The following are the articles and stories from the October 2025 MIT Monthly newsletter. If you would like to sign up to receive this newsletter from the Missional Initiatives Team, you can fill out this form.
Making the Shift
From Empire to Kingdom
By Cam Roxburgh, VP of Missional Initiatives
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33 NIV)
There is a shift happening – and it is a good one. It is not complete, at least not in me. But it is underway, and I am ever so grateful for it.
I have pastored for over thirty-three years now. During that time, I’ve seen models of church come and go and been shaped by many different movements. But the shift I am experiencing now personally, in our church, and in many denominations, is perhaps the “most Christian” shift I have seen.
I was influenced by a strong leadership movement in my early years. Like others, I flocked to South Barrington, Illinois, for years to attend the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. The heart of that place was about doing the best we could to see people come to know a Jesus who would shape their lives. This passion for evangelism was admirable, but there were many subtle distortions of the Gospel.
I drank the Kool-Aid.
Inadvertently, perhaps even carelessly, we all rushed into believing in ‘Empire’ instead of the words of Jesus to ‘seek the Kingdom.’ We were seduced into living in the wrong story.
Here are some examples.
The Church Rises and Falls on Leadership – It was up to leaders to make their churches grow. We heard the message over and over that it all depended on us. The pressure was enormous. To be a ‘prevailing’ church, one had to become the very best leader, which was described by the top CEOs of businesses that had flourished and found their place in the Fortune 500.
Bigger Is Better – The message was clear. You were doing a good job if you could increase your sanctuary from a seating capacity of 5,000 to 7,500. The story of the last 100 years told us that bigger is always better. More, more, more! It was about systems of production.
Efficiency Is Crucial – There was a sharp focus on a church’s vision, mission and values. One had to be able to clearly articulate these things and have the church be able to recite them. Every ounce of energy and every moment of time was fixed on accomplishing the “ends and objectives” of the organization. I mean . . . church. The end had become more important than the journey and those with whom you were journeying.
Power and Control Are Important – The picture of the pastor as CEO had become front and centre. It was essential to demonstrate that the leader had control and made all the right decisions. Power was demonstrated in an ability to control the outcomes of meetings and the actions of the staff, always pointing the organization in the right direction. But this was power over. It was not a posture of servanthood, nor a practice of discernment.
Do the Right Things, in the Right Way, at the Right Time and Get the Right Results – If you boiled it all together, this was the clear message. This underlined the idea that I/we could do things in our own agency. While the words we spoke towards trusting in God, the actions we were encouraged to take emphasized the fact that it was up to us.
The point I am trying to make is not a critique of Willow Creek. That church was only a model of something that was pervasive throughout the evangelical world. The truth is, we were living in the wrong story. We had been conformed by the patterns of the world instead of being
transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Many will debate when this particular round of the story of ‘Empire’ began. Some say the enlightenment, while others point to factors in the early 20th century. Regardless, it is becoming clear that we’ve been stuck in the rut of living in this wrong story for a long time.
The shift that is needed is the one Jesus gave us in Matthew 6:33. We need to shift to living in the story of the Kingdom of God, and all that comes with that, instead of the story of Empire.
When Jesus told His disciples to ‘seek first’ the Kingdom, as Jews, they would have heard ‘seek only’ the Kingdom. The word ‘first’ was meant to be so far out in front of second that second was not even in the picture. We need to be rigorous in our evaluation of the story we live in. We need to understand and live into God’s Agency. We need a different definition of leadership, as well as the things that leaders should be doing. And we need, most of all, to become convinced that the results do not depend primarily upon us.
Make the shift.
A Local Story
God at Work around the Table
By Sara-May Cardy, Greenfield Community Church in Edmonton, Alberta
It was a Monday evening, and the room was full of chatter and the smells of homemade soup. Two cooking participants had started talking about art and then got out paper and pens and started drawing together. Others sat around talking about cultural cuisine, encouraging one of the participants to lead us in making some of their favourite dishes from their home country. Two others were talking about various things that are going on in their lives, while another graciously worked on some tidying in the kitchen. In the midst of the chopping and the stirring, our kitchen had become a space for people to feel known and seen.
As the group has gathered over the last year, I have been reminded many times of the importance of community and how much people are longing for connection. Our three goals with the collective kitchen have been to, 1) offer a space for people to learn to cook budget-friendly meals together, 2) create an opportunity for people within our local community to connect with one another, and 3) give those within our church community an opportunity to be the embodiment of the love of Jesus to our neighbours.
At this past cooking night, I couldn’t help but smile as I looked around the room and saw people ministering to each other (even if that’s not what they would call it). By providing a listening ear, encouraging a talent, and letting people know that their lives matter, we’re getting to show our neighbours that they are valued and we are here for them. I am thankful for these sacred moments in the midst of the cooking chaos, and I look forward to seeing how God continues to use those moments to bring people closer to himself.