The Third Sunday After the Epiphany

The Five Marks of Mission: The mission of the Church is the mission of Christ.

1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
3. To respond to human need by loving service
4. To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation
5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth

We come this Sunday to a consideration of the first mark of mission for HTAC—To proclaim the good news of the kingdom.

A kingdom? We hear and use this word so often as a way to describe the work of God on earth, but I wonder the last time we paused to consider how strange it is to use the idea of kingdom to describe God’s work of redemption—especially when the idea of setting a human king over the people of God was not an idea that originated with God and in fact was interpreted by God as a rejection of Himself! (see I Samuel 8 especially verse 6)

Given this background, what is the good news of the kingdom that has God’s Man as the king? And what does it mean for us to proclaim this news? I look forward to exploring this with all of you on Sunday—see you then!