Where does your faith show up?
When I first heard this, I was like, What are you talking about? Then it was explained to me. A church person walks out their faith on Sunday, in a small group, and maybe in a bible study. A Kingdom person seeks to follow Jesus in every part of life and join Jesus in building His Kingdom as we go.
After reflection, I understood the concern. But the more I considered it, the more I questioned the categories. Why do we make commitment to the church and wholehearted obedience to Christ sound like competing ways to be a Christian? It’s a personally integrated faith in following Christ in everything they do. The key is everything. Kingdom people are constantly on mission, and they walk out their faith, or functional theology, in everything they do. Work. Personal. Downtime. Always inviting Jesus into these spaces, inviting the Spirit into those situations, and obeying what the Lord wants.
Functional theology: what our lives reveal about what we believe.
A Church Person
First, let’s talk about a church person. These are faithful saints attending, serving, and maybe deep in community. This can quickly get into a Christian bubble. Your friends attend your church. You only do things with people from church. You compartmentalize your spiritual life from the rest of your life. Instead of Going and Making Disciples, you’re hanging around other Christians and becoming a better Christian. There is no ministry of reconciliation outside of your Christian circle. Plus, are your coworkers reading you, or reading Scripture through your actions?
Some things to consider:
- Does our faith shape how we handle a difficult employee?
- Does our faith influence what we promise a client?
- Does our faith change how we use authority, power, respond to criticism, or treat someone who cannot help us advance?
Do not misunderstand me. Being a connected member of a local church is not the issue here. It’s more about how your walk and witness show up beyond church circles. Our church community can become a bubble when it is the only place we express our faith. Are we growing together in ways that prepare us to love and serve others? Or are we becoming increasingly comfortable staying within our circle?
A Kingdom Person
We should not make the church the boundary of our obedience. We also shouldn’t make the Kingdom an excuse to avoid belonging. This is also beyond evangelizing a lost neighbor or co-worker. This is about living an integrated faith, walk, and witness the entire week. Jesus cared about the marginalized. Do we?
In the Gospels, we see the almighty, powerful God not lead and invite by power, but by invitation, followed by humility and servant leadership. Paul speaks about the aroma of our faith. I always ask myself. Is my walk like honey that is sweet and attractive? Or ammonia that is pungent and that we do not want to be near. A Kingdom person walks and witnesses in a way that is gospel-fluent even to the nonbeliever. That person feels the love and grace of Christ through the believer’s words and actions.
Now What?
For me personally, I have to remind myself almost daily to invite the Lord into these non-church spaces and places. Lord, what do you want me to do today? Who are you bringing into my path? Prayerfully ask for words of wisdom and boldness to speak those words. Yet give me discernment and patience to know when to listen.
An integrated faith doesn’t require a church or ministry context to be active. It influences our work, decision-making, promise-keeping, conflict resolution, and care for others. We don’t need to turn every conversation into a sermon. Following Christ should naturally affect how we engage and our behaviors present ourselves.
For me, this comes back to living a fully integrated life with Christ and His mission. This gets expressed as:
- Am I asking the Lord for wisdom before a difficult conversation or situation?
- Does following Christ change how I respond to criticism?
- Or how I approach making a promise to a client?
I don’t want my faith to be something I practice only in church contexts. I want my faith to shape my work ethic and how I treat the people in front of me.