Society (Domains of Society)
What is Society?
Society is composed of groups of people who work within their own areas of expertise or “domains”. Society is the structured system of organization for large-scale community living.
These core structures of society do not change.
The people working within these domains meet the basic needs of society and keep it functioning.
Why is the Society so important?
The domains of society become crucial in the transformation of a city.
Those who assume leadership in these spheres of influence have the potential to completely reshape their city, its values, priorities, and practices.
The Scriptures teach that domain leaders function with a delegated authority from God (Romans 13 / Government as a domain / Given authority to execute justice).
God is sovereign over domains, intends to transform all of creation into a new created order at the restoration of all things (Revelation 19-22) and is in that process now as his people preach and heal.
In directing his people to bless their cities and the nations of the world, God is calling us to engage domains as a way of seeing God’s kingdom come to people and entire cities.
How does this concept look in real life?
Kingdom mindset question: “What if the church were the missionary?”
The Great Commission was and is given to the church, not just individuals.
In the 18th century, missions focused on biography .
In the 20th century, missions became institutions and organizations.
HERE IT IS: In the 21st century, missions translates to Kingdom—it’s everyone, everywhere and every infrastructure.
There are multiple worldviews that are competing for the hearts and minds of people in all domains of society regarding society.
- Pagan / Pantheistic (everything is god and everything is spiritually good and we are trying to escape the bad cycle of life and get in touch with our inner self)
- Islamic (the whole world comes under sharia law)
- Institutional Church formed by Christendom (the church should have it’s own place for itself, be inward focused and the rest of the world is secular)
- Modernist / Humanist (everything is about man and the advancement of humanity’s betterment through the evolution of man and society)
- Biblical Christian (Creation/Fall/Redemption/Restoration)
God’s Plan from the Beginning: The Creation Mandate: Genesis 1:26-28
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
- Man was made to have dominion over the whole earth (every sphere of society).
- The fall made man more of a casualty of creation’s brokenness rather than a “subduer” of creation and society as a whole.
- When Jesus came, he broke the curse of the fall and began bringing all things back under his reign (Ephesians 1:7-10).
- Jesus has given us the keys of the kingdom (Matthew 16:18; Matthew 18:15-20), so we have the powerful good news to bring salvation and restoration to all nations.
Thinking about Jesus’ followers engaging every domain of society creates 4 key shifts.
- From needs to assets
This shift is one of mindset. This is not an organizational change or shift in processes, rather this is a shift in how we see each other as members of the community of the kingdom.
We move from asking what we need to evaluating assets to be given away in serving our individual and collective domains.
We move from asking: “what did you get out of the service today?” to “how can I engage my domain of society with the gospel of the kingdom?” (Going to give some application to that in a few points)
- From programs to domain engagement
This shift has organizational implications. This changes how we organize for work and what work is undertaken.
This is more Spirit-led as members of the community of the kingdom take ownership and responsibility for action.
You begin to ask questions like:
“What is my domain?”
“How can I begin to mobilize people in my domain who are in the kingdom to take this domain for the kingdom?”
“How can I partner with others to make changes in this domain?”
- From working for the city to working with the city or from simply funding the cross-cultural worker to partnering with the cross-cultural worker to get glocal resources in the work
This shift is one of relationships and expectations.
This changes how we interact with the community.
Here the church becomes more of a partner to help create solutions rather than simply a provider of a check or other resources.
It becomes a flesh in the game mentality.
We begin to realize that Father has placed valuable people resources in the community of the kingdom and those people are valuable glocally.
We begin to interact with other religions in the engagement of our society’s domains and get to make disciples!
Evangelism and great commission work begins to become natural (as well as part of the culture of a church) as we engage like this.
This multiplies the great commission work force because now everyone is a great commission disciple that can have impact locally and globally.
- From managing ministries to leading members
This shift impacts decision-making.
The decision is not what ministries are the pastors going to run, but what will the pastors do in releasing the body to supply it’s part in the kingdom.
Ephesians 4:11-16
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry (teaching, praying, engaging domains as examples), for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
The power of the kingdom is NOT contained in a few talented men, rather it is the apostolic genius contained in every follower of Jesus walking in step with the Spirit bringing the rule of Jesus to their domain.
4 keys to begin engaging domains
- We must believe Jesus came to bring redemption and deliverance to all dimensions of life and to restore the original intention of Genesis 1:26, “…and let them have dominion…”
- We must believe the role of serving and giving our lives for the sake of the kingdom in our domain is worth it. We must believe there is treasure in the kingdom of heaven for bypassing temporal gains here and now.
- We must have a passion to see Jesus as Lord over all domains of society. (Ephesians 1:10)
Application:
– Observe what is broken in your domain.
– Team up with other followers of Jesus to rethink / repair / reinvent process / revolutionize your domain.
– Make disciples in your domain.
– Bring those disciples to your church.
– Plant churches in your domain.
- We must actually begin to engage the domains of society to proclaim and heal because Jesus commands it
Matthew 25:31-46 (Matthew 10:5-10 – they were to proclaim the good news and heal)
Those who healed are also those who proclaimed. Jesus’ commands are not executed partially. There is not such thing is partial obedience. (Jesus focused on the “doing” in this parable because he has taught them “He who hears these words of mine and does them is a wise man…” – Matthew 7:24-27)
If you really seek to repair a domain and bring it under the rule of Christ, you’ve proclaimed the rule of Christ. Otherwise, you kingdom tactics make no sense.
Those who did not heal did not proclaim either.
Those who are gathered on the right inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world (25:34).
Those who are gathered on the left are sent to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (25:41)
Jesus has given us a mission. That mission’s success and completion is guaranteed. Let’s worship Jesus for that.
Psalm 147:1 “Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.”
Theology in the Dirt 