When people start to realize that they actually are the channel for the kingdom to come on earth, what happens is that you can practically ask yourself questions like, What does our city need?
The mindset I came out of Bible school with was to simply go and preach the gospel and evangelize the nation. When my wife and I were preparing to go to Austria, I realized that we needed to preach not only a gospel of salvation but a gospel of the kingdom. This was a significant challenge, and these thoughts were brought to us by various people. However, Ian played a very important role by showing us practically how this is possible in Europe.
We had heard of the gospel of the kingdom being applied in many parts of the world, but not so much in Europe. Meeting people like Ian, who believed that the kingdom of God goes beyond just church meetings and actually aims to change society, was a great encouragement. The mindset we had was that the church can influence society, but very often this remained just a theory.
What really helped us through Ian’s input was to realize how practical this can be — and how we can practically influence society by thinking of the kingdom of God not just as something inside the church, but something that extends into every area of society. Ian gave us a lot of practical tips and direction on how to do that.
When people understand that they are the channel for the kingdom to come on earth — which has always been God’s desire — they can begin to ask themselves questions like, What does our city need? or What does our political system need? This process makes faith, which can sometimes feel abstract, become very practical. People begin to think about the real needs of their nation and commit themselves to solving those needs.
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