Kingdom Influence and Kuyper (Part 2)

It’s 2021. We are living in a time when there is a battle for the soul of our society. Negative news and threats bombard us. However, in the midst of all of this, God still rules over the entire universe, and he’s conquered sin and death in Christ. The questions is: how should the church and christians influence society? Over 100 years ago, Abraham Kuyper offered a profound answer to this question. (See “Merry Kuyper Christmas” blog post to find out more about Kuyper)

How should the church and Christians influence society?

Abraham Kuyper’s idea of sphere sovereignty was different than the Roman Catholic understanding of kingdom dominion demonstrated most clearly in the 12^th-15^th centuries. In a medieval, Roman Catholic understanding, all spheres of society were only kingdom-ized when they were controlled by the church. A people, even a whole country, was not in good standing with God unless they complied with the Bishop of Rome, the pope. The clearest and most famous breakdown of this took place under the rule of Henry VIII in England.  Henry wanted to annul his first marriage and re-marry. He thought his first wife was incapable of giving birth to a son, an heir (he didn’t know about modern genetics). He thought a new wife would give birth to a son. So, he petitioned the pope of that time to annul his marriage. When his request was refused, he used it as his reason to break away from the Roman Catholic Church, form the Church of England, and make himself the head of the church. Consequently, the pope excommunicated Henry and placed an interdict on the whole nation of England. In other words, all of England was no longer a part of God’s kingdom and therefore could not receive salvation according to the Roman Catholic Church.

In contrast, Kuyper contends that each sphere has its own, God-given life and unique function that is separate from the church.[1] The church is its own cultural domain that is meant to influence the rest but not absorb them.

Let’s think about this a different way. What does the business sphere look like when it is fully discipled and manifesting the kingdom of God? Certainly 24/7 church services is not the answer. Altar calls and worship gatherings, while powerful, don’t directly bring goods and services to market to benefit society. Therefore, the business sphere, fully manifesting God’s kingdom, still looks like business: offering useful good and services in exchange for money or other goods and services.

For too long, we naively conflated a full expression of the kingdom of God with a revival church service. A powerful, Spirit-filled church service is certainly an important starting point for kingdom movement. However, it is not an effective or appropriate expression for other God-created spheres of culture. Instead, God calls believers to advance his kingdom in these domains through his love, supernatural wisdom, biblical values, and the message of the gospel.

The church’s role is to equip believers to be effective in their sphere of calling but not reduce their calling to participation in church.

The church’s role is to equip believers to be effective in their sphere of calling but not reduce their calling to participation in church. Believers must do the hard work of translating kingdom truths into formats and mediums that make sense in their calling context. Sunday’s sermon must be synthesized into Monday morning’s board meeting. Wednesday night’s prophetic altar ministry needs to be creatively applied to Thursday night’s parent-teacher conference.

“Thus the Church receded in order to be neither more nor less than the congregation of believers, and in every department the life of the world was not emancipated from God, but from the dominion of the Church. Thus domestic life regained its independence, trade and commerce realized their strength in liberty, art and science were set free from every ecclesiastical bond and restored to their own inspirations…”

Dr. Abraham Kuyper- Lectures on Calvinism

Activation Prayer:

“Father God, what will my sphere of influence, my workplace, my family, or neighborhood, look like when your kingdom influence is in full effect? Give me a vision of from your heart. I thank you for the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit that you generously give so I can accomplish all that is in your heart.”

[1] Kuyper, Abraham. Lectures on Calvinism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005.