Author: Aaron

Notes re: Document: THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM (v 3-19-2014)
For a few years I have been trying to answer the question. “What was the Good News of the Kingdom  that Jesus came to preach?”  I did some studying and at first came up with an answer that I thought was reasonable: “The Kingdom of God is here and it is available for everyone.”  I was not satisfied so kept looking at scripture, asked several people to give me their answers and did a lot of reading.  The only person who replied was Mark who wrote me a two- three page answer which I thought, “This is too long”
Then at the last meeting, Martin challenged me to put together a statement of core beliefs that might be a document that we could all agree was strictly salvation issues and no “ traditions” content.  I had coffee(tea) with Mark to get some advice from him.  We discussed mainly 1. . Who would it be written for?   And 2.  Why would we write such a document (ie what would we use it for)? The answers to those questions formed the concept of the document.  We discussed the feasibility of a document that it could be written not only for the benefit of the group processing to form a new faith community but also could be written for the benefit of new prospective pre-Christians seeking the truth in our community, or, ,even as a tool for evangelism (gospeling).
The next morning I woke up early and had some possible answers. I was a bit excited about the potential.  The document should contain the Good News of the Kingdom (The whole Gospel message) in as concise a form as possible. It would not only contain The Gospel-“The Story of Israel” coming to its resolution in “The Story of Jesus” but also “The Story of the Church”   How did we get from the time Jesus returned to Heaven, to this generation, right now?   And very importantly, what should the church be doing right now to advance the Kingdom?
So, the Gospel Story is based on the Mark’s writings to me 2 or 3 years ago  in answer to my question about the Good News of the Kingdom!  Mark and Chris graciously reviewed the progress of this document and recommended  various changes and improvements.
There are some other parts that were based on statements used by other denominations and slightly modified.  The writing I did, was based on researching Scripture and reading other Christian writers on the subject. (Primarily “The King Jesus Gospel”, Scot McKnight)
My intention is that this document could be the statement that not only defines who we are and who we will be, why we gather and what we believe, but could be sufficient to move to the next steps.  It could be “ Our Statement of Core Beliefs”  AND “ Our Vision Statement “ which would lead us into the extensive work already done by the group  ie  “Our Guiding Principals” .   I have included it in the whole document with some recommended changes which perhaps could be considered and complete document from which we could move into proposed “Action Steps”

Blessings
Aaron