A Taste of the Kingdom: Re-Imaging and Re-Articulating Kingdom Community

Modern churches find themselves in liminal cultures, requiring new understandings of ecclesia (re-imaging) and new approaches to communication (resigning). They also find themselves in the midst of a collapse of traditional community realities, including neighborhoods. The express intention of this researcher of lifetime PNW zip-codes is to encourage and inspire Pacific Northwest Jesus gatherings to reimage kingdom community. Each zip code contains unique cultural components, all of which need the life-giving inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. My contention is that when Jesus gatherings re-image kingdom community, freshly articulate ecclesiology, and appropriately flavor their communities with local terroir, each zip code will receive a lifegiving taste of the kingdom. Incarnating the gospel and re-imaging community in these cultures means being willing to employ appropriate changes to orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Thus, each of the first three sections, beginning with a description of the problem and potential solutions, will include research and ideation specific to theology, ecclesiology, sociology, and context. Section three presents the project thesis and accompanying convictions, including a number of recommended practical outcomes. It is important to note that the research insights which will be reported were not exclusively discovered in the local church, nor will their applicable value be limited there either. The Appendix features the first eight chapters of a book (cultural artifact), which intends to expand and develop the findings and practical outcomes introduced in the Written Statement. The proposed thesis and project title, A Taste of the Kingdom, will be embraced and espoused in the artifact. Sections 4, 5, and 6 of the Written Statement will give a brief introduction to the development, distribution, and target audience of the book and will include financial, marketing, and literary specifications