TRANS-AFRICA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

NAME: PETRONELLA KABULO

QUESTION: The concept of the kingdom of God is an important theme in the New Testament,
Discuss how the church and her Mission relates to the Kingdom of God.
THESIS: The concept of the Kingdom of God as an important theme in the New Testament,
In this assignment, I will discuss how the church and her mission relates to the Kingdom of Go
The church can be defined as the community of all true believers for all time, while, Bruce F.
Hunt defined church and mission as “the work of church is missions, missions is the work of the
church and the work of missions is the church.”
David Treybig says that The Kingdom of God is an actual Kingdom that will be established on
the earth after Christs second coming. Biblically the Kingdom of God is the central theme of
Jesus’ teaching and the fundamental of the Church founded by Him through His disciples. Every
attempt to define the relationship between the Kingdom of God and the Church and between
the Kingdom of God and the world is necessarily incomplete. To speak of the Kingdom of God is
to speak of God's redemptive purpose for the whole Creation and of the historical vocation that
the Church has with regard to that purpose here and now, 'between the times'. It is also to
speak of an eschatological reality, which is both the starting point and the goal of the Church.
The mission of the Church therefore can only be understood in light of the Kingdom of God.
The central thrust of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ has come to fulfil Old Testament
prophecy and that in his person and work the Kingdom of God has become a present reality.
Such an eschatology stands in opposition to that of the Old Testament prophets, for whom the
fulfilments of God's purposes within history held the utmost importance. As G. E. Ladd has
pointed out, 'The prophetic message is addressed to the people of Israel in a specific historical
situation, and the present and the future are held together in an eschatological tension'.
Throughout the New Testament, the doctrine of the two ages is presupposed but interpreted in
light of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fundamental premise is that in the life
and work of Christ, God has acted definitely in order to fulfil his redemptive purpose. The main
Actor has appeared and the eschatological drama of Jewish hope has begun. Eschatology has
invaded history. The impact of the former upon the latter has produced what Oscar Cullman
has aptly called 'the new division of time'. In contrast to Judaism, the New Testament writers
consider that the midpoint of the timeline is not future but past - it has arrived in Jesus Christ.
The new era ('the Dr. C. Rene Padilla is Editor of Mission, Buenos Aires, Argentina. This writing is
an adaptation of his presentation at the Consultation on the Relationship between Evangelism
and Social Responsibility, Grand Rapids, USA, June 1982. The same God who has intervened in
history to initiate the drama is still acting and will continue to act in order to bring the drama to
its conclusion. The Kingdom of God is, therefore, both a present reality and a promise to be
fulfilled in the future: it has come, it is present among us, it is to come, and we consequently
wait for its advent. This simultaneous affirmation of the present and the future gives rise to the
eschatological tension, which permeates the entire New Testament, and undoubtedly
represents a rediscovery of the Old Testament 'prophetic-apocalyptic' eschatology, which
Judaism had lost. The most recent investigations of the eschatology of the New Testament
emphasize that the oldest tradition of "-'esus' preaching combines the affirmation of the
coming Kingdom as a present reality with the expectation of the future completion of God's
redemptive purpose. Yet the basic premise of Jesus' mission and the central theme of his
preaching is not the hope of the Kingdom's coming at some predictable date in the future, but
the fact that in his own person and work the Kingdom is already present among men and
women in great power. He affirms that no one knows the day and hour at which the
eschatological drama will come to its conclusion, 'not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father' (Mark 13:32). However, he also affirms that the beginning of the last event
('the last days') has already begun in him. The Kingdom has to do with God's dynamic power
through which 'the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the
deaf hear the dead are raised, and the good news is preached' (Matt. 11: 5). It has to do with
the Spirit of God, or the finger of God, which casts out demons (Matt. 12:28; Luke 11:22). It is
seen in liberation from demon possession (Luke 8:36), blindness (Mark 10:56), hemorrhage
(Mark 5:34), and even death (Mark 5:23).
His mission here and now is the manifestation of the Kingdom as a reality present among men
and women in his own person and action, in his preaching of the gospel and his works of justice
and mercy. Accordingly, the Kingdom of God is God's dynamic power made visible through
concrete signs pointing to Jesus as the Messiah. It is a new reality which has entered into the
flow of history and affects human life not only a morally and spiritually but also physically and
psychologically, materially and socially. In anticipation of the eschatological

The Church's Power to Fulfill Its Mission

Missions is the work of the church

The church as a whole and of the several members as part of the whole. Missions is not an individual or
private matter. When the individual Christians, comprising the persecuted church, were scattered
following Stephen's martyrdom, one individual, Philip, was signally successful in his ministry among the
people of Samaria. But his work was not considered or left as an individual matter, for the Word
declares, "When the apostles that were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God,
they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might
receive the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:14-15).
When certain men from Judea caused questioning and dissension among the younger churches, the
brethren appointed Paul and Barnabas to bring the matter before the apostles in Jerusalem. The Word
tells us that this delegation from the younger churches was "brought on their way by the church" (Acts
15:3), "and when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church”.

In these several cases, we see that it was the church , which chose and put forth the witnesses .The
church heard reports on new work, kept in contact with it, and strengthened It .The church separated,
in accordance with the command of the Spirit, two of their number for a special work .The church sent
them forth.

The Kingdom of God will be established on earth when Jesus returns. The time that the Kingdom is
established will be after Christ’s return to earth. Revelation 11:15 states: “Then the seventh angel
sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’”

Conclusion

We prepare for the Kingdom by living according to the rules of the Kingdom now. Explaining how one
might enter the Kingdom of God, Jesus told Nicodemus that one must be “born again” (John 3:1-8). This
process begins with baptism, which signifies the death of the former sinful man and the beginning of a
new life dedicated to Christ (Romans 6:1-4). It culminates in a change from mortal flesh and blood to
immortal spirit at Christ’s return (1 Corinthians 15:50-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Once we embark on this process, we are symbolically “conveyed” into the Kingdom (Colossians 1:13),
and our “citizenship” is now described as being in heaven (Philippians 3:20). At the completion of the
process of being born again, we will be changed into immortal beings and become kings and priests
serving in God’s Kingdom on earth (Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:10). For a more in-depth explanation,
see our article “What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?”

Later, Paul likewise described his ministry as preaching “the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22; Acts 19:8;
Acts 20:25; Acts 28:31; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:24) and referred to his fellow ministers as
“workers for the kingdom of God” (Colossians 4:11).

The relationship between the Kingdom of God, the Church and Missions is that, the Kingdom
assumes in result of the new stage up on which the Messiaship of Jesus enters with His death
and resurrection. The Kingdom reveals itself as power, in the acts by which it is established as
righteousness in the moral order in which it exists.
REFERENCE
New International version 1984.Internationa Bible Society British Isles
Rapid Grand. 1982 The Kingdom and the Church USA
DR. Padilla C Rene The Relationship Between Evangelism And Social Responsibility
Buenos Argentina.
Ladd .G.E 2015 The relationship in the kingdom.