Interview 113: Is Missions Work ‘Kingdom Building’?

We are picking up again with an interview from the May/June edition of FrontLIne, which is on the theme, “The Future of Missions.”Our conversation today is with Keith Kobelia, one of the professors at Faith Baptist Bible College and Seminary in Ankeny, Iowa. His article is called “Is Missions Work ‘Kingdom Building’?” We’ll get into the details of that in the discussion.What Keith is doing is laying some groundwork for our Biblical philosophy of missions. It seems there is a lot of confusion among broader Christianity that includes all kinds of different relief efforts and addressing social needs as “mission” work. While sometimes those sorts of things have value in getting an audience for the gospel, they aren’t the same thing as fulfilling the Great Commission.Keith is calling for a Biblical understanding of the Kingdom in contrast to the Great Commission. Our mission is the Great Commission. The Kingdom as such comes later, and our efforts should be focused on making disciples and building up the Lord’s church.We’ll turn to our conversation next, but let me remind you that Keith’s article is available on our Substack right away for paying subscribers. We have previews for everyone else. I hope you will join with us and support the ministry of the FBFI by becoming a paying subscriber.The Contents & Editorial for the May/June FrontLine:FrontLine: The Future of Missions – Proclaim & DefendThe Article:Is Missions Work “Kingdom Building”? Get full access to the Proclaim & Defend Podcast at proclaimdefend.substack.com/subscribe