“If Christianity was only about finding a group of people to live life with, who shared openly their search for God and allowed anyone, regardless of behavior, to seek too, and who collectively lived by faith to make the world a little more like Heaven, would you be interested?”

Hugh Halter, co-author of The Tangible Kingdom, posed that question to Don, a man who claimed to love God but had been burnt by organized church. The heart behind the invitation is very different from what many churches communicate. The message from these churches and Christians to non-Christians tends to be, “You suck. You’re going to hell. Ask Jesus into your heart and everything will be great.” There is an equally distorted expectation communicated to Christians: “Now that you’re saved stop living like or associating with all the bad “wordly” people.”

Rooted in these two offensive messages is one common misconception of the Christian invitation. Many believe that the Christian life is all about being saved from hell and escaping this crazy screwed-up planet for heaven as soon as we die. The invitation from Jesus recorded in the Scriptures is quite different.

Rather than avoiding all the bad “wordly” people Jesus left the glories of heaven, took on flesh, and lived among broken people. He invited them into relationship with the Triune God where they could find restoration from the Father, have an advocate in Jesus, and then be empowered by the Spirit to make the Kingdom of God real for people today.

The Christian life is so much more than having a cool place to go after you die. It’s about living a life today where people can experience in tangible ways the Kingdom of God , and having the hope that one day we will fully realize the Kingdom of God on the new heaven and earth.