘parable’ is simply defined in the Greek as fiction. It was common of prophets to use fiction to deliver prophecy (2 Sam 12, 1 Kings 20:38-43) – this means that the divine realm of God can be transmitted through Arts. We therefore need to broaden the traditional praise and worship ministry into a comprehensive artistic field that incorporates poetry, drama, music, to the point where we invade the Movie industry etc. expressing this civilisation of God. This will also help artists find their proper space in the church

3. Church leaders are Architects of a Human Civilisation premised on the Kingdom of God

God says in Mal 4:5&6, ‘I will send Elijah’ and Jesus says in Matt 17:11 that Elijah comes first as a forerunner of Christ, to restore (to bring all things to their former order) – it therefore goes without saying that the spirit and the mantle that every leader must have (in engaging this business of church development) is that of Elijah. In this context, John the Baptist becomes the icon of church leadership. John reveals how church leaders or senior elders of assemblies (or local churches) must function in this Apostolic Reformation Age. As we have already stated:

• John provided the doctrinal framework for the people, which was the kingdom of God (Matt 3:2)
• John took the people through a new spiritual encounter, which was baptism (Mark 1:4)
• John taught the people on new spiritual practices, producing a much more effective priesthood – he taught on new ways of praying (Luke 11:1)
• John effected a mentality shift through a process of ‘repentance’ (metanoeo, meaning: ‘change your minds’), see Matt 3:2.
• John work-shopped his disciples on kingdom ideological positions (Luke 3:10&11).
• John established a new social architecture for his disciples, one that was rooted in generational succession (Luke 1:17).

In the end, John produced not just a ceremonial encounter but a civilisation that could express itself philosophically and ideologically. I.e. the disciples of John were identified not just by a baptism process (in fact John rebuked those who just wanted to be baptized – Luke 3:7&8), his disciples were identified by a different ideology that was rooted in collective existence, equality and shared life (Luke 3:10&11). This is how leaders of churches must function; this is what it means to function in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17). Church leaders functioning under the mantle of Elijah have the sole responsibility to get people ready for the Lord (Luke 1:17).

4. Doctrine is an Outline of God’s Architecture for Human Existence of the Saints

If we are building a civilisation (premised on the kingdom of God) then it means we must rethink the whole issue of doctrine. We need to position doctrine not just as some form of religious identity that we use to show to people who we are. James says this is exactly how demons operate – they put emphasis on what they believe without necessarily actioning it out (James 2:19). In a lot of ways, doctrine is used by different church circles as merely a basis of religious identity.

When you think of it, doctrine is really nothing but an outline of the architecture of God for human life. What we teach is a reflection of how God wants human life arranged. And so we teach on issues relating to different dimensions of human life: e.g. personal, corporate, family, business, workplace, philosophy etc.

God is the Architect and He is building a city (a civilisation) – Heb 11:10. It is the apostolic grace that equips us to relate to God architecturally – apostles are master architects or master craftsmen (1 Cor 3:10, Prov 8:30). So therefore teaching in this apostolic age takes into consideration the architecture of God (for human life) first and seeks to reveal this in a systematic way.

So therefore teaching is not just a meaningless exercise but it is a systematic indoctrination of the saints into the architecture of God for human existence.

5. Discovering the Philosophy Dimension of Christ (John 1:1,2&14, 1 Pet 3:15)

John 1:1,2&14 talks about Christ as the Word – the Logos. ‘Logos’ is defined as both the utterance and the underlying reasoning upon which utterance is made. Logos is intelligence etc. (Logos is not merely written word). So in a day when we are crafting a Global Kingdom Civilisation, we need to discover this dimension of the Christos – the Logos dimension. If Christ is God’s system of thought, this means that we cannot produce a Christ-like church if such a church is not philosophical in its orientation.

Peter does say in 1 Pet 3:15 that ‘believers must always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks them to give the reason for the hope they have’. The word ‘reason’ that Peter uses here is the Greek word ‘logos’. So Peter is revealing that when defending the faith, saints must be in a position of outlining philosophical positions upon which the faith is built – and not simply defend the faith emotionally.

So therefore this word from Peter calls for a need to produce a philosophical church. Not only so, but if we go back to John 1:1,2&14, then we realise that we also need to demonstrate this philosophical dimension of Christ – remembering that we are called to grow in everything (Eph 4:15) – including this area of philosophy.

6. Broadening the Scope of Doctrine (A New Spiritual Curriculum for the Church)

By now it becomes clear that the spiritual curriculum of the church needs to be broadened. So far the doctrine of church emphasizes on:

• Outlining spiritual truths of the Faith (e.g. God is One) – this is of course very important.
• Speaking on issues of Personal Development of believers.
• Establishing spiritual-ceremonial competencies like prayer.

Our doctrine does not speak explicitly on philosophical positions of the kingdom, ideological positions of the kingdom, how exactly to raise kids etc. The scope of our building determines the scope of doctrine e.g. if we are only building ceremonial church organisations, we will tend to teach only on issues that appear to be spiritual but if we are building a civilisation – our teaching will include issues like philosophy, ideology etc.

Gen 1:26 says God created the man in His image. God was not creating a spiritual believer, He was not even creating simply a priest – God was creating the man in his totality. So therefore we who have the responsibility to craft and bring man to perfection (as Paul says in Col 1:28) must ensure that our scope of teaching is broadened. We can not only be teaching people how to pray, how to give, how to live a holy life – we need to teach people how to live life as God created it: that life is personal, communal, system of thought, ideology, value system, business, legal, finance and every other dimension of human living. Again we will quote John the Baptist – his doctrine did not end with teaching on the nearness of the kingdom, but his doctrine went as far as outlining ideology and workplace value system for tax collectors and Roman soldiers, meaning that the disciples of John were not seen by their card membership or by what they confessed to believe in but they were seen in the sphere of ideology (Luke 3:10&11) and also in the workplace (Luke 3:12-14, i.e. tax collectors and some Roman soldiers).

Again, to teach only on that which appears to be spiritual is to assume that the life of Christ only has to do with that which is spiritual. Not only so, but to teach only on that which is spiritual is to assume that redemption is partial. How many believers who love God but are still locked up in the ideologies of the world.

7. Kingdom Systematics as a New Branch of Doctrine

The word systematics is defined in the Collins Dictionary as ‘the study of systems…’ The word ‘system’ defines a group or combination of interrelated, interdependent or interacting elements forming a collective entity (Source: Collins Dictionary) – and so we talk of the word as a system made up of different interrelated elements like economics, politics, philosophy, value system etc. Kingdom Systematics is therefore a new branch of doctrine that provides illumination to believers on two levels:

• Firstly, regarding the true nature of the system of the world.
• Secondly, regarding the systematic nature of the kingdom of God.

In Kingdom Systematics, believers must be taught on the ideology, philosophy and theories upon which the systems (political, social, legal, economic) of the world are founded. In Kingdom Systematics, believers must be taught on the ideological and philosophical positions of the kingdom of God that must become the basis for a more stable systemic order. And thus, through kingdom systematics, believers will be equipped (Eph 4:11&12) in the area of interacting with both the systems of the kingdom and the systems of the world. The end objective of this new branch of doctrine is to develop systemic competence in believers.

Here are the things we need to consider that become the underlying reasoning for this new branch of doctrine (Interacting with the World System):

• Rev 13:15-18 (especially vs.18) identifies the need for believers to be equipped to understand the true systemic nature of the world system (the Bible refers to this as the ability ‘to calculate the code of the beast’). If believers are not empowered to discern the true systemic nature of the world, they will continue to become victims of its philosophies and ideologies.
• Rev 18:4 calls for a systemic exodus – the verse says ‘come out of Babylon’ (Babylon is the world system). This systemic exodus calls for believers to renounce the ideologies (political, economic) and philosophies that are anti-kingdom or anti-Christ. There is no way that believers can exit out of the system of the world without firstly understanding such a system.
• Jer 50:2 announces to us that Babylon shall fall (see also Rev 18:2). Jer 50:14 calls for a mobilisation of a people who will attack and defeat Babylon (this world system) – its ideologies, philosophies and theories that become the foundation of the systems (political, economic, institutional, legal etc.) that we see today. According to Jer 50:14, these people who attack Babylon must be able to take their positions around her (i.e. strategic positioning) and must be able to shoot at her – so these must be people who are competent enough to interact with the systems of the world.
• Again Dan 2:31-35 also identifies the fact that systemic interaction with the world system will be one of the main thrusts of the kingdom of God ‘in the time of those kings’ (Dan 2:44). It therefore goes without saying that believers who want to remain resourceful to the kingdom must be competent systemically.

Here are the things we need to consider that become the underlying reasoning for this new branch of doctrine (Interaction with the Kingdom of God):

• The word says we have been delivered from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His Son (Col 1:13). Now the kingdom of God is in itself a comprehensive system – it has its own ideological positions and philosophy that become the foundation upon which more stable political, economic, legal and institutional systems can be built. This is why Adam could live and pioneer different things upon the foundation of the ideology and philosophy of the kingdom of God. This is why God could design an entire social, legal and economic system for the nation of Israel.
• Again we see clearly in Dan 2:31-35 that the kingdom is a system that interacts with other systems.
• And so therefore to be born again and to enter the kingdom of God is not only a ceremonial experience of salvation of our spirits but it is a comprehensive process of adopting new philosophical positions, new ideological positions, new social positions etc.
• In fact to be born again or to be born from above (John 3:3-5) is to depart from positions of the first fallen Adam and adopt the positions of the Last Perfected Adam (1 Cor 15:45-49). Both Adamic positions represent two different mankind positions.
• Believers will therefore fail to relate to the kingdom if they fail to comprehend its systemic nature. And believers can only comprehend the systemic nature of the kingdom if they fully assume the Last Adamic Nature – the nature of Christ.
• What we are essentially saying is that developing systemic competence is not only for the purpose of interacting with the world system (Babylon) but it’s also for the purpose of being an effective kingdom citizen – it therefore becomes a spiritual imperative.

Please visit http://kingdomsystematics.blogspot.com/ if you want to learn more about kingdom systematics.

8. Producing Doctrinal Competence through Doctrinal Discourse: Creating Deliberative Assemblies

Churches must begin to create a new platform of doctrinal discourse, not for the purpose of stimulating meaningless and purposeless debate inside the house of God, but with the purpose of bringing the saints to a place of doctrinal competence. Basically, what this means is that we need to take the whole issue of ‘Bible Studies’ to a new level. The reality is that believers will never grow doctrinally as long as they always have to listen to somebody teach, without them coming to a place of dynamic interaction with doctrine through dialogue.

Here are the things we can consider scripturally on this issue:

• The temple of God that Prophet Isaiah saw had angels that were calling to one another (Isa 6:1-4). These angels were having dialogue about two issues: (i) the beautiful nature of God (holy is the Lord Almighty) and (ii) about the implications that the revealed nature of God has for the entire earth (the whole earth is full of his glory) . So believers must have discourse about the revealed nature of God and its implications for their dispensation.
• John the Baptist had doctrinal discourse with his disciples (Luke 3:10,12,14).
• Jesus did not only teach His disciples but He also had dialogue with them. After a teaching session, He would sit down with His disciples for a time of dynamic interaction – e.g.
• In Matt 16:13-18 He does not tell His disciples who He is but rather He asks His disciples who He is, and this creates a powerful questions and answers session where Peter eventually rises up to give an accurate answer. Peter’s answer further creates a platform for the Holy Spirit to outline the future progression of the faith, as seen in Matt 16:18&19.
• In Matt 13:39, the disciples of Jesus approach Him with some questions about what He had been teaching – in most churches, doctrine is taught as dogma, there is no space for believers to even ask things that they did not attend. If we want to produce doctrinally competent believers, our teaching approach will have to change.
• Paul adopted the method of dialogue as one of his teaching styles (Acts 17:2&17). The word ‘reasoned’ used in the NIV Bible is the Greek word ‘dialegomai’ and it means: to speak back and forth, to speak alternately, to converse with, to discuss, discourse, intelligent arguments.

We therefore do need to create deliberative assemblies or platforms of doctrinal deliberation if we want to saturate believers or baptize the minds (or intellect) of believers in the Word of God. The issue of doctrinal deliberation does not and should not replace the ministry of teaching; here are the guidelines of implementing these deliberations:

• There must be a strong governmental framework and oversight (provided by church leadership) within which the saints engage doctrinal discourse; this will help so that saints do not assume authority over other saints.
• There must be a strong accurate teaching ministry flowing into the lives of the saints, which empowers them to engage in meaningful and effective dialogue. Paul reasoned from the scriptures (Acts 17:2), so scripture and teaching must become the basis of all discourse, and not human opinion.
• Saints must adopt the Berean culture of studying the word of God and issues they are being taught in (Acts 17:11) – if saints are not students of the word, the quality of dialogue will be compromised.
• The objective of dialogue must not be to highlight human cleverness and super-spirituality but must be to enhance understanding, for mutual edification and to bring the saints to a place of collective conviction and or unity of the faith and of the knowledge of Christ (Eph 4:13).
  
  9. Rediscovering the Adamic Dispensation: I: The normality of spirituality (Gen 1:26, 1 Cor 15:45)

Gen 1:26  Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Rom 5:14  Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

1Co 15:45  So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being" ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

1Co 15:46  The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.

1Co 15:47  The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.

1Co 15:48  As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

1Co 15:49  And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

An Introduction to the Adamic Concept

The word ‘man’ used in Gen 1:26 is the Hebrew word (‘adam), it means both: the human being and mankind, i.e. the word combines both individual and corporate life – this tells us a powerful principle that in the world of God, individual life is inextricably connected to corporate life. This is important for us to understand in this day of individualism (2 Tom 3:1-5).

Furthermore, the word ‘adam has no gender bias, hence in Gen 1:27 it says God created man in His image, He created them – male and female.

Now the word or name Adam only appears for the first time in Gen 2:20 – and the name Adam (in Gen 2:20) means exactly what the word ‘man’ means in Gen 1:26. That is, ‘man’ and ‘Adam’ are really synonyms. This means that ‘Adam’ is not a name specific to the first (individual) man God created but it really describes the humanity of God created in His image. Hence in 1 Cor 15:45, we talk about the First and the Last Adam. The first Adam, on a limited sense, represents the first man that we see in Gen 2 – in his fallen nature (as seen in Gen 3 and in Rom 5:12-19) but more than that, really represents humanity in his fallen state. So the first Adam represents Fallen Mankind. The Last Adam represents the first man of Perfected Humanity (Jesus Christ), but on a broader scale, the Last Adam represents Redeemed Humanity or Mankind. Why do we say this? Because the Adamic concept does not only describe the individual but also a collective – mankind.

Rom 5:14 says the first Adam (in his pre-fall state) was a pattern of the one to come, the Last Adam. So therefore the first Adam reveals how redeemed humanity ought to exist in the earth, it reveals the framework of his (i.e. redeemed humanity’s) existence and what his mandate is?

1 Cor 15:49 says, ‘just as we have put on the likeness or image of the earthly man (First Adam), so shall we put on the image of the man from heaven (the Last Adam)’. The word ‘likeness’ used in the NIV Bible is the Greek word ‘eikon’ which means: statue, profile, image etc. 1 Cor 15:49 therefore captures that transaction that happens when we get born again (John 3:3-5), that we are merely departing from one image or profile to another. ‘Born again or born from above’ is therefore a progressive reality; but more importantly, born from above is not merely a process of moving from being unreligious to being religious or from unspiritual to being spiritual (remember that spirituality does exist outside of the faith – the kingdom of God e.g. there is African spirituality). Born from above is really a progressive process of departing from one profile of life or from one image (that of First Adam) to another (Last Adam’s image).

Rediscovering the Adamic Dispensation I: The Normality of Spirituality

In this day when we are becoming a civilisation, we are rediscovering the Adamic dispensation. In the churches, we have often taught on Adam from a negative, fallen, unredeemed angle, forgetting that Christ (as the Last Adam) has redeemed the Adamic concept. This emphasis on the fallen side of the Adam, which neglects the redeemed side of the Adam, therefore deprives us from seeing who we are. We need to begin to see church and our spirituality in God in the light of Adam, the Last Adam.

Remember that Rom 5:14 says the first Adam was a pattern of the last Adam. We therefore want to identify several things upon which we want to build our spirituality in God:

• When God created Adam, He did not also create a temple through which Adam was to express his spirituality.
• Spirituality was therefore not associated with a building or with a certain day in a week but was the essence of who Adam was – Adam is a spiritual being.
• Gen 3:8 does give us an indication that Adam and Eve used to hear the voice of God walking in the cool of the day – so therefore divine interaction was not a special moment nor was it a gift, but it was the mechanism by which human life on earth would progress forward into the purposes of God.
• Not only did man have divine interaction with God but he also could interact with the demonic realm – the serpent spoke to Eve (Gen 3:1) – so therefore discerning between the voice of God and that of the enemy did not need a moment of prayer, it was part and parcel of the life of Adam as long as he was walking the soil of the earth (this however does not mean that we are not to pray).
• Spirituality was therefore part of who man was: whether at home, interacting with his wife (Gen 2:23) or at work (Gen 2:15) or during interactions with his siblings (Gen 4:6,7&9).

We therefore need to rediscover ourselves, in a day when spirituality is not defined only by an experience in a church building, but by on-going interaction with life.

Deu 8:2  Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

Deu 8:3  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Deut 8:2 reveals to us that spirituality is at the centre of all kinds of human experience. God creates conditions and circumstances (favorable and unfavorable) to test the purity of our hearts and to therefore give us an opportunity to change, grow and mature. So whether we find ourselves hard-pressed or in good circumstances is not really the matter, the real issue is the condition of our hearts that is exposed by the circumstances we find ourselves in. For Adam and Eve, it was the test of lust and greed that they faced daily as they passed by the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So therefore within the Adamic world, spirituality does not await us in some building – it is the basis of our consciousness, it is experienced daily through our daily experiences.

Act 17:24  "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.

Act 17:28  'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

God does not live in temples built by human hands…but in Him we live and have our being. Spirituality is therefore our daily experience at home, work etc. as we interact with people daily. The question is whether we are conscious of this reality.

10. Rediscovering the Adamic Dispensation II: Church as Redeemed Humanity

We also need to understand that church is not just a group of religious people that distinguishes itself on the basis of Sunday activity. Church – as the Last Adam - is the New Mankind of God. If we are the Mankind of God then we need to find new ways of representing the faith. That is, if we are the mankind of God, then the faith does not start and end in the church building, nor does it start and end in church programmes. If we are the mankind of God, then the faith does not start and end in our church membership through some church organisation, nor does the faith start and end in the activities of our local church.

If we are the redeemed mankind or humanity of God, then the nature of our human existence is the basis through which we express the faith, not the ceremony. When we talk of human existence, we are referring to our value system, our philosophy, and our ideological positions etc. that govern our collective existence. If we talk of our human existence as the basis of expressing the faith, then we need our economic system that resembles our philosophy, we need our consolidated political ideology that resembles our beliefs, values and philosophy.

Church as redeemed humanity or mankind – creates a new platform of fellowship, one that surpasses the walls of our local church buildings, one that surpasses technical doctrinal differences – to the point where we create a new doctrinal platform for this ‘global mankind’. To breathe in such a day becomes a wonderful thing.

11. Rediscovering the Adamic Dispensation III: Collective Existence of the Saints (Gen 1:26, Ps 133, Rom 13:9, Matt 22:37-40, 1 John 4:16-21)

We are saying that the word or name ‘adam’ means both man (as an individual) and mankind (or men as a collective). The philosophy that underpins this word is that individual life is inextricably connected to corporate life. You cannot talk about individual life without talking about corporate life, vice versa.

Lev 19:13  "'Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. "'Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.

Lev 19:14  "'Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.

Lev 19:15  "'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

Lev 19:16  "'Do not go about spreading slander among your people. "'Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the LORD.

Lev 19:17  "'Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

Lev 19:18  "'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

In Lev 19:16 God says we must do nothing that endangers our neighbor’s life – and Jesus defined for us who our neighbour is (in the parable of the Good Samaritan), that our neighbour is anybody we come into contact with, it’s not just the house next door or our friends (Luke 10:25-37). Now Lev 19:16 says we must always ensure we are not endangering the wellbeing of those in our space. This literally means that in every step of our way, we need to think about how is our actions compromising the state of those we are coming into contact with.

Psa 133:1  A song of ascents. Of David. How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!

So therefore collective existence breaks the limitations of ceremonial fellowship – that fellowship that is defined by church programmes, church membership etc. Collective Existence speaks of shared life – it implies that we share the faith – we share philosophy, we share values, we share cause, we share material and financial resources, and that we express the faith not as fragmented individuals but as a collective. One Biblical word that captures the spirit of collective existence is the Greek word ‘koinonia’ which is translated ‘fellowship’ (in Acts 2:42) and partnership (in Phil 1:5). The root meaning of this word is: ‘that which is shared by all’. Paul also used this word in describing a process of redistribution of wealth from one church to another (see Rom 15:26, 2 Cor 9:13, Heb 13:16). So therefore collective existence is a revelational-ideological position that governs the very existence of the mankind of God – it is not a fellowship programme of a local church. Collective existence calls for the dynamic interaction of the saints outside of the framework of the ceremony.

12. Rediscovering the Adamic Dispensation IV: The normality of Perfection (Gen 1:26, Rom 5:14, 1 Cor 15:45-49, 2 Cor 5:17, Col 1:28)

The word ‘perfect’ (used in Matt 5:48 and Col 1:28) is the Greek word teleios and it means: that which is complete, that which is finished, that which has reached its end, that which is of full age. The word ‘perfection’ (used in Heb 6:1) is the Greek word ‘teleiotes’ and is a noun from teleios, this word means: the realization of an end in view, the state achieved when a goal has been accomplished. The state we are to achieve is our collective possession of the fullness of the nature of Christ, as it says in Eph 4:13 – ‘till we come to…a perfect man, to the measure of the stature (helikia: meaning maturity) of the fullness of Christ’. Thus, perfection is not simply a mistake-free life but it is our collective completion in all of the dimensions of Christ. We have to come to a perfect man or a ‘teleios aner’ (in Greek). The word ‘aner’ means: an adult male person, a man of mature understanding. And so our perfection image is described through this image of a fully matured male figure, which speaks of: strength and wisdom. Note the pattern here: we (plurality) must come to a perfect man (singularity) - so therefore the dimension of perfection is a dimension of consolidated plurality (in one of the sections in this document, we talk about apostolic synchronization which must lead us to this state of consolidated plurality).

The concept of perfection therefore tells us that God has a target (as per the definition of the word ‘perfection’) that we must reach and when we reach that target (a certain desired state fixed in the mind of God), God will say, ‘it is finished’ and will then wrap up this mortal human age. The target that God has for us is nothing but Christ Himself (Eph 4:13). And so God keeps on revealing new dimensions of Christ; our ability to faithfully master (or to put on – Gal 3:27) the revealed nature of Christ in our lives serves to progressively bring us to perfection.

Now Heb 6:1 calls for the progression of the faith that eventually takes us to perfection. We have to realise that the very positions we are pursuing were normal to Adam (in his pre-fall state). Living peacefully within the framework of the image of God was normal to Adam until his fall. So if we are going to be a generation that grabs perfection with our hands we need to discover in our hearts what exactly does it mean to assume an Adamic position. This call to assume an Adamic position is a call to return back to the image of God as a framework and architecture for human living. For this is exactly how perfection is described in Matt 5:43-43 – it is described as conformity to the nature of the Father.

It is in this context that we are talking about taking scripture verses and making them our own philosophy and ideology. Within this Adamic framework, it is kind of strange to relate to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ as a scripture verse, but this becomes the very framework of life we are creating, it informs the philosophy we want to adopt, it informs the social systems we formulate etc. If our kids (the next generation of the faith) will continue to relate to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ as a scripture verse and not as a social imperative, then we would have failed to build correctly. This does not mean that we will deprive our kids of Biblical knowledge but it means they will live it out not as a verse taught on Sunday but as a social imperative they will have known since birth. This is what Moses means when he says ‘obeying these laws will show your wisdom to nations’ (Deut 4:6). The word ‘wisdom’ here means ‘skill’ and relates to the Greek word ‘sophia’ used in Eph 3:10 – which also means: ‘skill in the affairs of life’. This is the ultimate intent of God, to bring us to a place where perfection (or completion in the nature of Christ – Eph 4:13) becomes a normal experience, as it was for Adam.

13. Rediscovering the Adamic Dispensation V: Towards a temple-less generation (ISa 62:2, Acts 17:24, Rev 21:22, Gen 2:8&15, Jer 29:4-10)

We are saying that when Adam was created, he had no temple in which to express the faith. We are saying that God does not live in temples built by human hands (Acts 17:24).

‘Temple built by human hands’ is not only referring to literal religious buildings but it also refers to a religious framework that can be defined in our church programmes and activities – God cannot be limited to religious activity or to the programme and meetings of church but rather in Him we live and have our being (Acts 17:28). Meaning that our ‘temple’ is the totality of experiences and conditions God is taking us through – (as seen also in Duet 8:2). ‘The totality of experiences’ includes personal, family and work-related experiences.

So that the Adamic dispensation is introducing to us a temple-less dispensation. The apostle John does speak of a temple-less city (Zion) – see Rev 21:22. This means that we have to redefine platforms of spirituality. Spirituality is not expressed only through our Sunday morning or ceremonial activity but through the following:

• Our ability to relate with our brothers and sisters: for how can we claim to love an unseen God when we are failing to love those around us. In the end God demands that all who want to pursue Him must also pursue their brothers and sisters around them (1 John 4:16-21). Everything that God says and that He will ever say is summed up in this principle, ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ (Rom 13:9). Not only so, but the law and the prophets hang on to these two royal commands of the kingdom (Matt 22:37-40).
• The nature of our philosophy or system of thought: for Christ (who is the essence of our spirituality) existed firstly as the Logos – as the philosophy of God and was then manifested in the flesh (John 1:1,2&14). Our carnality or spirituality is determined by the nature of out thinking system.
• Our value system: Paul says, ‘I cannot address you as spiritual but as worldly’, and Paul goes on to identify the reasons for this – these being the prevailing value system within the saints in Corinth, namely: jealousy, quarrelling (see 1 Cor 3:1-4).

Now in Jer 29:4-10 God gives a framework of existence for the generation that lived inside Babylon. Here God talks about setting up families, raising kids, establishing kingdom businesses, interact with the Babylonian civilisation etc. He does not instruct people to set up centres of ceremony but rather the ceremony was part and parcel of their lives, as we see Daniel kneeling and praying in his house (Dan 6:10). This was then truly a temple-less generation.

Now this does not mean that we reject the assembly of the saints (Heb 10:25) for the purpose of teaching, praying etc. What it does mean is that the ceremony is not the basis for our expression of the faith, it is only a means to an end. And so the assembly of the saints has got to be broadened from Sunday morning to include an ethos of fellowship for the purpose of exchanging acts of love, as stated in Heb 10:24&25.

14. Rediscovering the Adamic Dispensation VI: Global Consciousness as a basis of effective personal spiritual life (Gen 1:26-28, Gen 2:8, 1 Pet 5:9)

Gen 1:28  God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Gen 2:15  The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

1Pe 5:9  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

The man Adam was given a scope that was global in nature as seen in Gen 1:28 and yet he still had a locality that became his focus (he was stationed at the Garden of Eden to work it out). But the locality was not to rob him of his global scope. What are we learning out of this? Believers can no longer be blinded by their own localities but they need to operate firstly as global citizens expressing the faith in a local context.

1 Pet 5:9 nails the whole thing down – Peter says the only way believers (in their personal capacities) can be effective in defeating the oppositional forces of the enemy is if (1) they stand firm in the faith (2) being conscious of their brotherhood in the world. To some extent, the first issue of standing firm in the faith has always been a reality in our lives but the second issue of global consciousness (as a spiritual imperative for effective spiritual living) is not something that we have known. So we are realizing that saints can no longer be blinded by their local churches, that they need to exist upon a foundation of global consciousness. This further means that we have to come out of the ‘local church mode’ so that we then establish inside our hearts this global consciousness (of those we do not even know by face).

15. Rediscovering the Adamic Dispensation VII: Developing Systemic Competence in the Church

Gen 1:28  God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Gen 2:15  The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

We have already pointed out that within the context of pioneering a kingdom civilisation, we have to establish a new branch of doctrine – kingdom systematics, and the purpose of kingdom systematics is to produce systemic competence in the lives of believers.

One of the things about Adam was that he was mandated to interact with different dimensions of life: subdue the earth, rule over the fish of the sea, birds of the air and over living creatures moving on the ground. So Adam had to be a multi-skilled human who had the necessary competence to interact with different dimensions of life – we will take these different dimensions to represent different elements that make up the system of the world, e.g. politics, economics etc.

So therefore if we claim to be entering into this Adamic dispensation, systemic competence becomes the order of the day; the need to interact with different systems of the world becomes the order of the day. Such an interaction ceases to be an optional extra to become a basic necessity, a spiritual imperative for an effective advance of the kingdom of God. We therefore need to see believers: educated and uneducated, males and females, rural and urban emerging with systemic competence – moving away from naivety in a day when wisdom is calling on all who are simple to gain understanding (Prov 8:1-13). Rev 13:18 declares that the wise will be able to understand the code of the beast – and this ‘code of the beast’ really represents the nature of the system of the world. Rev 13:18 therefore points out the need to equip the saints systemically so that they do not continue to be victims of the world system as we see in Prov 7:6-27.

16. postolic Synchronization I: Defining the One Foundation (1 Cor 3:10)

1Co 3:10  By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.

1Co 3:11  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

The word of God states in Eph 4:13 that church must come to the unity of the faith and unity of the knowledge of the Son of God. This will demand that one foundation be progressively established upon which global church is built. The laying of the foundation for church’s existence (and not just church’s ceremonial operations) is the apostolic function; it is the function of apostles.

Apostles are wise master builders (1 Cor 3:10) or sophos architekton in Greek. The word ‘sophos’ was used to describe ancient Greek philosophers. The word ‘sophos’ describes both an understanding of God’s ways and a practical skill to express these ways of God in the course of life. The word ‘architekton’ is made up of two words: (i) ‘arche’ which describes rank (e.g. we speak of archangels) and (ii) ‘tekton’ which describes a craftsman, an artificer (or a skilled craftsman, an inventive designer). So the word ‘architekton’ can literally be defined as: a chief constructor or a chief craftsman.

Now it says that apostles are sophos architekton or philosophical chief constructors – so therefore the grace of apostles is defined by the following features which are really unique to apostles: (a) philosophical (b) rank (c) architectural and (d) building. The grace of apostles is in understanding patterns, shapes, designs of the kingdom and then to authoritatively build what they see. It makes sense that in this apostolic age, church is becoming more and more apostolic and therefore more and more philosophical and architectural. It makes sense in this apostolic age that we are becoming a civilisation.

Now apostles have a duty to progressively lay the foundation for the church (which is Christ) - 1 Cor 3:10&11. This one foundation must then serve to consolidate and or synchronize the building process within the global church – so that we can truly produce a new redeemed mankind for God.

What must then happen?

• Apostles must take a lead in progressively defining the foundation for the church – because in the church God has appointed first of all apostles (1 Cor 12:28). Wisdom speaks in Prov 8 as the master craftsman (Prov 8:30) – representing apostolic dimension and says ‘the Lord brought me forth as the first of His works’ (Prov 8:22), this further identifies for us the rank of the apostolic dimension of God.
• Church (and particularly church elders) must acknowledge and receive apostles or the apostolic dimension in order to enjoy the reward of apostolic synchronization (Matt 10:41).
  
  17. Apostolic Synchronization II: Global Leadership Consensus (Gen 1:26, Gen 2:7)

Gen 1:26  Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Gen 2:7  the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

‘Then God said…let us make man in our image, in our likeness…’

God teaches us here that the building of a man was founded on the principles of deliberation or discourse, consensus and collaboration. God spoke in His plurality and had dialogue about building the man. God spoke about the template that was to be used (the very image of God) and by the time the actual building took place in Gen 2:7, it was founded on clearly agreed upon positions.

What does this teach us? First we have to realise that we have an awesome responsibility to build a global entity in a manner that is harmonious, we have this goal of bringing church to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son (Eph 4:13). This therefore demands that we employ the very same principles that God used in crafting the man in the beginning, for the word says we must imitate God (Eph 5:1).

• We need a new platform of deliberation within which church leadership agrees about the profile of the man (individual and corporate, local and global) that needs to be built (just as we see in Gen 1:26). Such a platform must take the nature of the deliberative conference that we see in Acts 15. This conference was composed of Apostles, Elders and even some mature believers (Acts 15:2). The conference served to lay a doctrinal framework within which local churches or kingdom communities (in different geographic territories) would be built (and the conference resolution guarded the local churches against heretic positions). Remember we are saying that doctrine is an outline of God’s architecture for human existence of the saints – and so to harmonize or synchronize doctrine will help create an environment in which the mankind of God can be built. I therefore emphasize the need for a new platform of deliberation led by apostles, but where both apostles and elders of churches enter into dynamic dialogue and deliberation on the doctrinal framework that must inform the kind of man that needs to be built.

Act 15:6  The apostles and elders met to consider this question.

Act 15:7  After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

The word ‘discussion’ (in Acts 15:7) is the Greek word suzetesis and it means: mutual questioning, discussion. It comes from the root word: suzeteo which means – to investigate jointly, to reason together, to seek something together, to inquire of one another.

This is the culture that must emerge within the global church leadership – apostolic deliberation and not only apostolic teaching. Apostles and Elders must meet to consider the man that God wants built, so that apostolic resolutions are taken that will be implemented by elders in local churches or kingdom communities.

What we have seen so far since the re-emergence of apostles in the church is apostolic networks. Networks, in their traditional model, have been good in terms of creating a platform for apostolic impartation through apostolic teaching. And so networks have added much value in terms of equipping elders or leaders of churches– (important to note that we will always need to have apostles equipping elders as we see Paul do to the elders in Ephesus, see Acts 20:17-38, i.e. you can never do away with apostolic teaching). However, networks, in their traditional model, lack greatly in the area of dynamic apostolic deliberation  Within the traditional network set up, elders remain somewhat weak; they do not have meaningful contribution to the evolution of doctrine as they tend to continuously marvel at the awesomeness of apostolic grace – and so elders function more as spiritual consumers and not as co-producers or sub-producers of the kingdom of God. We now need strong apostolic elders who can contribute significantly to the evolution of doctrine, guided by high ranking apostles. These apostles have the role to set the framework and parameters for these apostolic deliberations as wise master builders.

18. Apostolic Synchronization III: Apostles & Elders (Gen 1:26, Acts 15:2,6&22)

We are in a time when we need to relook at the whole relationship of apostles and elders. What is clear in Acts 15 is that if this relationship is good, mutual and rooted in collaboration, then much good results can be witnessed. The issue is that as we point out in the section above, the concept of networks needs a structural overhaul. We need a deliberative platform between apostles and elders and not only a top-down approach. This is not to question the rank of the apostolic dimension but it is about creating a platform that serves to ensure that apostles are much more effective in their role as master craftsmen. This is also about ensuring that elders are taken into a new spiritual level in terms of their productivity – this is a time of dynamic deliberative networking and conferencing. This is a time to set us platforms (conferences) that have clear resolutions about the direction of church. And so this is a time of dynamic collaboration between apostles and elders – traditional apostolic networking is now obsolete (Heb 8:13). This is a time when the relationship between apostles and elders needs to mature, rooted in principles of mutual trust and purity of motive. If we cannot bring apostles and elders to a table of deliberation, then the very process of bringing church to perfection will be halted.

19. Rediscovering the Role of Apostles in Crafting a Global Kingdom Civilisation (1 Cor 3:10, Prov 8:22-31, Heb 11:10)

In talking about the need for apostolic deliberation, the need to reconfigure elders so that they participate in the evolution of doctrine, we cannot despise the clear leading role that apostles have. This role is not merely rooted in the title ‘apostle’ but it is rooted in the capacity and competencies that are locked up in the apostolic dimension. As we have defined in the sections above, apostles are philosophers, architects and craftsmen who have the authority to pioneer and build the kingdom of God. The apostolic dimension is the first-dimension among the many dimensions of God (1 Cor 12:28, Prov 8:22). The world of God operates by rank but rank does not mean inequality and marginalisation. So in the world of God (the Kingdom of God) rank harmoniously exists with equal participation. In fact in 1 Cor 15 we see that the kingdom of God is with Jesus until a time comes for Jesus to hand it over back to the Father (1 Cor 15:24-25), despite the fact that the Son is a lower rank to the Father. In the same way, Jesus has given us the kingdom (Luke 22:29&30, Matt 16:18&19) even though He is our Lord.

So the entire church must come to a place where the role of the apostolic dimension is realised and acknowledged. We need to receive the apostolic dimension in its appropriate ranking in order to fully enjoy its reward (Matt 10:41).

Crafting a civilisation demands a revelation of the architecture that becomes the template for the building of such a civilisation. Crafting a civilisation demands the revelation of philosophical positions that become the foundation of such a civilisation. Both these functions can only be thoroughly executed by the church that is led by true apostles, not those who profess to be but are not (Rev 2:2).

20. Bringing Church to a place of Skilful Human Existence (Eph 3:10, Deut 4:4-8)

Deu 4:5  See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.

Deu 4:6  Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."

Deu 4:7  What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?

Deu 4:8  And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

Eph 3:10  His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

God does not want to simply produce powerful church organisations, but He wants to produce mankind that masters human life – all of the dimensions of human life, from personal life management, to marriage life, family life, community life, business life as well as systemic-institutional life. It is in this context that we are saying that doctrine is not merely a pack of spiritual truths in which we ‘believe’ but it is an outline of God’s architecture for human existence of the saints.

Moses states that when we observe carefully the decrees of God, we will become wise before the nations. The word ‘wisdom’ here is the Hebrew word ‘chokmah’ and this word describes one who is skilful.

Paul also states in Eph 3:10 that the intent of God is to express wisdom through the church, to rulers and authorities. The word wisdom here is the Greek word ‘sophia’ and it means: skill in the affairs of life, practical wisdom. The word was used to describe the learning and philosophy of ancient Greek philosophers.

So therefore if we carefully read Ephesians chapter 3, we get the following issues:

• God is speaking progressively into the church (the mystery was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed – Eph 3:5).
• This progressive speaking of God is administered by apostles and prophets (…mystery made known to me by revelation…it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets – vv.3&5).
• Apostles and prophets must describe clearly the nature of God’s progressive speaking (…this mystery is that…vs.6).
• Apostles and prophets must dispense the grace of God to the church through various means (…as I have already written briefly…vs.3).
• The church must be brought to a place of understanding (…in reading this then you will be able to understand…vs.4).
• The end result is not just powerful church organisations but a group of believers who master different dimensions of human life (Eph 3:10).

This means nothing other than that apostles, prophets together with elders must educate the saints on the architecture of life that God wants to see emerging within the church, the saints on the other hand must walk into the reality of this life – the end result is a skilful church, a skilful mankind of God.

21. Generational Succession and the Progression of the Faith (Gen 18:17-19, Mal 4:5&6, Gal 3:16&29)

Psa 78:3  what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us.

Psa 78:4  We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.

Psa 78:5  He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children,

Psa 78:6  so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.

Psa 78:7  Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.

Psa 79:13  Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Psa 145:4  One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.

The faith advances through generational succession. Ps 22:30 says posterity will serve God. The word posterity defines the succession of generations. This means that if we are building a people who become the worship system of God in the earth, such a people must be characterized by a spirit of generational continuity, for God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – He is the God of generations.

Gal 3:16&29 tells us that the promise was for Abraham and His Seed. So that even the prophetic speaking of God must stretch over to future generations.

In Mal 4:5&6 God sends Elijah or God initiates a reformation in order to re-establish generational connectivity and continuity (the hearts of fathers must be turned to sons and hearts of sons to fathers) – this was one of the duties of John the Baptist (Luke 1:17) and therefore this is one of the duties of this Reformation Generation – to initiate a system of belief that flows from one generation to another.

Generational succession is in fact a patriarchal principle – Abraham was chosen to direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord. It was in this dimension of human living that God would bring about (for Abraham) what he had promised (Gen 18:19). That is, the ultimate promise of the Lord’s Coming is only possible in the world of generational succession.

Now Generational Succession is not a local church concept, it is not merely a ceremonial concept, but it is a concept that we will realise as we step into the Adamic dimension. That is, we need not just Sunday School and not just Children’s Church but a system of imparting the faith to the next generation. Imparting the faith to the next generation goes beyond teaching kids the content and characters of the Bible; it means teaching the next generation the ways of the Lord, the philosophy of God, the ideological positions of the kingdom of God, the value system of God. Many kids have been taught the Bible but have still grown up and renounced the faith because it did not make sense to them. So we need to school the next generation in the faith and not just in Christian rituals and Bible Content.

Psa 48:12  Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers,

Psa 48:13  consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation.

God demands that we carefully study the architecture of the faith (walk about Zion, consider well her ramparts…) so that we can download it to the next generation. This demands new spiritual competence in the lives of parents. Parents can no longer defer their parental duty to raise their kids in the faith to Sunday School teachers.

Pro 22:6  Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

2Ti 1:5  I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

2Ti 1:6  For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Parents have to now function as trainers of the next generation, which really means parents themselves must be clear about the faith. Timothy is an example here – the faith seen in him was transferred from his grandmother, to his mother. We therefore see at least three generations being impacted here.

Parents must begin to have an Intelligent Conversation with their kids (Deut 6:20-25)

Deu 6:20  In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?"

Deu 6:21  tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

Deu 6:22  Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders--great and terrible--upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household.

Deu 6:23  But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers.

Deu 6:24  The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.

Deu 6:25  And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."

Developing an Intelligent Conversation at home: Issues to consider in Deut 6:20-25

• Kids live in a state of inquiry, we (parents) need to ensure that we create a home environment that does not discourage them from asking questions – e.g. we need to provide time for conversation.
• Kids want to go beyond the dogma of the church to understanding the underlying reasoning that informs some practices and principles that we subscribe to – and we must be able to give meaningful satisfactory answers to the questions kids ask (this means that parents must themselves be students of the faith).
• When answering, we need to outline the historical context of the faith (vs.21).
• We must outline the implications of our obedience and or disobedience (vs.24).
• We must be able to outline the key objectives of the faith (…that will be our righteousness) – vs.25.

Not only must parents have an intelligent conversation with their kids, but they must also take their kids through progressive world orientation. If parents (and churches) do not do a progressive induction of the world system for their kids, somebody else will do it. This progressive world orientation or induction will help create sound perspective about the world.

Psa 102:18  Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:

One of the other ways of imparting the faith to the next generation is by keeping a record that reflects the historical development of the faith, the revealed wisdom of God as well as the progressive speaking of God. We need new books that can serve to resource future generations. These books must clearly capture the prophetic direction the faith must take, in the same way that patriarchs did not die without giving a prophetic outline of the progression of the faith (to the next generation), e.g. Jacob and his sons in Gen 49.

We also need historians like Luke (Luke 1:1-4, Acts 1:1) who will help create an authentic record of the development of the faith. This will help create a historical reference and a pattern for future generations (1 Cor 10:6&11, Rom 5:14).

22. Establishing an Educational System becomes a Spiritual Imperative and not an Optional Academic Exercise

The education system does not only fulfil the role of equipping students with technical-specialised skills that they need for either business management or career life. The education system is one of the critical impartational tools that serves to indoctrinate students on the philosophy and ideology of the world system – for example, as long as our kids go to a typical school rooted on worldly philosophies and ideologies, they will learn and become disciples of ideologies like capitalism. The issue is that such ideologies are not merely economic theories, they do have fundamental differences with the kingdom of God. So therefore, if we are serious about developing a holistic impartational system and therefore fulfill the call to train our kids in the way they should go, we do need to set up educational systems that will advocate and or indoctrinate the next generation on the kingdom of God whilst at the same time, equipping these kids with the necessary skills that they need to participate in the economies of their countries.

There is no civilisation that imports ideologies and philosophies. We need to develop our own indigenous philosophy and ideology and teach it to the next generation – so that like Abraham, we then direct our children and our household after us.

Psa 102:18  Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:

Written educational curriculum is a good way of recording down kingdom positions for future generations, so that a people not yet created may praise the Lord. So this educational system must serve as an illumination point for future generations, so that never again do we lose the pulse of the kingdom of God in the earth.

Isa 60:4  "Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm.

The prophecy of Isaiah in Isa 60 captures the mobilisation of successive generations, their coming to the light (or illumination) of God. These sons and daughters are not merely coming to the ceremony but to a comprehensive kingdom experience. They come to learn the ways, ideologies and values of the kingdom of God.

After all, the word of the Lord tells us that the sun and the moon shall no longer be our light (ISa 60:19&20, Rev 21:23) – meaning that we will not live by natural sources of illumination. This can only mean we need to establish a new alternative source – the word says Christ will be our light.  

23. Rediscovering the Adamic Dispensation VIII: Engaging this World Civilisation as our basic Redemptive Duty (Gen 1:28, Jer 29:7, Isa 2:1-5, ISa 60:1-4, Rev 21:24, Matt 5:13&14)

Adam was given the duty to engage his world in its different dimensions (Gen 1:28), so therefore to rediscover the Adamic dispensation is to come back to this basic duty of engaging our world.

We have a duty to engage our world, revealing or advocating the wisdom of God (Eph 3:10, Deut 4:6) and so impacting our world redemptively. We must function as the Lamb who takes away the sin (the error) of the world (John 1:29). In Jer 29:7 God briefs us to do two things:

• To seek (or to diligently enquire) for the wellbeing of the city (or civilisation) in which we find ourselves.
• To pray for the stability of the city in which we find ourselves (because it if prospers, we will also prosper).

Jer 29:7 drives home the point that even though we develop ourselves as a civilisation, we still live within the world civilisation or Babylon (1 Cor 5:9&10), and so we are a civilisation (Zion) within a civilisation (Babylon). If there is no stability in Babylon (or in the world), we will get affected.

Gen 1:28 says we must rule over the earth. In the kingdom, you rule by serving (Mark 10:42-45). Jesus continues to say the one who rules must be like the one who serves (Luke 22:25-30). So therefore we need to go all out to serve the world, this is the spirit behind our mandate in Gen 1:28; it is not necessarily to assume higher positions but it is to establish influence through serving.

2Sa 5:1  All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "We are your own flesh and blood.

2Sa 5:2 In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the LORD said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.'"

David here teaches us that influence is not dependent on possessing the highest position in the land, but on servant-hood and sacrifice.

Isa 2:2  In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

Isa 2:3  Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

So therefore there must be dynamic interaction between Zion and the Babylon (Zech 9:13b) – and we have to see this not just as an optional extra or as an unspiritual exercise but as our basic spiritual redemptive duty from the Lord Himself.

What are the key issues that we need to note here?

• Our redemptive duty for the world includes both (i) the need to facilitate for human redemption (as seen in John 3:16) and (ii) the need to impact the (political, economic, institutional) systems of the world redemptively (John 1:29, Rev 11:15).
• We will only be effective in our redemptive duty if we mobilise ourselves as a civilisation established in the laws, philosophy and wisdom of God (Deut 4:6-8, Isa 2:2&3, Eph 3:10) – so internal mobilisation is critical.
• Our redemptive duty demands that we rule over the world by serving the world (Gen 1:28, Luke 22:26).
• We need to develop relevant competencies in order to interact and serve the world system effectively (Prov 31:24).

Eternity calls…