If you come into a region to establish the kingdom of God, sent by God on that assignment, you will lay foundations. (See Acts 19.)As a Kingdom Center, those foundations are apostolic and prophetic. The first eldering leaders you prepare and position for function will be foundational. In the beginning, your intercession and worship will also be foundational. You will sense a prophetic atmosphere as a basis for a prophetic culture. Prophets will emerge.
You are “accurately anticipating the assignment and preparing the Lord a people.” That means new people will receive spiritual surgery, a tooth pulled, and seven spiritual discernment analyses before they get to a seat the first time they visit your main event. If you have a Sunday morning event, that will mean you are not your momma’s church.
You will have to be intentional about expanding the leadership interaction of your emerging kingdom culture with new people. You will face the challenge of new chemistry. You are not changed by new people. You change them with kingdom culture influence.
You must maintain the atmosphere most appropriate to your assignment. You will be prophesying about the purpose of God for the region. You will be prophesying about the individual destinies of people present who share the assignment. You will be identifying the secrets of the hearts of people attending. You will bring them into a moment of decision when they realize God is in the place when you have an event.
You want the new people to embrace the vision instead of changing it.
You may discover that God sends you leaders at the beginning who will resist the shift in chemistry when new leaders arrive or emerge. But, you remain responsible to maintain the assignment’s integrity. At no time does the personality of the people alter the assignment of the ministry.
At some point, you have to know what kingdom normal looks like.
If you go down the “establish a church culture” route, you will start adapting to the demands of people. You will become another casualty of exaggerated church growthism.
You will change the assignment fit the anticipations and expectations of people looking to connect with you. You will justify this with “we need to help folks” when your primary assignment never based upon human need but Divine purpose. You will eventually go back to the foundations and shift the intercession and worship away from groaning to birth purpose. You will start praying for people’s personal desires instead of seeking first the kingdom and the King’s cultural values.
Establishing the kingdom culture allows you to provide the eldering leaders who prepare and position matured and functional people for an Ecclesia.
This Ecclesia is the judicial, legislative, and administrative spiritual influence of Heaven on Earth. It displaces the strategically positioned authorities of Jesus’ enemies. It locks and unlocks. It positions the newly-born citizens of the kingdom for expanded spiritual influence and impact. It produces a spiritual atmosphere shift in the arena of spirit over your assignment.
Acts 19:20 – “By doing these things, God’s Word for the region gained momentum through overcoming spiritual power and dominated.”
