How to Enter the Kingdom Net

In order for a kingdom to exist in reality, it needs three things: (1) a monarch—whether king or queen, (2) the will or rule of the monarch, and (3) people who accept and submit to the monarch’s rule.  A kingdom can exist in exile (without territory) as long as people will serve the king or queen.

 

The “Kingdom of France” presents an interesting modern example.  According to some observers, France has a “rightful” king, namely Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon, a.k.a. Jean Christophe Louis Ferdinand Albéric Napoléon (born 1986).  The great-great-great-grandnephew of Emperor Napoleon I of France, he also has Bourbon blood (think Louis XV) on the distaff side of his genealogy.

 

Prince Johnny-Chris has it all.  He’s got royal blood, a considerable personal fortune, and a killer career as an investment banker.  A smart, good-looking fellow, he undoubtedly has many admirers.  His kingdom has a king, to wit, himself.  He has a will and could no doubt summon up element two, namely, rule.  Nonetheless, he lacks a kingdom, as there are not enough people submitted to his rule to activate his kingdom.  He might turn out to be the worthiest, wisest, and best man ever to stand in the line of succession.  Who knows.  Whatever.  But he remains le roi de rien, the king of nothing.  For want of willing subjects, the “Kingdom of France” in fact does not exist.  It reminds one of the old adage,

 

For Want of a Nail

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

 

The Kingdom of God requires the same three essentials as any other kingdom.  It has a King, none other than Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Immanuel.  Jesus in fact has a will and rules over the universe in majesty and splendor.  The Kingdom of God becomes living and active when people submit to the rule of Jesus.  As Jesus began his active ministry, he came declaring that the Kingdom of God was advancing forcefully, and people—even tax collectors and sinners–were entering it vigorously.  And so it continues to this day.

 

To enter the Kingdom—and become part of the Kingdom Net—we need do nothing more (and nothing less) than submit ourselves to the Rule of God in Christ.  When we do submit to the Rule–making God’s Will our own, obeying Jesus in everything–we activate and realize the Kingdom in our lives.  We become part of the worldwide web of people who follow Christ—what I call the Kingdom Net.  We make up the very net that God casts into the world to fish for men and women.  For more, see The Kingdom Net:  Learning to Network Like Jesus (My Healthy Church, 2013).  Pre-order it in paperback or Kindle editions at http://www.amazon.com/The-Kingdom-Net-Learning-ebook/dp/B00EDO1F6M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376544126&sr=8-2&keywords=Joseph+Castleberry.

 

 

Copyright©2013 by Joseph L. Castleberry.  joe@josephcastleberry.com

Dr. Joseph Castleberry is President of Northwest University in Kirkland Washington.  He is the author of Your Deepest Dream:  Discovering God’s Vision for Your Life and The Kingdom Net:  Learning to Network Like Jesus.  Follow him on Twitter at @DrCastleberry and at http://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Castleberry.

Three Disciplines for Network Maintenance

Networking always offers surprises and new opportunities for learning.  This week I launched my book, The Kingdom Net:  Learning to Network Like Jesus, at a national church conference, where I also attended an alumni meeting for my undergraduate alma mater.  Right away as I walked into the meeting, Danny Duvall—one of my era’s football heroes and a first-rate student and preacher—stepped up and greeted me.  Danny has had a great career as an evangelist and pastor, and I felt pleased that he immediately knew me and had kept up with my career trajectory.  As students, we ran in different circles and probably never had even two or three conversations despite taking a few classes together.  But we immediately re-connected as friends, 30 years after graduating from college.

After teasing me about setting the curve on Greek exams too often as a student, Danny asked me if I had discussed Paul’s use of the word katartizo in the book.  He referenced Ephesians 4:12 where it says God has given the church apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists “to equip the saints for the work of ministry.”  Danny explained to me that katartizo refers to the “mending of nets” and that Matthew 4:21 uses it to describe James and John mending their fishing nets.  I had to confess that this little pearl from the Greek had escaped my attention (and Danny must have noticed that he had just aced the real-life Greek test I had flunked!)  Very nerdly of me.

The translation “equipping the saints” suffices nicely to convey the meaning of Ephesians 4:12, but by not looking at the fishy connotation of the Greek original, I lost the “net” work connection.   Katartizo means “to complete thoroughly, i.e. repair (lit. or fig.) or adjust:—fit, frame, mend, (make) perfect, [perfectly] join together, prepare, [or] restore.”^[1]  Galatians 6:1 uses it to exhort us to restore Christians who have fallen into sin.

Just like Christ calls the “executive officers” of the church to katartize the Church, he calls people in any field of work to serve as menders and equippers of the Kingdom Net.  As we “perfect,” “complete,” “mend,” “weave,” “fit,” and “restore” our networks, we keep the conduits of the Kingdom open.  We keep God’s fishing net ready for the water, ready for a catch.

The work of fishers mending their nets provides a powerful metaphor for network maintenance.  As Danny pointed out to me, the main tasks of net maintenance after a day’s fishing include:

(1) cleaning,

(2) mending, and

(3) folding

Cleaning removes weeds, sticks, bones, rocks and other garbage from the nets.  Mending repairs the torn places, so valuable fish will not escape from the net.  Folding prepares the nets for easy deployment on the next fishing session.  Wise Kingdom workers will develop the same disciplines for maintaining their networks.  The Kingdom Net: Learning to Network Like Jesus offers detailed advice for network maintenance.

 

Copyright©2013 by Joseph L. Castleberry.  joe@josephcastleberry.com

Dr. Joseph Castleberry is President of Northwest University in Kirkland Washington.  He is the author of Your Deepest Dream:  Discovering God’s Vision for Your Life and The Kingdom Net:  Learning to Network Like Jesus.  Follow him on Twitter at @DrCastleberry and at http://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Castleberry.

 

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^[1] Strong, J. (2009). Vol. 1: A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (40). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

How to Give Your Way to the Top

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”—St. Paul, Acts 20:35

The Kingdom networker places a high value on serving others, constantly expanding his or her web of relationships so the blessings of God’s Rule can flow to more and more people.  As Paul reminded the believers in Ephesus, giving brings more blessing than taking and powerfully reflects the values of Jesus.

I recently read a outstanding business article, “Good Returns,” by organizational psychologist Adam Grant.  (www.upenn.edu/gazette/0713/feature2_1.html) Grant’s extensive research, conducted over a period of ten years across a wide variety of work fields, suggests three categories of people in profesional and work life—givers, takers, and matchers.  The givers like to give more than they take.  Takers take more than they give.  Matchers try to come out even.

The data Grant collected on givers, relatively rare in work life, show that being a giver makes a dramatic difference in work outcomes.  According to Grant, “givers sink to the bottom of the success ladder.  Across a wide range of important occupations, givers are at a disadvantage:  they make others better off but sacrifice their own success in the process.”  Givers yield the lowest performance levels at work

Should you care more about helping others in your work than you care about helping yourself?  Do nice guys and gals finish last in professional life?

It turns out that the research also indicates that not all givers show up at the bottom.  Some givers have the highest scores in success and productivity in both quantity and quality of their work results.  This fact held true across a broad range of occupations, and  among sales professionals “the top performers were givers, and they averaged 50 percent more annual revenue than the takers and matchers.”

Being a giver rather than a taker doesn’t tell the whole story.  I look forward to reading more of Grant’s work to explore this phenomenon further.  But it would seem that “giving up” does not equal “giving.”  People who want to get what’s coming to them and ensure that no one takes advantage of them will usually find themselves doomed to the middle ranks.  Those who seek to contribute dramatically to the lives of the people around them, their co-workers, customers, employers, and strangers, will come out on top.  Empirical research vindicates the values Jesus taught for Kingdom networkers.

 

Copyright©2013 by Joseph L. Castleberry.  joe@josephcastleberry.com

Dr. Joseph Castleberry is President of Northwest University in Kirkland Washington.  He is the author of Your Deepest Dream:  Discovering God’s Vision for Your Life and The Kingdom Net:  Learning to Network Like Jesus.  Follow him on Twitter at @DrCastleberry and at http://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Castleberry.

 

Networking: A New Word for an Ancient Concept (TKN Audio Bonus)

The word “network” hasn’t always existed in English and doesn’t appear in any translation of the Bible.  According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, the word first began to appear in 1557 to refer to “net-like arrangement of threads, wires, etc.”  By 1839 the use  extended to “any complex, interlocking system”  referring to “transport by rivers, canals, and railways.”  The concept began to apply to “a broadcasting system of multiple transmitters” in 1914 and to an “interconnected grojp of people” in 1947.  The use of “network” as a verb relating to computers dates from 1972, and it  first occurred in the context of networking among people in the 1980s.[1]

Even though the words “network” and “networking” are relatively new, the concept goes back as far a society itself.  Every unit of society from the family to the multinational corporation requires people to network in order to build social systems.  Every government on earth has always organized itself in people networks, even if most languages have no specialized word to describe it.

The Kingdom of God does not differ. The Rule of God becomes visible among us by the creation of people webs.  Certainly, it begins in the heart of individual people who discover God’s Kingly Will for their lives, but as they act it out, networks get engaged and the Kingdom spreads on those networks.

I recently enjoyed the intersection of two senses of the word network when my people network tied into a radio network.  I recently spoke about The Kingdom Net at a pastors luncheon to prepare for MissionFest Seattle in October.[2]  At that meeting, I got to know Stan Lander from Salem Communications, which operates a network of about 100 radio stations.  Stan connected with my assistant Anne Kuchera and booked me for two radio interviews.  The Kingdom Net works!

In the first interview, I discussed my book Your Deepest Dream, Discovering God’s True Vision for Your Life with Doug Bursch.  Here’s a link to that interview, which begins at minute 13:00.  Enjoy!

Copyright©2013 by Joseph L. Castleberry.  joe@josephcastleberry.com

Dr. Joseph Castleberry is President of Northwest University in Kirkland Washington.  He is the author of Your Deepest Dream:  Discovering God’s Vision for Your Life and The Kingdom Net:  Learning to Network Like Jesus.  Follow him on Twitter at @DrCastleberry and at http://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Castleberry.

 

[1]http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=network&searchmode=none

[2] http://missionsfestseattle.org/pastorsmission-leaders-luncheon-recap/

TKN Audio: What about the Emerging Church?

In Part 4 of my conversation with Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, conducted 7 years ago at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, we turn our discussion to the so-called “emerging church.”

One of the most important ways the church is “emerging” in our time is the growth of the Faith and Work Movement.  In The Kingdom Net:  Learning to Network Like Jesus, I spend considerable time discussing the different ways we see the church manifesting itself in and around workplace settings.  For example, my friend Craig Campbell, of CampbellNelson Volkswagen and Nissan in Edmonds, Washington, (http://www.campbellnelsonvw.com) employs a full-time chaplain at his business to pastor his employees–whether they are Christians or not.  Another friend, Pete Hartwig works with a team of friends in Charlottesville, Virginia.  They call their weekly breakfast meeting the Charlottesville Faith and Leadership Forum and their aim is to provide a safe place to discuss the synergy between faith, life and work.  The meeting is relationally driven and focuses on sharing faith and enhancing the attendees’ performance in their leadership roles.  They also conduct a similar luncheon for women, and are beginning a new group called First Fridays, in which business leaders take turns talking about their integration of faith and work.  In Seattle, I am part of a ministry called C-3 Leaders, which gathers hundreds of Christian business leaders in small groups all over the city to share their experiences of following Jesus in the world of business.

People often say that America needs a revival.  In reality, the churches of America need revival.   America itself needs another Great Awakening, in which people who are currently unchurched turn their hearts to Jesus.  The more Christians around the country work the Kingdom Net in and around the workplace, the more likely an awakening can occur.

To listen to the final installment of my talk with Dr. K, click below

The Kingdom Net is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com.  To get your copy, order it at:

 

 

TKN Audio: What Makes the Invisible Church Palpable?

In Part Three of my conversation with Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, we consider the difference between the visible church and the Invisible Church.  This conversation lies behind much of what I wrote in one of the chapters in The Kingdom Net.  The discussion begins with a consideration of what constitutes a sacrament and what makes other things sacramental in nature, then turns to the question of making the church visible.

Thinking beyond that conversation, marketing the church has become a matter of debate in recent years.  Some Christians object to using  techniques from the business world to “market” the ministry of the church;  on the other hand, the worst offenders  seem to reduce evangelism to nothing more than slick and even deceptive marketing.   Jesus clearly teaches us not to put our lamp under a bowl, declaring that we should shine like a city set on a hill  (Matthew 5:14-16)  There can’t be anything wrong with making the church more visible through some form of “marketing.”

Perhaps the best way we can “market” the church–the best way we can make the true church visible–is to live sacramentally, letting the Spirit of God display the promises of God through outward displays of inward graces.  When people can see God at work, they Church shines in limelight no marketing campaign can replace.   It remains our job to let people know that God has arrived on the scene–the Kingdom of God has drawn near.

I hope you’ll enjoy our conversation!

TKN Audio: The Importance of Being “Catholic”

According to the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D., the true Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.[1]   These characteristics of the church are known as “the marks of the Church.”  In The Kingdom Net, I report on my conversation with eminent theologian Dr. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen in which we walk through what it means for the Church to display those marks.  In the following audio segment, “Dr. K.” explains the importance of being “catholic” for every church.  After listening, weigh in with your opinion in the comments section of the blog.  Is your church catholic?  Listen and find out why it ought to be, no matter what name it bears.

 

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Marks_of_the_Church

TKN Audio: Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen on the Church

The work of the Kingdom of God cannot continue in the world without the church!  In The Kingdom Net, I spent a couple of chapters discussing the role of the church in God’s Kingdom.  Inspired by a conversation I had a few years ago  with the eminent theologian Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, the book discusses the four marks of the church–its oneness, holiness,  catholicity, and apostolicity.

Dr. Kärkkäinen, Professor of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary (http://www.fuller.edu/academics/faculty/veli-matti-karkkainen.aspx) has produced some of the most comprehensive summaries of Christian theology ever published in a multi-volume “theological mapping” project.   One of the world’s best-read and most prolific theologians, he has a great deal to teach us!

In some of my future postings on this blog, I plan to share a series of audios and videos and special features that will reward readers of the book for following the blog and inspire readers of the blog to order the book.  About 78 people are mentioned by name or anonymously in The Kingdom Net, so I will interview many of them to add relevant content here that does not appear in the book.  I don’t want to sell you a book and then end the relationship–I want to help you become a world-class Kingdom Networker.

In the attached audio file, the first of four audio segments, I share in  greater detail my conversation with Dr. Karkkainen.  I know you will learn important and USEFUL things about the Church, as I did.  Just click on the HTMLS button below and enjoy!

Another Look at Ishigo’s Bakery: A Networking Story

             

In addition to this blog  I write a blog on immigration–one of my areas of academic and ministry interest.  It occurred to me that my two blog topics intersected recently when, vacationing in Hawaii with my family, I visited Mr. Ed’s Bakery in Honomu on the Big Island.  Inside the store, formerly known as Ishigo`s General Store and Bakery and stillbearing the sign (see photo), I found the following tribute to the immigrant founders of the store.

“Inokichi Ishigo, an immigrant from the Japanese village of Kayumura and Maki Ishigo, his wife, from the village of Hugitamura in Fukuoka Ken, the founders of ISHIGO’S GENERAL STORE and BAKERY on the Island of Hawaii came to the United States with a dream: A dream of hard work, perseverance, and a confidence in themselves to be successful in a foreign country. From their first store in 1910 and through the years, they worked hard, scrimped, saved, and built up their business.  For the Bakery, what they did not know, they learned from others.  Wisely, they learned from the Chinese how to make pies, the Portuguese to make bread.  That, along with their knowledge of Japanese pastries made their products in great demand to everyone.  Cookies were their latest product.  All the founder’s acquired knowledge and experience were passed on to their sons and their sons to their sons, who now carry on the family tradition.  To this day, ISHIGO’S BAKERY products taste-tested through generations and shunning all chemical preservatives, boast of that good, old-fashioned home flavor.”

Such immigrant stories make up an important part of the American national mystique, and serve as an inspiring testimony to a world in which immigration has become a universal phenomenon.  But this story also testifies powerfully to the role of networking in any form of success.  First, the Ishigos made their way to Hawaii through the immigrant network.  As Japanese families made their way to Hawaii and found a better life than they had left behind, they told their stories to relatives and friends back home, who followed in their wake.  When the Ishigos saw that their products appealed well enough to Japanese people in Hawaii, but did not mean the needs of others, they networked with people from other places and learned to provide the products other people wanted.  The more people they knew–and the more diversity they embraced–the more helpful their work became to more people.  Not only did their store draw in more people, it began to serve as a meeting place for people from various cultures, knitting the community together into a tighter and tighter network of friends.  God was at work in their networking!

Like yeast working through Ishigo’s bread, if God gets into a space, the Kingdom Net usually starts forming.  The store now serves on Sundays as the meeting place for a daughter church of the Living Waters Assembly of God in Hilo.  The young lady who attended us just beamed when I asked her about the church, so proud of her membership there and excited to talk about it.  If you ever visit Honomu (perhaps to visit nearby Akaka Falls State Park), be sure to stop by the store.  The home-made jellies are amazing!  You may make some new friends too.  Tell them I sent you.

Copyright©2013 by Joseph L. Castleberry.

Dr. Joseph Castleberry is President of Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington.  He is the author of Your Deepest Dream:  Discovering God’s Vision for Your Life and The Kingdom Net:  Learning to Network Like Jesus.  Follow him on Twitter at @DrCastleberry and at http://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Castleberry or contact him at  joe@josephcastleberry.com.

We Can’t Build the Kingdom of God

Occasionally, I hear well-meaning people say something about how they work to build the Kingdom of God.    But I have never seen anyone actually accomplish it.  Building the Kingdom goes beyond the human ken.  Only God can build the Kingdom, and the Bible never asks us to do it.

That’s right.  The phrase “build the Kingdom” never occurs in the Bible at all, nor does Jesus ask us to spread, extend, enhance, or otherwise effect the Kingdom. Instead, God calls us to enter the Kingdom and to preach the good news about the Kingdom.

To enter the Kingdom, we need to understand the nature of the Kingdom.  Some people may think of the Kingdom of God (Mark, Luke, John) or the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew) as a place—specifically Heaven.  But when Jesus calls on us to enter the Kingdom, he does not mean for us to go directly to Heaven (do not pass Go, do not collect $200.)  The Kingdom of God certainly includes our abiding in God’s presence, beginning now and continuing forever in the New Heavens and New Earth.  But “Heaven” does not offer the primary meaning of the phrase “Kingdom of God.”

When Jesus preached about the Kingdom in Aramaic—his mother tongue—he used the word malkuth.  When he spoke in Greek—as it appears certain that he sometimes did—he used the term basileia.  In either language, the words primarily mean “kingship, kingly rule, reign, or sovereignty,” not “the geographical area ruled by a king.”  We enter the Kingdom by coming under the Rule of God.  We come into God’s Rule when we confess that Jesus, whom God has exalted to the highest place and given the name above every name, is Lord (Philippians 2:9-11, NIV) and follow up that confession by living in obedience to the Word of God.  Once we have entered the Rule of God, we manifest that rule by declaring the Kingdom, sharing the Good News of God’s victory over evil in the Cross of Christ and God’s sovereign right to rule in every human heart and life.

Only God can build, extend, enhance, or exercise the Kingdom of God.  Nevertheless, when Jesus said “the Kingdom of God is like a net” (Matthew 13:47), he gave us a powerful clue about how our proclamation of the Kingdom works to serve God’s Reign.  When we build larger and more effective personal networks, we increase the range of our relationships and our opportunities for modeling and declaring God’s Kingdom.  In an important sense, our networking builds a web for the Kingdom’s message to run on, a conduit for the power of the Holy Spirit to flow through, even veins for the saving blood of Christ to course through.

I’d like to say so much more about the Kingdom Net, and I have—300 pages of practical advice, compelling stories of powerful Christians, and theological reflection about the meaning of our work in the world as men and women who have entered the Kingdom of God and live to proclaim it.  You can order The Kingdom Net, Learning to Network Like Jesus on Amazon.com and other online booksellers beginning in August, 2013.

Copyright©2013 by Joseph L. Castleberry.

Dr. Joseph Castleberry is President of Northwest University in Kirkland Washington.  He is the author of Your Deepest Dream:  Discovering God’s Vision for Your Life and The Kingdom Net:  Learning to Network Like Jesus.  Follow him on Twitter at @DrCastleberry and at http://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Castleberry or contact him at  joe@josephcastleberry.com.