Over the Easter weekend, I was humbled to speak before 2,000 of the Christians at the Southern Africa International Lectureship of the Church of Christ. This year it was held in Gabarone, Botswana and I was asked to give two keynote addresses on the overall theme about the “Mystery of God and the Church.”
The positive response was encouraging and I had many requests for my notes following them. So, I thought I’d also share them here so they’d be easy to link to for those who have asked.
In this opening keynote, I also had help from several ACC students who represented the various parts of God’s story with me — playing the role of Adam & Eve, Abraham, the prophets, Jesus, and heaven.
It was inspired heavily from two books I read in preparation: Seeking a Lasting City (by my ACU professors Mark Love, Doug Foster, and Randy Harris) and The Forgotten Ways (by Alan Hirsch) — both highly recommended books on living out the church today.
Here’s my conclusion from this sermon:
The church is on God’s mission to bring the values, qualities, and realities of that lasting city to earth today. We are a people taught to pray, “Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We are reconcilers, restorers not only of people’s relationships with God, but also with each other, with themselves, and with the rest of creation.
This is God’s eternal plan for the church.
Want to read the rest? Downloading the sermon text here: God’s Eternal Plan for the Church (PDF)