"…Paul…used the colonial analogy to call the church to live out the heavenly kingdom away from heaven, as a community that reflects Christ's ways, communicates his truth and is infused with his life. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…in my daughter's classroom as in heaven.
…What can we learn from these recent years? Might it be that our preaching and teaching has not helped us engage with the core ideologies of our time? Has it not given us the kind of theological tools necessary to begin to critique the system we find ourselves part of—whether the context you find yourself in is a school, a bank or a factory?…
Perhaps our disciple-making has helped people operate honestly within the system but failed to help us think critically about the system—let alone seek to change the system. And that, of course, could apply to almost any workplace or institution we find ourselves in—an education system that generates anxiety about performance as opposed to joy in learning, a workplace that fosters a blame culture, or is so relationally arid that there is no sharing of wisdom and experience about the business, never mind joy in working together.
…Where, we might ask ourselves, are there tensions between the values of the kingdom and the values of the organisation we are in? Where are there good outcomes to affirmation where are there terrible consequences to lament and seek to reverse? Where are people treated with the honour appropriate to those created in the image of God and where are they treated as units of production? Where does good practice in one country blind us to exploitation in another?
Lord, give us eyes to see, wisdom to act, and boldness, if necessary, to sound the trumpet in the place where you have called us."