Kingdom Contours: Empowering Everyday People With the Tools to Shape Kingdom Movements

By Jeremy Chambers and Monica Chambers

Kingdom Contours is a compilation of proven tools and practical wisdom for those who want to develop a vision for discipleship within the Kingdom of Heaven as a movement. Drawing on Alan Hirsch’s The Forgotten Ways as a blueprint, Kingdom Contours shares a host of resources that Jeremy and Monica Chambers have observed, studied and practiced while participating in global missional Jesus movements. This book entrusts readers with simple – yet profound – truths for mobilizing and stimulating movemental kingdom work, encouraging and challenging all along the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Missional Challenge Publishing
• Release date: Aug 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781952721021

Jeremy Chambers

Jeremy and Monica have participated in launching disciple-making movements and networks of house churches in 35+ countries with a special heart for Richmond, VA. They also love rock climbing, chess, Costa Rica (where Monica is from), practicing MMA, hardcore metal, dubstep, and indoor plants. Prayer is of utmost importance in their lives. Jeremy has Masters degrees in both Intercultural Studies and Christian Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Book preview

"Kingdom Contours contains the kind of thinking and action that are needed to shift the tracks of history in our day. Jeremy and Monica are well-studied apostolic leaders, and in this book they demonstrate that they are articulate writers as well. Consider this a viable handbook for a much-needed revolution."

- Alan Hirsch

Author of The Forgotten Ways and The Permanent Revolution

Founder of Forge Missional Training Network, 100 Movements

and 5Q Collective

"Kingdom Contours is a key resource for the Church written by two real-life, Jesus-centered, people-loving, kingdom-sharing, disciple-making leaders. The insights in this book are not only biblical and needed; they are also proven and trustworthy. Only read this if you are serious about gospel movement among those outside the church."

- Russ Johnson

Founder of Table Network

Author of Slow Down and Reclaim

Jeremy and Monica are not just well-read, but also highly experienced in missional and movemental ways of being the church around the world. This is a brilliant collection of movement resources, synthesized so every practitioner can benefit.

- Michael Pumphrey

Church Planting Strategist, Reliant

Coordinator & Missional Coach, The V3 Movement

Planter, Awaken Church

"Since the Kingdom of God is both here/now and there/then, Kingdom Contours is a valuable tool to provide the rails to help believers stay on track throughout life’s journey. Not only is this book theologically grounded and global in application, it synthesizes scores of timeless concepts from ancient to modern practitioners. Every missional leader will profit by using this book as a rubric to evaluate their effectiveness in striving to fulfill 2 Timothy 2:2."

- Dr. James Ayers

Mentoring Professor/Director of TraveLearn Department of Church and Ministry Leadership, Lancaster Bible College

Kingdom Contours

Empowering Everyday People

With the Tools to Shape Kingdom Movements

By Jeremy and Monica Chambers

Kingdom Contours: Empowering Everyday People With the Tools to Shape Kingdom Movements

Published by Missional Challenge Publishing

www.missionalchallenge.com

Macintosh HD:Users:davedevries:Desktop:MC Publishing Logos:MCP Black Logo jpg.jpg

Copyright © 2020 Jeremy and Monica Chambers. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 13: 978-1-952721-02-1 (Epub)

Manufactured in the U.S.A

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Contents

Preface

01: Christocentric and Trinitarian

Centering on Jesus as Lord

02: Discipleship

Being and Making Jesus Followers

03: Incarnational Living

Adopting a Missional Strategic Mindset

04: Movement Wisdom

Being Movemental

05: Organic Systems

Structuring for Multiplication

06: Deep Community

Taking on Risks by Faith

Appendix 1: Baby Steps

How to Start a Micro-Church

Appendix 2: Annotated Recommended Resources

Bibliography

Be.

Still.

(Slow down)

And Know.

(Reclaim the Knowledge)

That I.

Am.

God.

Hey! Remember all those things in your life? And the things from the past? Ok, now STOP thinking about them. Forget all those things! Behold, I am doing a new thing! Oh, it sure is new! You won’t believe it when you see it, but look at this—this is going to blow your mind!

The Lord said something like that to Isaiah a few thousand years ago …

But His Spirit still says this to the Body …

To those who have eyes to see and ears to hear… Slow down and SEE it! Hear it!

The Kingdom of the Heavens is pretty much like a farmer who plants a seed.

Then he goes home and rests! He SLEEPS!

Then he returns and the seed has begun to grow, but he knows not how.

If you want to SEE the book of Acts,

LIVE the book of Acts.

Seed the Movement.

Ask yourself, What is the Kingdom of Heaven?

Why did Jesus tell us to seek it first? How can you seek it?

Preface

Whatever type of church you go to and whatever type of model you follow, you can use this book to lend yourself to the global disciple-making movement. This book is a tool to help each person and church press further into faithfulness and fruitfulness in stewarding the global, historic, Kingdom of Heaven disciple-making movement!

This book is largely influenced by the writings of Alan Hirsch, Ken Boa, Bill Hull, Tim Keller, Dallas Willard, JR Woodward, Robert Coleman, Hugh Halter, Caesar Kalinowski, J.I. Packer, D.A. Carson, J. Robert Clinton, Larry Crabb, Crawford Lorritts, Table Network materials (Slow Down and Reclaim) and many others. So if anything in here seems brilliant it most likely came from them. The outline of this book is inspired loosely by the six mDNA (missional DNA) elements portrayed in Alan Hirsch’s The Forgotten Ways, so Monica and I take no credit for the outline or some of the terminology. Rather, we are aiming to honor the goal of The Forgotten Ways because we don’t see any other literature that so well describes the essential DNA for movement thinking. By DNA, we are referring to the basic core elements or principles that are foundational to movements. If you remove any one of the six elements, you create imbalances that do not lend themselves toward a disciple-making movement. Alan makes this clear in his writings, so our project is to unpack the elements according to our experience, observations, reflections, additional study, and practice. This is a toolbelt for missional practitioners.

While I (Jeremy) wrote the majority of the manuscript for this book, note that none of this would have been possible without Monica’s role in researching, writing, editing, etc. While we don’t have biological children, this book is metaphorically a child of ours, a product of creative love and hard work between the two of us.

I had written out an Acknowledgements section, but it was basically another book, so we will keep our acknowledgements brief. Suffice it to say, if you have played a role in our lives, we cannot possibly express how deeply grateful we are for you! We must also say a large thank you to our parents for their faithful spiritual mentorship. Thank you to all of those teachers who have instructed us over the years, all the institutions / networks / denominations / churches / donors and others who have backed us and poured into us so that we could pursue this calling that the Lord has placed on our lives. We are moved to tears when we consider how much others have done to encourage us along the way! Special thanks also goes out to Liz, Wendell and Rachael who helped with the various stages of editing! Al, thanks for your meaningful dialogue and affirmation. Russ, thanks for making this happen. Dave, you are brilliant. Uncle John, Rony. Richmond friends, we have tears of joy upon every remembrance of you!

7 dynamics that have shaped this book:

A Study Dynamic:This book is the product of over 1500 books that Monica and I have studied during the past 15 years. It didn’t seem right to write without first warranting the right to write via extensive study. The more we read, the more we found ourselves recommending so many books to people that we decided to compile some of the best of what we have studied as a service to the Body.

A Global Dynamic:This book is the product of observing the Kingdom of Heaven movement via over 40 global church plants and other ministries in over 30 countries that, combined, Monica and I have served in (including North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia). This incorporates observations and study of almost every denomination and religion, including analysis of church variances in over 40 of the 50 states in the U.S., as well as globally. We have observed disciple-making movements and church planting movements that have multiplied to the third and fourth generations—churches that planted churches that planted churches that planted churches! After witnessing such incredible things, Monica and I absorbed this into our understanding of what could lend itself to movement-oriented servanthood in disciple-making.

People of Faith:This book is the product of countless people of faith. My wife, Monica, has shown me the good news of Jesus more than can be imagined. She is a personified miracle with potent joy, strength and dignity! To phrase it as Jonathan Edwards did, Monica and I have quite an uncommon union which has shaped us powerfully, and then spilled over into this book. Her perspective as a Costa Rican and proven disciple-maker is all over this book. Others have also left indelible marks on my life: my parents (and my wife’s parents) and a godly ancestry of people who ministered to me growing up—my mentors, teachers, friends, and hundreds of faithful disciple-makers. Over the past 15 years I have also interviewed over 300 spiritual leaders (missionaries, theology professors, pastors, disciple-makers, etc.), gleaning wisdom on certain topics pertaining to the Kingdom of Heaven and the making of disciples of Jesus. Those insights/themes/resources/patterns are included here.

Observation / Contemplation: I also heavily consulted 3000 pages of my own aggressive journaling/observations/reflections, and simplified it down to the essential DNA found in this book. My observations have been quite intense and a sort of relentless, creative process (e.g. waking up at 3am and needing to write 20+ pages of overflow). Yet as the Lord has led me toward a slower, more contemplative life, I have seen the intensity diminish while deeper being, understanding, and conviction have increased. It has been in resting in Christ that I have been born again again. The ambition, obsessiveness, and never-ending mind has learned the practice of stillness and quietude in His presence. Contemplation has become a way of being rather than a way of producing/achieving. This has led quite powerfully to many of the elements I chose to include throughout this book.

Experimentation / Reflection / Practice / Repeat:Even some of our current co-laborers in Richmond may not know this, but this book is the product of experimenting and learning while planting, growing, failing, and succeeding with over 65 micro-churches, organic churches, missional communities, house churches, and discipleship groups over two decades. Out of 65 plants, we have seen about 40 of them last about one year or so, while about 20 of them have lasted multiple years and/or multiplied to the second generation (or more). Currently, we interact directly with a number of these groups.

Suffering / Darkness: I have experienced (as has Monica) some of the deepest anguish, terror, heartbreak, brokenness, betrayal, threats on life, attack on personal reputation, etc. We have experienced immense, intoxicating injustice. One doesn’t truly know the definition of suffering or terror until one has personally experienced certain deep levels of those traumas. Until then, they reside in the mind as abstractions. Therefore, this book is written with great consideration to the universal human broken condition. We know what it means to weep with God’s heart for broken and hurting people. This book is the product of those tearful prayers.

The Purest Goodness Known to Humankind:Yet we don’t remain in a cycle of pain, but we abide in His goodness. We have learned from the Holy Spirit, as Paul said, the secret of contentment—to both be brought low and to excel. We have learned the exquisite delights of the Presence of the Triune God. I know why Scripture says that joy can be inexpressible and full of glory, I know how peace can pass all human understanding, I know how love can infinitely strengthen our hearts. I have seen Love and know Him, the Father of Love, the Son of Love and the Sacred Spirit of Love.

A Brief Word on Our Journey

Monica and I both grew up in pastor’s families and had our first truly powerful and intimate encounters with the Lord at young ages. For me (Jeremy), that early encounter and my reliance on Christ (and the continual spiritual investment of my parents and others) reinforced a certain set of values and desires as I grew up. This led to a missions experience in church planting and saturation evangelism in a door-to-door context in Argentina in 1999. That experience changed the trajectory of my entire life and led to multiple overseas and domestic servanthood opportunities that continued to shape my perspective. I began exploring church history, theology and philosophy at Lancaster Bible College and then in seminary at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, all the while constantly comparing these things to my ongoing global ministry experiences.

I studied all major religions and philosophies, but none ever replaced the intimacy that came from the Triune God: Yahweh, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. That intimacy developed and only made more sense, driving my desire for others to know such depths of joy, love, peace and overwhelming beauty that come from those personal, intimate times with the Lord.

Globally, I saw expansive discipleship multiplication movements. I kept asking myself how these things happen in some areas of the world but not in others. What contributes to these expansive movements? I wondered why some generations are more prone to certain expressions of Christianity than others. Why is this Jesus movement so explosive in some places that it is altering the DNA of entire countries or demographics, while other people consistently reject the message of Christ? I heard many asking the same questions of the early church: how did it spread from a few hundred or so Christians after the death of Christ to approximately 25,000 by 100 C.E., and to about 20 million by 300 C.E.? That is extreme! Yet extreme things are happening in the Kingdom of Heaven today and I have witnessed some of those first hand. Global Christianity is booming! It is exploding across so many countries in such powerful ways! Yet most people in more developed countries are unaware of this explosive growth in Christianity!

The more I observed globally and interviewed spiritual leaders around the world, the more I became convicted that, on a global scale, claiming Christianity doesn’t necessarily imply that someone is a follower of Jesus. In fact, quite the opposite. Many who claim to be Christians are actually the very sorts of people who killed Jesus! It sounds shocking to say that, but if you study closely, you will see that the religious leaders who killed Jesus were mostly solid theologically, solid in practice, great in mission, excellent in care for interpretation of the Scripture, and obsessed with the things of God, yet their hearts were murderous and they hated Jesus for exposing them as fraudulent religious hypocrites.

My questioning expanded to not only include questions about how to spark movements, but also newer and deeper questions of being, questions of integrity, and questions of what it looks like to generate real followers of Jesus who are actually filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, humility and meekness, gratitude, purity of heart, etc. After all, we are told in the Scriptures that those are the qualities of one who is filled with the Spirit of God. I began to question how we can work in accordance with the ways that are truly of Spirit, of Life, of Light, and of Love.

During my 20s, I gained experience in youth ministry, online missionary work, and various other creative Kingdom-oriented startup endeavors. But ultimately the Lord guided me (in powerful ways) toward an organic church planting approach here in the U.S. Here, Monica and I have been experimenting with a wide range of creative approaches to making disciples in search of that which is faithful and fruitful. This has led us more and more to asking questions about what is most sustainable, reproducible, movement-oriented, and capable of spreading through churches and systems and people groups like a virus. We began to focus in on what will lend itself toward the global movement. Everything we have done has been with a few questions in mind: Is this truly Biblical? Is this rationally honoring to the Lord?¹ Is this fruitful and transformative? Will this lend itself toward the global movement of the Body of Christ? These questions led us to more conclusions about disciple-making with a Kingdom mindset.

Each of the authors mentioned earlier were most helpful during this time, and many of them have personally encouraged and equipped us in this journey. We also began to see the shocking reality that it is quite possible to grow a church or gathering without actually making any true disciples. But if we walk by the power of the Spirit, our hearts are pure and sensitive to His heartbeat; and rather than wrestling with violating our ambitions for personal influence, we walk in the joy of seeing His Eternal Work unfolding before our eyes as He cultivates His Image Bearers.

Our movement has been beyond that of the natural and toward that which is spiritual. This means that sometimes I will purposefully disciple or encourage or equip someone who will never come to my church plant (after all, it’s not my church anyway). Sometimes I will spend countless hours loving one person as the Lord leads me to minister to them while having to turn down dozens of other people or projects. Sometimes this also means that I turn down excellent evangelistic opportunities or excellent leadership development opportunities, or excellent disciple-making opportunities so that I can just sit with Jesus and listen to His Heart. Sometimes I choose the counter-intuitive things because His Kingdom doesn’t always make sense to the natural mind. And sometimes, we discover new (yet ancient) means of faithfulness, new (yet ancient) means of fruitfulness, new (yet ancient) practices of following Him rather than building our own kingdoms and systems. This book, then, includes practices, tools, insights, and quoted perspectives that lend themselves toward the Kingdom.

But please read this with the same heart that it was written in: not out of ambition to achieve something for the King, but out of love for the King. Not out of an idolatrous affair with our desire to be effective or to influence others, but out of love for the best of those around us. Not out of a conviction that we are so powerful and effective in this world, but out of a conviction that we are simply servants doing our duty out of our passion for a wonderful Leader.

None of This is New!

This book is just a summary of practices that have been occurring within the global church for the past 2000 years! There are many books about this now, but they mostly describe what our African, Asian and global South (and increasingly in the developed nations) brothers and sisters have already known and are currently doing in their contexts! Some of the language here may sound new, and there may be a few tools that seem new, but really… nothing here is new. It is either ancient and has been practiced for 2000 years and/or it is already represented globally and latent in the patterns of Jesus and His Word.

In the Introduction to The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch describes how the early church went from about 25,000 people in 100 C.E. to about 20,000,000 Christians by 310 C.E. The killer question then is: how did this happen? Sure, the Holy Spirit did it, but what can we learn from how He did this work? What DNA was active in the church at that time to cause such incredible, pandemic, exponential growth?

As you ponder this question, keep a few more points from Alan in mind: Christians were persecuted and viewed as an illegal group during this period; they didn’t have the typical church buildings that we imagine churches in today; they didn’t even have the Scriptures as we know them; they didn’t yet have any professional or institutional leadership in their churches; they didn’t have seeker sensitive services, youth groups, worship bands, seminaries, or commentaries; and they actually made it hard to join the church. So, the answer to the question How did they do it? becomes even more mind-boggling.

It is clear that this is not just a one-time event in church history. If you study expansive movements over the past 2000 years, you will see that there have been extreme bursts of powerful activity in various places on and off for hundreds of years—the effect of Patrick of the Celts in Northern Europe, John Wesley and the exponential spread of Methodism, the global Pentecostal movement, the church in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, Peru, and most of the global South. In studying these movements, we see patterns of behavior that reveal certain DNA found in the practices and identity of people in these movements. Many scholars have noticed these behaviors both in history and still occurring in some places around the world today. Yet none of these patterns are new; they are the ancient principles that the Lord has revealed to us through the Scriptures. This book examines those practices and offers tools for today’s application of those practices.

To Get the Most Out of This Book:

Community: Read this book together with a team of people who are seeking to follow Jesus and make disciples who follow Jesus. Maybe read one chapter per month, and have a meal together each month where you discuss how these things can apply to your participation in the mission of God and His Kingdom.

Each chapter starts out with key paradigms, but you will want to press deeper into the chapters to discover the tools that support them. Just knowing the paradigms doesn’t reinforce the change. Practicing the tools enables you to work your way into a new way of being, or, as Alan Hirsch says, Act your way into a new way of thinking.

Each chapter also opens with a See For Yourself section where I recommend massive amounts of Scripture reading. This is because I am deeply convinced that the Spirit of God will impress His points through His Words more transformationally than through my words. This is also because I believe that you care. If you care about Him and His perspective, then you will want to take time to examine His perspective. If you are not a reader, then I encourage you to listen to these Scriptures on audio (which can be easily found online for free). If you feel that the Scripture reading assignments are too much, then I encourage you to cut out all forms of media entertainment until you have done the reading. Why would you want to chew dirt from the ground when you can drink the Water of Life? The call to follow Jesus is not a weak call. It requires true knowledge and deep commitment.

Think of this book as a mini-library. The resources that are referenced here are to help you begin a great discovery of so much more that is in His Kingdom Realm. Some of the books mentioned are available for free online. (Some are public domain and some missional websites have books and videos for free, such as https://exponential.org/resources/ or https://www.vergenetwork.org/category/resources/ or http://www.forgeamerica.com/ ). I also encourage you to search out some of the authors mentioned here. You can find many messages and videos and additional resources on YouTube and on personal websites. Finally, see Appendix 2 for additional recommended reading. (This list includes brief comments to help you decide how to invest your time in learning more.)

Contemplative Questions: Hidden throughout the book are questions for consideration and for slowing down and meditating. When you come to those questions, intentionally create space in your life for transformative reflection.

Other Texts: While this book can be a stand-alone text, consider reading it alongside the Reclaim materials from Table Network and Alan Hirsch’s The Forgotten Ways. Keep in mind, the purpose of this text is to make lessons from The Forgotten Ways accessible and practical, and also to reiterate and develop the principles in Reclaim and Slow Down from Table Network. Slow Down, The Forgotten Ways and Reclaim are all foundational and functional and provide a framework for those aiming to make disciples (see Reclaim introduction). The purpose of Kingdom Contours is to move beyond foundations and build upon those realities. (We expect that you already agree with many of the assumptions behind this book, therefore we do not try to convince you here. Rather, we simply assist you.) Our goal is to reinforce the how, as hopefully you already see the why. Let this book be a tool to reinforce the functional side of discipleship and your disciple-making framework.

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¹ He gave us minds to think. Are we employing our intellectual strength to honor Him to our utmost?

01: Christocentric and Trinitarian

Centering on Jesus as Lord

Key Paradigms:

¹

Christ is Lord: Jesus must be central and preeminent in every area and motivation of our lives. Everything good will flow from this first commitment. No Kingdom of Heaven movement happens or is sustained without this conviction.

Trinitarian: God has chosen to reveal Himself as three persons but one Being (essence). To neglect this is to our detriment; to embrace this is the beginning of truly knowing Him. No Kingdom of Heaven movement happens or is sustained without this conviction either.

Knowing God is Eternal Life (John 17:3).

If you want to plant a movement or contribute to His movement in your region, you must begin with the essentials and plant Christ-oriented, Trinity-infused DNA from the very beginning.

See for Yourself:

Read Hebrews and ask yourself, "What role should Jesus have in my life and in this Kingdom movement? How much should I allow a high view of Jesus