The Denominational Celebration will be held in Dallas, Texas, U.S. on July 23-26, 2026.
Kingdom Living is participatory, relational, and missional.
Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” As citizens of the kingdom and co-laborers with Christ, we are sent into the world to reflect his light. Kingdom Living requires awareness of our calling and our context, seeing our neighborhoods, vocations, and even our sufferings as places where Jesus reigns and sends us.
Kingdom Living is not passive. it is a bold proclamation and a tangible demonstration. We not only speak of the reign of God, we show it. Our words align with our works. As image bearers, our relationships become a visible witness to the reality of the kingdom being ushered in.
During this gathering, we’ll explore what it means to live as kingdom people, active participants in God’s mission, deeply rooted in community, and shaped by the presence and authority of Jesus.
By Al Kurzawa, Pastor Morwell and Seaford, Victoria, Australia
Did God leave us anything to do?
Have you ever volunteered and shown up to the job ready with gloves and tools in hand, only to find out that the work was already completed? You’ve set aside time to help only to be told to relax because everything is already done. The parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:24–30) and Jesus’ explanation of the parable (verses 36–43) can leave us feeling this way after our first read through. A quick recap shows who does all the action in this parable and it’s not us. We find Jesus has already sown the good seeds, the enemy has sown the weeds, the servants ask a couple of questions, and in the end the harvesters (the angels) collect the weeds at harvest and burn them. If we assume we are the good seeds, the people of the kingdom, we are left with only two passive things to do: shine like the sun and whoever has ears, let them hear. I guess we all got dressed up in our overalls for nothing!
In most of Jesus’ parables, there is an “aha!” moment after we have spent some time wrestling with it. Following some rough-and-tumble grappling, we find in this parable both the good news of the kingdom and a formidable and challenging opportunity for us as citizens of that kingdom. The good news is that the Son of Man has sown the good seed, and he has sown that good seed throughout the entire world.
Between the parable of the weeds and its explanation are the parables of the mustard seed and yeast that clue us in that the kingdom can seem small and hidden, but it is always growing and permeating the entire world. This is a good reminder that it is not for us to judge or decide who is or is not a citizen of the kingdom. The wheat and weeds are so similar and intertwined that we can do much damage if we try to make those judgements when God has told us he is the one that will take care of the sifting. We are to serve all our neighbors, all those we encounter, as good seed that has been sown by God. All humans are made in the image of God.
Even though most of the action seems to have been performed by others in this parable, the Son of Man does give us something to do. And this action is a lot tougher than it first appears. The man tells his servants, “Let both grow together until the harvest.” Let’s geek out on the Greek for a minute. The word “let” in this passage in the Greek can mean permit, suffer, let, or forgive.[i] Let them grow together or possibly suffer together. How does it challenge us when we think of it as “suffer together?” Is this the call to action in this parable for us as citizens? If we love our neighbor as our self, if we love one another as Jesus loved us, if we pray for our enemies, if we live as the beloved children of God, then at times we will experience suffering in this lifetime.
We may be experiencing suffering right now. When we open ourselves up to serving others, caring for others’ needs, loving others, then we also allow ourselves to be vulnerable and open to suffering. Here we were thinking all the hard work was done with the seeds already being planted and the angels taking care of the harvest! But we find in this simple term, “let, permit, suffer together,” our calling and challenge as citizens of the kingdom as we participate in Jesus’ mission to the world by serving those around us.
We are comforted knowing the kingdom will reach its fullness and the harvest will come. Jesus assures us that through our suffering and our participation in his plan of “let them grow together,” God is at work in mysterious ways that only he can accomplish. Our acts of service and our shared suffering for the kingdom will be transformed into moments of glory that will shine like the sun in the fullness of the kingdom. He who has ears, let him hear.
[i] William D. Mounce, Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament. Accordance electronic edition, version 4.6. Altamonte Springs: OakTree Software, 2011. See also Robert Farrar Capon, Parables of Kingdom, Grace, and Judgement. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), 90ff.
The Grace Communion International (GCI) is still seeking a qualified applicant for a full-time position in the Home Office in Charlotte, NC, U.S.
The Assistant Operations Coordinator position is currently available, and applications are being accepted. See the job description here.
If you would like further details on the position or would like a GCI job application, please contact Human Resources at humanresources@gci.org or 980-495-3960.
Please share this announcement with qualified candidates who may be gifted for this position at the Home Office.
“Prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.” — E.M. Bounds
Halfway through 2025, we pause to give thanks and seek God for what’s ahead. The July Prayer Guide helps you reflect, intercede, and stay connected to what God is doing across our church family.
The Grace Communion International (GCI) is still seeking a qualified applicant for a full-time position in the Home Office in Charlotte, NC, U.S.
The Assistant Operations Coordinator position is currently available, and applications are being accepted. See the job description here.
If you would like further details on the position or would like a GCI job application, please contact Human Resources at humanresources@gci.org or 980-495-3960.
Please share this announcement with qualified candidates who may be gifted for this position at the Home Office.
By Bill Hall, National Director of Canada Winnipeg, SK, Canada
Not too many of us in the Western world live in an agrarian society. For instance, although I’m surrounded by farms in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, I am an urban dweller. As a result, we may have some issues trying to understand various parables that have first-century agricultural overtones.
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Looking at this parable found in Matthew 13:3–28, Mark 4:1–19, and Luke 8:4–15, we see Jesus’ conversation with the crowd on the lakeside is divided into three parts:
Jesus shares the parable.
Jesus explains why he speaks in parables.
Jesus then explains the parable to his disciples.
In his story he speaks of a sower casting seeds that fell on inhospitable and hospitable ground. Some of the seeds fell on the path and were eaten by birds; some fell on rocky ground and, while sprouting, couldn’t survive exposure to the elements. Other seedlings were choked out by weeds, and finally some seed fell on good soil and flourished into a bountiful harvest.
Reflecting on his words, even with my limited agricultural knowledge, it is obvious that what Jesus is describing in this parable is not how to be a successful farmer. A successful farmer would value every seed and give it the best opportunity to flourish. To do the opposite would be fool-hardy and a waste of valuable seed.
Instead, Jesus is describing something about the kingdom that is ushered into the world with his coming.
N.T. Wright explains that this message, with the interpretation given to the disciples (Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23), had a very prophetic meaning regarding Jesus’ ministry:
The Sower, in other words is not simply an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, a moral lesson about listening carefully. … It is full of the music of the Kingdom, the new song of God after the long silence of exile. It encapsulated Jesus’ challenge to his contemporaries to be Israel, because God was at last ‘sowing’ them again; and the warning that if this final word was not heeded the alternative would be catastrophe. [1]
Certainly, the Gospels give many examples of how Jesus’ words and actions were perceived differently by various individuals and groups. Some celebrated his coming, while to others, such as the religious leaders and the empire that was Rome, he was a threat to the status quo.
In his interpretation to the disciples (after he explains the reason for parables), he is not actually talking about seeds as much as the “type” of soil on which the seeds fell (Matthew 13:18-23).
As people who are reading these words over the shoulder of first-century disciples and their contemporary situation, modern Christians can learn some important lessons.
First, as we reach out into our neighbourhoods with the message of the kingdom, Jesus’ words help to explain why not everyone we develop a relationship with will respond to the kingdom message. The parable also helps to explain that even those who become disciples can get distracted and move on sometimes.
This can be very disconcerting. However, I find in Jesus’ words something very encouraging. The fact is, long before we encounter people in our neighbourhood, the Spirit is already preparing some to be the soil ready to accept the gospel. Could we be that person, in partnership with the Spirit, who plants the seed resulting in them becoming a part of that bigger harvest?
Secondly, I find encouragement from the reflections of David Lose. He calls God the “reckless sower,” because from our perspective God is a farmer who throws seed with abandon where three-quarters of the seed appears to be simply wasted. He adds:
Why does this shift of focus matter? Because as we give our attention to the crazy abandon of this ridiculously wasteful farmer, we get a hint about the character of the kingdom Jesus preaches. It is a place where God’s love and God’s word are scattered with equal abandon, with no regard for how any of it will be received. It’s as if God just can’t help but share love and grace and mercy and will do so recklessly, even wastefully, because God alone knows that grace is never exhausted, and love never wasted. [2]
Let us all participate with God as “sowers” in our own right to share his love, grace, and mercy in our neighbourhoods. More than ever our neighbours need to feel the touch of God’s kingdom in their lives!
[1] (page 86, Twelve Months of Sundays: Biblical Meditations on the Christian Years A, B & C, Morehouse Publishing 2012)
Two full-time positions are now open at the Grace Communion International (GCI) Home Office in Charlotte, NC, U.S.
The Legal Coordinator and Assistant Secretary to Board of Directors position is currently available, and applications are being accepted. See the job description here.
The Assistant Operations Coordinator position is currently available, and applications are being accepted. See the job description here.
If you would like further details on the position(s) or would like a GCI job application, please contact Human Resources at humanresources@gci.org or 980-495-3960.
Please share this announcement with qualified candidates who may be gifted for any of these positions at the Home Office.
By Al Kurzawa, Pastor
By Bill Hall, National Director of Canada
