11/30/16
How do different generations understand the main thrust of the Bible? Is this at the heart of any disagreements they may have about how to engage in Christian ministry?
McKnight, Scot. Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Brazos Press, 2014. Kindle Electronic Edition.
Chapter 3, “Tell Me the Kingdom Story.” pp. 21-41
McKnight now views the goal of the Church as telling the story of the kingdom, what the Bible says. It is this telling of the story that will make sense of the world. “For the Pleated Pants approach to the kingdom, since it focuses on the redemptive rule dynamic, the Bible’s central story is about individual persons whose crisis is their sin and its consequences, and the resolution is the atoning work of Christ that both ends the consequences of their sins and offers them a new life and hope for the kingdom” (McKnight 2014, 21). On the other hand, “The Skinny Jeans story is about participating in the direction of our world by lending a hand so the world will become a better place” (McKnight 2014).
McKnight suggests that to find the role of the Church, we do well to ask what we should consider with Jesus as the King who is the answer (McKnight 2014, 22). He then states that he considers the Bible to be the authority but to be largely ignored.
McKnight then considers two “stories” within the greater Kingdom story of the Bible. First, one he calls C-F-R-C (McKnight 2014, 23). The Bible describes the world in terms of Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation. Unfortunately, this pattern can tend to become man-centered, with the reader picking and choosing which passages are individually relevant (McKnight 2014, 25). Because of this bias, McKnight refocuses the story by citing N.T. Wright (McKnight 2014, 26). After a brief excursus suggesting the asking of questions to see how God rescues his people, McKnight calls for what he names the A-B-A1 approach (McKnight 2014, 27). This begins with “Plan A” where “God rules the world through his elected people, but God is the one and only King” (McKnight 2014, 28). In Plan B, since humans have stolen God’s glory and been forgiven (McKnight 2014, 29), God gives his people a human king (McKnight 2014, 30). The story moves on to a revised Plan A where Jesus brings God’s rule again 9McKnight 2014, 33). McKnight sees this rule of Jesus as a very new thing, involving many changes from the historic Israel (McKnight 2014, 35).
McKnight now moves into a discussion of our entrance into that kingdom mission. Conversion and discipleship, which he discusses as valuable, are only a part of the mission (McKnight 2014, 36). he wishes us to look to an eschatological hope (McKnight 2014, 39) as the hope for future perfection.