How are Things in Your Part of the Kingdom Vineyard?

One of Jesus’ favourite pictures to describe his Father’s Kingdom was that of a vineyard.

So, using that picture as a backdrop let me ask you, “How are things in your part of the Kingdom vineyard?”

In his book One.Life, Scot McKnight has wonderfully summarized the Kingdom of God as, “God’s dream for the world, coming true.”

God looks at the world, in its fallen state, and desires it to be much, much better.

Jesus referred to this dream as “the vineyard”.

And he desires that each of his followers, as well as churches and ministries, produce a maximum Kingdom yield in the vineyard; that people would become his followers, that injustice would be overcome, that poverty would be alleviated.

For example, at The Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada our portion of the vineyard is largely defined as developing Christian leaders so they’ll reach their Kingdom potential.

Similarly, other fantastic ministries are called to work in neighbouring portions of the Kingdom vineyard.

Three examples would be our “national partners” for the 2012 Global Leadership Summit. This year we are working for the first time with The Bible League of Canada. Joining us again are our friends at World Vision Canada. And also returning is Compassion Canada.

Each of these ministries works tirelessly and effectively in their respective corners of the Kingdom vineyard.

In 2010 and 2011, I was privileged to travel with World Vision Canada to experience their work in South Africa. (You can read some of my reflections from those experiences in my blog post here.)

This week, I am in Quito, Ecuador, experiencing the ministry of Compassion Canada. In the coming days I will share some of these experiences with you in upcoming posts.

My point is that whether you’re talking about The Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada, our partners, or each of us individually, we all have a responsibility to faithfully serve in our part of God’s Kingdom vineyard.

This brings me back to my original question. How are things in your part of the Kingdom vineyard?

I would urge you to reflect on that question this week, even as I do the same here in Ecuador with my friends from Compassion Canada.

Because when we get this question right, the Kingdom win can be huge.