Kingdom Cells

For the last year I have actually had three books on the go.

Faith Reflections was the simplest one to finish, so I did and its kind of fun to see it on sale at the Poatina Gift shop alongside other great books!

I have been working over the Christmas/New Year period to try and finish Kingdom Cells: the Life that changes the world.

From my perspective Kingdom Cells is a very important book. It names the dynamic at the heart of the Christian church whenever it has grown, and it also names, from my perspective, the heart of the movement I work with, Fusion.

I thought one way of beta testing the book (they do it for software so why not a book) would be to put up some of the chapters on the blog for your feedback.

Please understand as I do this that it is a work in progress, and I am hoping that your feedback might actually help get it to a point where it is ready to submit to a publisher or to self publish.

Today I will post the current introduction to the book, let me know what you think.

Introduction

We have believed a lie.

Somehow we have been sucked in to thinking that Christianity is a way of thinking, a set of ideological principles.

We have then set about trying to codify, propagate and defend those ideas and principles against attack from people who think differently, including other Christians.

We hold classes, write books, have arguments, all designed to help people think the way we think.

No wonder the world gets turned off.

We are missing the point.

Christianity is not an idea.

Christianity is a life.

I began my first book, Faith Reflections, with a quote from Priscilla Shirer:

In the first century in Palestine, Christianity was a community of believers. Then Christianity moved to Greece and became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome and became an institution. Then it moved to Europe and became a culture. And then it moved to America and became a business. We need to get back to being a healthy, vibrant community of true followers of Jesus.

Throughout the history of the church, God has used small groups of people who love Jesus, love each other and love their neighbours to change the world.

In many ways it is so simple, and yet we make it so complicated.

The people Jesus was toughest on, were those who thought they had all the right religious ideas.

Jesus started a movement, not an organisation.

Jesus spent his time with people and not with programs.

Jesus didn’t play politics and probably lived in financial poverty  his whole life.

The church he founded, changed the world, but not by the world’s rules.

This book is a call to rediscover your part in the revolution.