Christ has come from God to establish his kingdom on earth through people from all nations whom he has redeemed to himself (Mk 1:15, Mat 4:23, Col 1:13, 14, Rev 1:5, 6).  The building of Christ’s kingdom demands a  mutual commitment from Christ’s many-membered, multi-national church to work together in obedience (Deut 10:12) to their One Lord to whom all are in submission.

        Mutuality is a valued relationship between two or more parties. It has not always been a major concern to the church in the ‘West’. At the 1910 Edinburgh World Missionary Conference, a young Indian, V.S. Azariah, lauded western  missionaries for all they had done, but challenged them with the words, “Give us friends!”  Friends sacrifice for each other’s good and always consider the other as a top priority (Jn 15:13-15, Philippians 2:3).Christ  tells his church to make the kingdom a priority in their lives “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness/ justice…” (Mat 6:33).

Seeking righteousness gives flesh to the Kingdom of God in practical ways. The activities of this work will reflect the values described by Micah (Mic 6:8) “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Doing justice is to do whatever good one can for the oppressed (Isaiah 58:10), particularly the widow, orphan, the sojourner/immigrant/refugee and the poor (Jer 22:16, Jas 1:27, Ex 23:9).

Loving mercy applies to all kinds of need such as hunger, shelter, clothing, sickness (1 Jn 3, Lk 10, Isa 58) even to the enemies of the Gospel (Mat 5:43, Roms 12:17).

Walking humbly with God comes from a humility that trusts God to do his will his way, while relying on the Holy Spirit’s power (Zech 4:6), and, boasts only in the Lord (1 Cor 1:31) and in one’s own weakness(2 Cor 12:9ff). This humility comes from acknowledging one’s own need for God’s mercy through the Gospel and results in God-loving, grace-motivated deeds of justice and compassion for the needy (Isa 42:1-4).

The KRS is a vehicle for accomplishing this gospel mutuality in ministry. 

Send mail to lisa@ncfstl.org with questions or comments about this web site.