One of the main influences, if not the major influence on John Wimber’s life was an understanding of the kingdom of God. Learning about the kingdom of God gave John a new perspective. In his own words, his Christian life took on an entirely different meaning. Attending church was no longer a dreaded activity, but became, exciting gatherings in which the people of God are equipped to go and preach and demonstrate the gospel.

The kingdom of God gave John (and all of us who are a part of the Vineyard movement which he founded) our biblical and theological key for power evangelism and experiencing signs and wonders today. The kingdom of God has shaped our approach to ministry, and given us the basis and motivation for equipping the saints and joining the fight against Satan. Teaching about the kingdom of God has become a deeply ingrained practice in Vineyard churches.

We will reproduce below a number of blog posts about the Kingdom of God in the coming days, that had been featured in discontinued NLV online site, and include a video in which John Wimber teaches on the kingdom of God..

TOPICS
Ignore at your own peril!
Beginging to end: About restoration
Rejecting Jesus is rejecting the kingdom
The kingdom creates the Church
Kingdom authority
Being filled with the Spirit
Overwhelming our personality

Step 1: Building the foundations – Getting to know God and learning to love and trust him. Learning to be proficient in the tools for going deeper, strengthening yourself in the Lord. Learning about grace, and enjoying the honeymoon phase.

Step 2: Building the launch pad – Learning to hear God’s voice and his purpose. Obeying, and becoming a person of integrity. Learning about service, accountability and humility. The temptation is restlessness, over eagerness to achieve results and acquire skills and impatience with God. Saul and David are Biblical examples. But giving in to this temptation merely lengthens the process! Bear in mind that God is less interested in what you can immediately do for him than building your capacity to handle what he has destined for you.

Step 3: Building the rocket – Acquiring skills and practicing spiritual gifts, learning to work with other people within the fellowship and understanding authority. The temptation in this phase is to stop here, think that you have arrived.

Step 4: Launch phase – Dependence on the Spirit, promoting unity and teamwork in the body. Jesus sent out the Disciples and the Apostles went out …in teams. Fulfilling God’s purpose in the widest sense as described in Ephesians 3:9-11.The temptation here is pride in your philosophy of ministry/success and ceasing to adapt, and you stop discerning the seasons and the current moves of the Spirit.

FAQs on going deeper, going higher

1) What is going deeper, going higher?

Going deeper, going higher is an integral element of a discipleship process which NLV will employ and accordingly we will focus on:

Being relational and fellowship-based -
NLV desires to be a dynamic community of grace, hope and purpose. Going deeper, going higher seek to build a culture of encouragement and discipline amongst participants in a cohort to help them grow closer in their walk with God, and fulfil the vision of our fellowship: Love God, love people and co-mission with Christ.

Character growth and ministry involvement -
We know that God’s plan and will for us is to grow spiritually and become fruitful, producing character and doing the good works which he has prepared for us. Going deeper, going higher will help participants attain this through sustained learning experiences, practice and transparency in a small group (life) context, and by being involved in field assignments and the ministries of the church.

Leadership development -
Going deeper, going higher is an important means for NLV to develop leaders, and will be led by your Pastor. You could say that this is a stretched version of a typical Discipleship Training School program, or that this is more structured training than our current “show and tell” method.

2) What kind of commitment do I have to give?

Going deeper, going higher will involve participants meeting periodically throughout the year. At this time, we envisage that our meetings will be divided into 2 semesters. The first is over a six months period from April to September, and comprises of up to 12 fortnightly sessions held on a weekday night. The second, from October to March, will comprise of 4 to 6 sessions which can start at any convenient time in this period.

You only make a commitment for each semester. But we will require your commitment to faithfully attend every session of the semester that you have signed up for, and to participate as best you can in any field or ministry assignments given in the semester.

3) What happens if I skip a semester?

The first cohort of participants will start going deeper, going higher in April 2009. If you decide to skip a future semester, there are several options. You may rejoin your cohort if what you have missed does not critically affect your ongoing personal development. You may also join a new cohort at the point you left.

4) What subjects will you be covering in going deeper, going higher?

We will employ and integrate external resources (teachers and programs) with what we have, to equip participants with ministry skills, as well as teach academic (biblical-theological) courses and leadership subjects, onsite. Furthermore, we plan to provide opportunities for participants to attend selected offsite conferences, seminars and short term mission trips.

The subjects will be relevant to achieving the goals of going deeper, going higher mentioned earlier, and I envisage that they would include:

My Relationship with God; The Kingdom of God; The Ministry of Jesus; Being a Missional Person; Stewardship of Life & Resources, The Church; Spiritual Disciplines; Hearing God; Vineyard 5 Step Model for Praying; Being Naturally Supernatural.

5) How do I sign up?

Email your pastor to confirm your interest to participate.

WORSHIP, prayer, praise and thanksgiving are our highest priorities. We have grasped how wide and long, and deep and high is the love of Christ. Our new life show that God’s abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness have come to reign in us. We love God and people because he first loved us.

NLV gathers for worship because we are thirsty for God’s presence, and out of a profound sense of his worthiness. We shall honor and revere God in all that we do. We look forward to visitation by God as a by-product of our worship: God’s presence and power shall become manifest in different ways, for salvation, for deliverances, for sanctification or healings. God will also visit us to bless and to speak to us.

We are, first and foremost, people called to an intimate relationship with God.

BELONG & SERVE are also crucial ways to bring our vision into being.

Coming together to be the fellowship makes us become better, stronger, more effective in our work, and able to offer help and warmth to one another. We gather people to come with us because God has promised good things concerning his people and we shall share whatever good the Lord gives us. Living together in unity we shall receive great blessings from God. And when we love others, God will abide in us and his love is made complete in us.

Our fellowship shall be a place to belong (where you fit in, feel right with, like coming home) and a place which belongs to you, and where you serve one another.

We shall care, share, and serve each other in practical everyday ways, like praying for one another, lending a listening ear, coming alongside in times of trauma, and offering tangible helps when needed.

GROW & GO is another priority needed to bring our vision into being. It is essentially a discipleship process: growing to become more mature and more like Jesus, and going to do the good work that the Lord has prepared for us to do. Together we shall do even greater works than Christ.

Grow and go means seven specific objects or goals that the fellowship shall aim for. They are:

1) Imitate Jesus to have the character, mind, the heart of God and do what he did. Filled with the Spirit. Empowered by the Spirit.

2) The Bible shall be central to our teaching, faith and life. We shall seek to teach the Bible clearly and accurately.

3) We shall offer as much training as possible to help grow and develop effective disciples. Training is not the same as studying and gaining more knowledge on a subject. Our training is “equip the saints” for the work of ministry, and also for life.

4) We shall spend significant time and resources to show the love of God to the poor, the broken, and the marginalized.

5) We want to help others fall in love with God with outreach programs, tell his story, and also tell our personal stories.

Through the good works of the fellowship we shall be like a city on a hill. Draw people to Jesus! Let people see NLV and conclude that there’s more than just people at work here, but also an extra-ordinary God.

6) We trust that God will use our fellowship to send out and plant other Vineyard churches and be involved in Missions: Forging relationships with indigenous pastors in neighboring countries, Coming alongside. Where appropriate, sending resources and people to the church plants which we are relating to on short term basis, e.g. on missions trip, as well as on long-term assignments.

7) We shall also love, respect and co-operate with other fellowships because we are all part of the Body of Christ.

Here is a guide to connecting and participating in the life and vision of NLV!

BEING REAL
We value a fellowship where real people live real lives through seeking and knowing a real God who wants to meet us in a real and lasting way!

Being real for us means “no hype, no manipulation” in our meetings, during worship, and when praying for one another. We do not try to drum anything up or do things for “religious effect”; rather, we, like Jesus, look to the Father to see what he is doing at any given point in time, and we try to get on board with what God wants to do.

We don’t pretend to be someone else with God or with each other. It is important that our words and deeds match up.

Being real with one another shall be seen in the way we talk, dress, pray, and act. We shall relate to one another in an honest and open fashion. We are honest about our struggles. We accept brokenness in each other. Real questions can be asked, real lives are mended, real (tangible) help are offered when we see needs, and people can have real conversations about life and eternal issues.

BEING RELEVANT
We value a fellowship that is relevant.

People ought to be able to walk off the street into our meetings and not feel out of place or like they have stepped back in time a hundred years. God is already relevant so we don’t need to make God relevant, but sometimes we need to be careful not to become stumbling block to others. We aim to create an atmosphere where everything from our language, our dress and music are in touch with the current culture of our community. This is why we have a simple auditorium without any ornate decorations or religious symbols, and we dress casually, allowing people to “come as they are.”

We shall make every effort to make the Christian message as simple and easy to understand as possible, and relevant, presenting real (biblical) answers to the issues that challenge people living in the community. Singapore is a great country where hard work pays, i.e. success and the good life can be got if you set your mind to it and apply yourself. Our great challenge to being relevant is to demonstrate that God’s grace and favor is far better and that a relationship of intimacy and trust with God is best. We shall demonstrate the reality, goodness, power and love of God, and share how he will work powerfully in our lives.

BEING RESPONSIVE
We value a fellowship that is responsive and dynamic.

We love God and others and tell his story because he first loved us. We do what we do because we have experienced for ourselves the goodness, mercy and justice of God, among other things. We expect that God’s presence, power and grace can breakthrough at any time into our lives and circumstances.

We shall be responsive to the Holy Spirit’s daily leading of our personal lives and of the fellowship. We shall do the stuff that Jesus did in response to the Spirit of God coming upon us.

We tell others of our story because he has made us into oaks of righteousness, given us crowns of beauty instead of ashes, oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

We don’t see ministry as being church bound, that is, something just done in our meetings, because God is always working. Our Father in heaven is intent on advancing his kingdom on earth. So too we shall be intent as we go on our way every day, in our neighbourhood, school and workplace. We shall join in his work whenever we see the Father at work. Everyone here gets to play a role to continue the co-mission started by Christ.

We value a climate in the fellowship where service is eagerly volunteered. People function as leaders without waiting for appointments and wanting titles. The opportunity to build church from the bottom up is welcomed.

We value people and prefer to promote people rather than programs. When a person has shown passion and leadership for a particular ministry project (say a Mercy Works project), we shall rally behind that person and affirm him or her. We shall do what we can to fulfil God’s destiny for each person in the fellowship.

Everybody needs a skeleton and a church body is no different. We need a structure to function effectively but we believe that organization should always follow organism. In other words, we need enough organization to hold God’s activity, but the structure should never take precedence over God’s movement or be a substitute for God’s activity. As such, we shall maintain as little structure as possible to get the job done, and build structures that enhance rather than stifle ministry and relationships. This means everyone shall have a really short line to the pastor!

By being:
BENEFICIARIES OF GOD’S GRACE, A TEMPLE OF GOD, A COMMUNITY & FAMILY OF BELIEVERS. LIKE A CITY ON A HILL drawing men and women to Jesus. AN ARMY advancing the Kingdom of God and doing all the stuff that Jesus did. A SCHOOL & HOSPITAL training, equipping, healing, revitalizing and getting our people ready for Kingdom warfare.

And as we: WORSHIP, BELONG & SERVE, GROW & GO.

This is a really audacious vision if you consider where we are right now on the Road Map.

It seemed to me that God has a proposition for us. Live by faith and not by sight, and rest especially upon on the finished work of Christ, what Jesus has accomplished for you on the cross. And the Holy Spirit and the power of God will draw men to Jesus, build the church, and substantiate every hope that you rightfully have in Christ Jesus.

Now don’t you think that being excited about Jesus especially about what he accomplished for us on the cross is a great distinguishing quality that we can have as a church and as individuals.

You know what brands are? They assure people looking for a product or a service of its quality. They promise to deliver on a set of expectations.

Wouldn’t it be great if we can all agree to build NLV’s brand based on Jesus. Resting upon God’s promise that “When Jesus is lifted up, He will draw all men to himself.” Being especially excited about what Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross.

Wouldn’t it great if being excited about Jesus is a vision which unites us all at the foot of the cross and moves the church forward?

John Wimber had used the phrase to mean sticking with the main things that are taught in scripture, and the things that are plainly taught in scripture. John had a profound theological and philosophical pre-supposition about life: Remember the Coke jingle, “Things goes better with coca cola… things goes better with coke.” Well, John simply believed that things go better with Jesus. I guess that is what the main and plain boils down to.

It’s like getting back to basics with the main and plain. But you could also say that it is like getting to know what the essential things are and to do them well. And so I said that the main and plain should explain the distinctiveness of NLV, and answer the question “What’s the difference with you guys?”

Do you want to know the greatest challenge I have set for myself as pastor?

It is to introduce people to a God of wonder. I really believe that the Church is build upon a revelation of God, and knowing the wonder of God, the wonder of heaven on earth.

What is more, since joining the Vineyard movement, it has surprised me to see that in gospel accounts, Jesus’ main message was that in him God’s kingdom has come, heaven has come to earth.

Another basic truth which I have discovered is that God is always working. And the good news is that our Father in heaven is intent on advancing his kingdom on earth. So what you and I need to do (and learn to do) is to see what the Father is doing. Look for who God has come upon, or drawing into kingdom, or see how (the manner) he is advancing his kingdom. Then organize yourself around that!

The next thing is see yourself as limited but God as unlimited (the Lord is truly sovereign).

I have said a number of times that little can used to accomplish much in the hands of God. Like the rod (a piece of dead wood) of Moses, five loaves and two fish of the little boy, like you and I. This is simply because of the incredibly great power (of God) which is at work in the lives of those who believe. All of these form the basis for what we call being naturally supernatural.

Jesus also taught that what mattered above all was for us to love God and to love other people. Jesus treasured intimacy with the Father.

And you know what? Mercy and compassion are the very things that God extended to us when he saved us. And so in the words of John, “If we ever ignore the poor and needy, we are as good as dead as a church!” Try to separate power, from mercy and compassion. The patient will not survive the surgery.

Enough of my ramblings, I believe that NLV has developed five distinctive traits which result from our desire to uphold and adhere to the main and plain. What they are and what they mean in practice are described below:

1) Intimacy with the Father
And so we prioritize worship, prayer, word/truth or Bible based teaching and a personal daily devotional life including the Bible study.

2) Being relational
Jesus modelled hanging out with one another, doing the ministry stuff, being there for one another, being accepting and caring people. And discipleship is by modelling like Jesus did it for the 12.

I said that at the end of the day looking back, people probably won’t remember, and don’t care what was preached or how worship was led, as much as they will remember that you were their friend, and remember the times when you came alongside when things got bad for them.

Praying together, sharing meals, and meeting in small groups are simple ways to be relational.

3) Naturally supernatural
This is being Spirit dependent, operating in the gifts of the spirit, and expecting that God’s presence, power and grace can breakthrough at any time into our lives and circumstances.

Amongst other things, being naturally supernatural means a “no hype, no manipulation” approach to worship leading, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We do not try to drum anything up; rather, we, like Jesus, look to the Father to see what he is doing at any given point in time, and we try to get on board with what God wants to do.

We rely on the gifts of the Holy Spirit when we pray for one another. As the body of Christ gathers together God works through different people for the benefit of the group. Therefore, we have found that God often gives specific direction or reveals prophetic insights to guide the ministry times.

Someone commented that we seem to have a disproportionately high level of anointing on people in NLV exercising prophecy.

I am tickled pink by the picture of a fisherman standing on boat with line cast out to the sea, whale secretly tugs on it and chuckles to itself when the fisherman reels vigorously like mad to reel the fish in, but does not realize how big the fish really is! This is a picture of the huge stuff that God will achieve with little unsuspecting ole us. Much can be accomplished in the hands of a huge and awesome God.

4) Everyone gets to play
Everyone gets to do the stuff Jesus did.

Your pastors are the preparers. Everyone, all of us are the ministers, serving God and serving one another, including those who do not yet know God.

We don’t see ministry as being church bound, i.e. something that is just done in our meetings. It is shaped by who you are and where you happen to be (and what the Holy Spirit is showing you there and then!) The significance of your service is not dictated by numbers and the best result could be got by simply ministering to people “one by one”.

5) Valuing people
We prefer to promote people instead of programs. We prefer to take risk with people rather than with programs.

We prefer to rally people and resources behind a person who has already shown passion and leadership for say a Mercy Works or Missions project, then do it the other way: the pastors plan the project and then try to get leadership and passion going for it.

My wish to be used by God to speak life to life: speak God’s promises, and the life of the risen Christ into your life. To call you back to what God has in store for you. To help you set your BHAGS (big hairy audacious goals), and connect the dots to fulfil God’s custom designed destiny for you.

We seek to become a culturally appropriate expression of the Body of Christ in the context of the people we are targeting to reach. How do they express enthusiasm? How do they express gratefulness? What kind of values are held dear? How can we incorporate all that into our church context?

The biggest challenge that a church planter has is probably the critical mass. “I don’t have much to invite them to. All I have is this vision!”

You may be surprised to learn that “pastoring” and church planting are different. You can pastor and grow a big church and not actually like people. You can be a grouch, as long as you can preach well and lead your staff adequately. You can’t do that and church plant; you’ve are the primary attraction, so to speak. And if all you have got is this vision, you jolly well learn how to communicate that effectively. If over time that and whoever you got get the cultural expression right, then you have got the beginnings of something to invite people to.

Yesterday’s meetings were sweet, and we loved the way everyone expressed what NLV is about!

Now let us ask you this question. “Have you ever sensed that what is, is not what is meant to be?” I have  always said that I do not care too much for stories or movies that don’t have a good ending.

But why are we so enchanted by movies, novels or fairy tales that have a good ending? And most good ending involves a transformation.

Like the ugly duckling becomes a beautiful swan.

Cinderella, the ill treated poor step daughter becomes queen.

Pinocchio becomes a real boy.

The frog becomes a prince.

The best ending is where hope beyond hope, the principle characters are all transformed into the very thing they never thought they could be!

Why is life so hard? What’s really going on here? Why do we long to have good endings? We have the answers.

The kingdom of this world is not the kingdom of God. We have an enemy of God, Satan who is the prince of this world. He rules over it but with usurped authority. Therefore what the world is now is not what God had meant it to be.

The good news we have as Christians is that God in the person of Jesus, through his life, death and resurrection, launched a divine invasion to overthrow evil, and establish his loving and powerful rule.

There is this desperately longing for certain things in all of us and the reason for that is simply that we are desperately longing for what was lost!

Now let us tell you what was lost:

Man had a divine purpose and authoritative role. He was significant, made to rule over the other living creatures created by God. Genesis 1:28.

After God created Adam and Eve he blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Occupy the earth and conquer it, subdue it. Rule over the other living creatures.”

Secondly, all of man’s needs were provided for. He enjoyed safety and security. He was completely cared for in the garden; had plenty to eat. Genesis 1:29.

Thirdly, man had a sense of belonging; One-on-one communion with God. Genesis 2:18. God also gave Eve to Adam. And Adam and Eve were to start a community. (It is not good for anyone to be alone! Aloneness easily leads to loneliness.) Man enjoyed intimacy – meaningful, open, sharing relationships!

We were made for God’s purpose; given authority and significance.

We were made for trusting in and depending on God to provide all of our needs. There was another tree in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life. God’s desire for us from day one is to have life, a life that has purpose and significance, based upon our willingness to trust and depend fully on him.

Thirdly, we were made for relating with God and with one another; for a life of belonging and intimate relationships.

When we say, “made for” we mean like a fish is made to swim in water and an eagle is made to soar in the air. All of you will have seen a fish flopping about when it taken out of water. Imagine the eagle in water and the fish out of it, and you will begin to have sense of what’s really going on here!

Every day people get wounded over and over again.

Instead of divine purpose and significance – which is what they are made for – people simply run in the rat race. The only way that they know how to have purpose and significance – is to get good grades, get a good qualification, get a good job, be a good person. Finally have a nice funeral, with many people turning up to pay their last respects.

The only measure of purpose and significance they know are material things: Two or more if you can afford it, bigger and bigger cars and houses, more important titles.

Instead of authority all they know is weaknesses and helplessness. They have no idea how to beat the system. So they pour all their hopes and dreams and lives into getting ahead with the system. Become a scholar, or be rich and famous. The other alternatives are not so nice, which is to oppress those who are weaker, like your maids or junior staff or the car park attendant or waitress who was slow in serving you.

Instead of being secure and having abundant resources, people now find that provisions and security cannot be taken for granted. Nowadays nothing is certain and for sure: In business, as an employed staff. It is the same.

Finally, instead of belonging and intimate relationships there is strife, and a lack of trust. Rejection has replaced acceptance. One of the strongest pressures in our society is peer pressure. We all share a fear of rejection!

Christians have the good news of God’s move of restoration in Christ Jesus although sometimes we are mistaken as the bearers of bad news for merely pointing out the truth about the fallen state of the world. But we know what has been lost and what people are desperately longing for. And we believe that the church has a key role to play in God’s plan of restoration.

NLV enjoys a rich Vineyard legacy and heritage. We are a new wine skin for something that God will uniquely accomplish through us for the people that he has prepared in advance for us. We will spend ourselves to equip our people to understand their purpose and significance in Christ. Vineyard’s adoption of the kingdom of God view is deeply rooted. Therefore the exercising of kingdom authority – doing the stuff that Jesus did including the works that are called signs and wonders will be a part of our new life.

In NLV we are fully convinced that if we live a life of faith, trust in and dependence on the Spirit, we will experience both kingdom breakthrough and God’s grace and favor – the abundant and full life promised by Jesus. We stand firmly on God’s promise His grace abounds to us, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good works. Have you not experienced this already with us?

NLV believes that Christian fellowship is not just something the church ought to provide, it is something necessary the church must provide. Vineyard’s value of relationship will always influence the way we do church. We will build community, and one that flows out of intimacy with the Father.

Read Acts 2:42-47. This is the Vineyard model. Meeting our desperate longing for what is lost! What the world is now is not what God had meant it to be. But in Christ Jesus all that was lost has been fully restored. We have the authority and infinite resources in the Holy Spirit. And God’s power is at work in us to transform us into the likeness of Jesus. What a great ending to our story.