Christianity is Good News! And the Good News of Christianity is not just that our sins can be forgiven and we can go to heaven when we die. That’s Good News, to be sure, and it’s an important part of the message we as Christians will declare throughout the coming year.

Jesus is making all things new, bringing light, truth, joy, purpose, excellence, wonder, and goodness into every area of human life. He is doing this through His people, whom He has entrusted with a joyous proposal for full and abundant life in Jesus.

That proposal is the Kingdom of God, in all its energy and brilliance. Jesus is giving His Kingdom to all who believe in Him and seek His reign in every area of their lives. We propose to our pragmatic and uncertain age a reality that is sure and unshakeable, eternal and filled with goodness, and fraught with promise and blessing for every human being and all of creation.

Let’s not be shy about proposing this Kingdom to the people in our lives in the year ahead. At the same time, let’s not be pushy.

We can talk about the Kingdom of God and share our experience of it without condemning those who aren’t quite ready to receive it, and without shutting off opportunities for additional conversations in the future. There is a time and place for preaching. But for most of us, making known the Good News of God’s Kingdom will not be done through preaching – if we do it at all – but through winsome, respectful, excited conversations, as we share with our friends and co-workers our experience of the living Jesus Christ.

Are you making plans to improve your own outreach in the year to come? Do you have someone who will pray with you, study with you, and hold you accountable for extending the joyous proposal of the Kingdom of God to the people in your Personal Mission Field? Now’s the time to be getting ready to take your place in a movement of God’s Spirit, a movement which is even now gathering momentum, a movement which will work to bring more of the presence of the Kingdom to more of the people, places, and cultures of our world in the years to come.

You won’t want to miss out on your part in this developing movement. God can use you to make the joyous proposal of the Kingdom of God a free and inviting offer to every person you meet in the coming year.

Here are some resources and activities to help you take the next steps in offering the joyous proposal fo the Kingdom to the people in your life.

Resources for this topic

Christopher W. Cowan, “The Kingdom of God: Present Reality of Future Hope?”
Matt Guerino, “God Rules”
Gregory Koukl, “8 Witnessing Tips”
T. M. Moore, “Godly Conversation”
T. M. Moore, “Kingdom Come”
T. M. Moore, “The Reasonableness of Faith”
David Naugle, “Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God”

Be sure to order your copy of our new DVD series, Doing the Right Thing. Here’s a great resource for understanding why the world cannot do without the underlying assumptions of a Christian worldview.

Next steps:

1. Develop a plan for strengthening your relationship with the people you see each week, in all the places where you go. Those you don’t know, get to know. Learn and use their names. Make a point to take an interest in their lives and backgrounds. Become a better listener. Begin to pray daily for these people. Look for opportunities to engage them in conversations. If they’re believers, encourage them to come to The Colson Center to learn more about the joyous proposal of the Kingdom of God. If they’re non-Christians, share your experience of knowing King Jesus. Find someone to share your plan with who will pray with and for you as you carry it out.

2. Make copies of some of the resources listed above and give them to several of your friends. Invite them to coffee, then show them this week’s Two-minute Warning on “The Great Proposal.” Have a discussion about how you might help one another be more effective in offering this joyous proposal to your friends in the year to come.

3.  Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities.

A conversation starter
Here’s a conversation starter you can use with non-Christians: “You know, it occurs to me that most people don’t really understand what Christians are proposing in the Gospel. What do you think?”

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