Sunday, January 22, 2012

A latter/prophectic church movement

After being exposed to Kingdom Valley Ministries, Oak Forest, Illinois, where the anointed ministry of the recording-artist Shekinah Glory is based, I was enlightened. I knew there was a difference in this worship, unlike and unmatched to anything previously experienced. After attending a few more services and with a little research, I am learning what the difference is. I have learned that many churches across this nation are uniting and praying around the 7 Mountains…As a result, not only do I have a renewed purpose but a better understand of the real purpose of the latter day church. In another post, I will elaborate more on the seven mountains. However, the days of “church as usual” are no more. God is calling for the “Ecclesia,” a church greatly different from the typical congregation we find in America today. The following information was inspired from the web site http://7mountainstrategy.com/blog/.
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus calls for the formation of the ecclesia, a ruling body that governed the “polis” or city-state. This is a goal for those who would be His disciples. The goal involves a kingdom on earth that would have binding and loosing powers. This goal involves the governing of the heavenly principalities as stated in (Ephesians 3:8-10, 6:10-18). Not only is this trait lacking in many believers but many seemingly fail to believe this power is possible with men. As a result, the goal of transforming earthly communities has not resulted. We are not seeing the full manifestation of God’s kingdom on Earth. Another example of how this ecclesia should differ from the typical congregation can be found in Hebrews 10:25.
In other words, the church should not function just to fill seats for church growth on Sundays. The church should have a united agenda to turn this world order upside down (Acts 17:6). There is an extensive history, starting in the late 19th century, where the church serves only as a place for the rescuing sinners for a secluded life leading to heaven. The church lost a major part of the mission to change and engage the world. The church took on a mission to  resist and protect herself  from the world.

God is calling His latter day church to do something much more radical: Engage the world, govern it and affect the culture. Yet according to the web site mentioned above, “Church attendance in this nation is at an all-time high; however, cultural effectiveness is at an all-time low!” What wrong with that picture?
The church is supposed to disciple nations with global influence as listed in Genesis 1:28 and Matthew 28:19. As a result, when churches focus continually inwardly instead of outwardly, Para-church ministries have to be established to reach neglected city communities…Smaller-sized church tend to have more cultural influence than a “mega-churches. Could it be that many mega-churches are have become gathering places with very limited influence in the heavenly and earthly realms?
So here is a test to see if your church is making an impact, functioning as an ecclesia or as a typical American congregation. Is your church concerned with:
  • Being comfortable and conforming to the status quo?
  • Having a personality-driven leadership at the top or having the vocational calling of all its members? 
  • Training people for all of life or just church life?
  • Changing the surrounding community or only the individual souls?
  • Being at war against demonic entities in the heavenly spheres or simply at war with each other?  
  • Sending people out to serve their communities or calling for communities to attend Sunday worship experiences.
  • Bringing the kingdom of Heaven to earth or just satisfying their members with joy in their hearts. 
  • Being sanctified to serve others or being saved for the sake of sanctification.
  • Preaching that Jesus rose from the dead to “fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10); or that Jesus rose from the dead merely to save individuals from hell.
  • Influencing each of the seven cultural mountains of society or not influencing any, never having even heard of the mountains?

Monday, January 16, 2012

Why this Blog

Welcome- When my writings are not sporadic but instead tied to a purpose, I rejoice. I have written about several topics, all of the seemingly unrelated. So when I consider the purpose of this blog as a platform to publish, I have to consider the central theme of why I write. I also need to consider what the reader can expect to receive by reading this blog.

I wrote in 2012 that the purpose of this blog has been altered to replace an older one that I published called, Bridgethegulf@blogspot.com... I changed to this format to broaden the scope. The new name, cnickersonbolden.blogspot.com, better speaks and identifies and purpose of these writings. These writings are a reflection of who I am and what I've been created to do.

I have one book out on Amazon, Bridging the Gulf: Understanding and Ministering to Hip Hop Youth. That book offers direction and encouragement to those entering youth work. But that book is not all that I desire to talk about. For that matter, I have written about a great lesson in Black History in another book, Indiana Avenue: Black Entertainment Boulevard. My next book seems unrelated to everything else. It's called, Prayer Wheel Churching. So for that matter, the domain name needs to speak of all things one can expect from C. Nickerson Bolden in 2012 and beyond.

However, in 2014, I have gained understanding of Biblical language that describes what I do, the work of mercy called "rescuing the captive." Certainly our young people are in a state of captivity when its hard to succeed in school, stay out of jail, live without a father and find a job. I firmly believe that the history of the thing can certainly help understand the solutions for present problems. And I also believe in the importance of prayer as a solution to being rescued. So all of these writings do tie together in  light of my mission to rescue the captive. Hopefully that is your mission too and these writings will bless you in the process.
God bless and look for more in 2012