Critical Mass
To disciple a nation will not necessarily mean that all or even the majority of the people will become Christians. The key issue is what the critical mass believes, where a sufficient number of people, when joined together in a common purpose, can cause synergistic results far beyond their numbers. When a critical mass of people has the Bible and applies what it teaches in their lives, a nation is transformed.
Societal transformation comes about by winning the battle of ideas. It begins by the renewing of our minds and by changing our thinking. The biblical concept of repentance is a complete change of mind. It is a new way of viewing life, a new worldview.
As local churches commission people into every sphere of society to act as kingdom ambassadors and agents of transformation, Bob Moffitt suggests answers to the following questions should set local church agendas:
– what would our village look like if Christ were chief?
– what would our city look like if Christ were mayor?
– what would our nation look like if Christ were king, president, or prime minister?
In his book LifeWork, Darrow Miller refers to Dr Jun Vencer of DAWN Ministries who believes a discipled nation would be characterised by: economic sufficiency, social peace, public justice, national righteousness, and where all aspects of life are centred around the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Prevailing Worldview
When Christians live and function in their callings from a biblical framework and are like true salt and light, or yeast in bread dough (to use another of Jesus’ kingdom analogies), they will begin to permeate, influence, and give direction to the values and focus of the people and culture. Nations are discipled one person at a time. It involves small beginnings, but with large endings. The gospel of the kingdom applied to all areas of life has the power to become the prevailing worldview of a people or nation. Where a significant proportion of society functions under the principles of truth and the dominant mindset of the various spheres of influence is biblical, we can then say that a nation has been discipled.
(taken from Empowered! Discovering Your Place in God’s Story by Stuart M. Simpson, 2013, 2019, pages 87-89)
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