The Church and the Kingdom of God: Ordinary people entrusted with extraordinary callings

Several years ago, I walked out of our garage to find our then 8-year-old daughter power washing the fence along the driveway. She’d never power washed anything before. She’d only seen me do it, which must have piqued her curiosity. 

Somehow, her tiny little frame hauled the machine out, got it all hooked up and was somewhat managing to control the force of the water’s recoil to not knock her to the ground as she “kind of” washed the fence. 

I say “kind of” because if you’ve ever power washed anything, you know how it goes: miss a spot, and it’s obvious. In fact, it’s almost worse than if nothing had been power washed at all. It goes from uniformly dirty to now streaky and splotchy. I knew that if I let her continue, it would actually create more work for me to have to come and fix her mistakes. Work I was not planning on doing. Everything inside of me wanted to grab the wand from her and just do it myself. 

There is a natural tension in that moment. It would be faster, cleaner and more efficient to simply take over. It would have been easier. But it would not have been better. 

Because the goal was not just a clean fence. It was also her growth. 

How would she learn how to power wash a fence if I deprived her of the opportunity by just doing it myself? 

Becoming, not producing

In the same way, God’s work in the world is not driven solely by efficiency. It is shaped by formation. He invites people into participation — not because He needs help, but because He is forming something in them.

It cannot be overlooked that Jesus entrusted the work of the Kingdom into the hands of ordinary people.

Fishermen.
Tax collectors.
Shepherds.

And He continues to do the same today. Parents. Teachers. Coaches. Students. You and me. Normal people entrusted with the things of the Kingdom. This reveals something important about how God works.

His primary interest is not just in what we accomplish, but in who we are becoming. God works through people — imperfect, flawed people. And just like any Father, He finds great delight in watching His children learn and grow and be formed.

Why this matters for church engagement

Understanding the Church this way changes how we approach engaging individual churches.

If the Church is first an institution, then engagement often becomes a matter of strategy, systems and organizational alignment. We begin thinking primarily about structures, programs and decision-making processes. Those things certainly matter, but they are not where engagement begins.

The Church — the body of Christ — is first a people.

That means every interaction with a local church is ultimately an interaction with human beings. When we sit across the table from a pastor, we are not meeting with an institution. We are meeting with a person. A person carrying responsibilities, pressures, hopes, disappointments and concerns that may never be fully visible to us. The same is true of elders, ministry leaders, volunteers, foster families and church members. We are never not engaging humans.

I’ve found that this reality is easy to forget in church engagement work. Over time, it can become tempting to think of churches collectively rather than personally. 

We talk about “getting churches involved,” “mobilizing churches” or “engaging churches,” and without realizing it, we begin speaking about the Church as though it were a system to influence rather than a people to understand and help form.

But pastors are not obstacles to overcome. They are shepherds.

Most of them are carrying far more than we can see. They are walking with families through crises, navigating leadership challenges, preparing sermons, caring for hurting people, managing competing priorities and trying to faithfully lead the congregation God has entrusted to them. When they seem slow to respond, hesitant to engage or cautious about new opportunities, the explanation is often more complex than simple disinterest.

Leading with empathy and curiosity 

That’s why the longer I’ve worked alongside churches, the more convinced I’ve become that effective engagement begins with empathy. 

Before asking how we can help a church engage with our mission, we should first seek to understand the mission that church is already carrying. Before presenting opportunities, we should understand the pressures they are already navigating. Before expecting movement, we should take time to understand what faithfulness looks like in their particular context.

When we see the Church primarily as a people rather than an institution, our posture toward individual churches begins to change. We become less transactional and more relational. We become less focused on what we need from churches and more attentive to what churches need from us. We become more patient, more curious and more willing to listen before we speak.

That shift may seem subtle, but it changes everything that follows.

Because church engagement is not ultimately about gaining access to organizations. It is about building trust with people.

And trust grows best when people believe they are understood, valued and cared for long before they are asked to do anything.

Outposts of presence, not transaction

This is also why Jesus’ departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit matter so much for understanding the Church. When Jesus told His disciples He was leaving, they were understandably troubled. Yet He repeatedly assured them that His departure was actually for their good. He would send the Holy Spirit, who would dwell within them and empower them for the work ahead.

In one sense, Jesus was leaving. In another sense, His presence was multiplying.

No longer confined to one physical place, the Spirit would now work through ordinary men and women who followed Him. The mission would advance through people. The ministry would continue through people. The presence of Christ would be carried into homes, neighborhoods, cities and nations through people filled with the Spirit of God.

The Church has always been that people.

Not perfect people.

Not powerful people.

Not people who always get it right.

But ordinary people who are being formed, and through whom God has chosen to make His presence known in the world.

And if that is true, then every conversation with a church leader, every interaction with a congregation and every effort to mobilize churches begins with remembering who the Church actually is.

Not first an institution.

A people.

– Jason Johnson is the National Director of Church Engagement and Mobilization at CAFO.

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Looking for more guidance and practical wisdom to help you engage churches in your community?

Check out Effectively Engaging Churches, by Jason Johnson, for more insights and practical tools.

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