Thy Kingdom Come

In Part ,1 we established that God has designed the Christian household to be the headquarters for God’s Kingdom on earth.  It is the primary instrument for advancing His rule and reflecting His glory.  From the very beginning, God chose humans to be His “image bearers” - representatives meant to extend God’s rule, God’s culture, and God’s order to all His Creation.  

But importantly, this is not a single-player game.  God doesn’t expand His Kingdom by conquering nations with tanks or treaties; He does it by claiming households and transforming them, by His Spirit, into Kingdom outposts. 

To live like an outpost, we must now turn our attention from the why to the how. God doesn’t leave us without guidance here, but to hear Him clearly, we will have to examine His Words and His original design, scrutinizing our longstanding traditions and paradigms in the spirit of semper reforma.  

In the first century, “gospel” wasn’t a religious word; it was a political one. The Greek word, euangelion, was a public announcement of a successful military campaign, the birth of a new king, or the ascension of an emperor. It was a “breaking news” alert that fundamentally altered the reality for everyone living under that new ruler. 

When Jesus entered the scene proclaiming the “gospel of the Kingdom,” he was using language that everyone understood: a new King had arrived, a new order had been established, and His reign was now breaking into the world. This is what it means to preach the gospel: to proclaim the good news that a better King has arrived and He is ushering in His Kingdom. Align with Him and His good, gracious, and wonderful rule.  

Theologically, we live in the tension of the "already and the not yet." While we know that "there is not a single square inch in all creation for which God does not declare, 'Mine!'" (as Abraham Kuyper famously noted), we also recognize that we are "sojourners and exiles" (1 Peter 2:11). The systems of this world—its "shadow governments"—are currently subject to spiritual principalities and powers operating in rebellion against God (Ephesians 6:12).

This means a Christian household isn’t just a place of residence—it is contested territory. It is a piece of Kingdom ground, a forward-operating outpost where God's culture and rule are lived out in the middle of a spiritual war.

So, practically, what does that mean? This is not merely a religious metaphor. What does it mean to proclaim a territory for a Kingdom?

Imagine a foreign power—let’s say, China—conquering North Carolina. What would change goes well beyond the creation of a new label on the  map or a change in shipping address.  

First, the very rules by which we live would be rewritten. The freedoms we usually take for granted would be replaced by a Social Credit System. Your ability to go on vacation, buy a house, or even use the internet would depend on a “Loyalty Score”—if the government doesn't like what you say online or who you hang out with, they simply cut off your access. You wouldn't really own anything anymore; even your home in Asheville would belong to the State, and they could take it back whenever they decided you weren't following the rules.

In addition to law reform, our cultural practices would change.  Baseball games might give way to table tennis matches. Our New Year celebration would evolve, changing dates, and dragons would become a common decoration.  Instead of hamburgers and hotdogs on July 4th, we would eat sticky rice dumplings as we watch racers at the Dragon Boat Festival.  Even our daily interactions would reflect our new culture. It would soon be taboo to enter a home with your shoes on, and the informal "y'all" would be traded for a strict hierarchy of titles that constantly remind you of your place in the social order.

Maybe most profoundly, however, gradually but surely our very identities would change.  We would immediately become “Chinese,” but over time, our language would change and with every chorus of the Chinese National Anthem, our collective identity would change.  Since history is written by the victors, over time we would begin to believe that our Chinese “ancestors” liberated us from our American oppressors.  

In the same way, when a household is claimed as an outpost for God’s Kingdom, its way of life (discipleship/laws), its culture (mission), and its identity (worship) are transformed to reflect the King and His Kingdom. The household becomes a living testimony of God’s reign, radiating His love, justice, and grace.

At Asheville Hope, we have chosen to express this mission through the statement:

Asheville Hope exists to equip and encourage households 

to be outposts for the Kingdom of God

in discipleship, mission, and worship. 

Below, we outline practical strategies and tactics to center the household in our ministry model. These guide what we do, what we prioritize, and how we act. This framework is not exhaustive or fixed—it will evolve as we grow in wisdom and discernment.

2. Reshaping Identity:  Your Household as a Vanguard for Mission

The most effective weapon of an occupying power is to make the occupied people forget who they are. Currently, American Christians suffer from a profound identity crisis. We have been conditioned to see ourselves as "church-attenders" or "consumers of religious content" rather than the vanguard of a Kingdom.

In military terms, a vanguard is the forward unit that makes first contact with the territory they are claiming. If we are "citizens of heaven" (Philippians 3:20) living in occupied territory, we must stop asking how to "fit in" and start asking how to represent our King as Ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). Our outposts are not bunkers to hide in; they are bases from which we launch our mission.

At Asheville Hope, we believe the reason our mission often stalls is that we are trying to fight a spiritual war with the mindset of a civilian. To move from a "bunker" mentality to a "vanguard" mission, we must identify the hurdles that have crippled our identity.

Strategic Hurdles to the Mission

To live as kingdom vanguards in this spiritual war, households must overcome obstacles that stall their advance. These missteps dim our mission, turning homes into bunkers, not battle-ready outposts radiating God’s love and truth. Here are six hurdles that keep us from charging forward with boldness and purpose.

1. A Misdefined Gospel: Personal Salvation, Not God’s ReignIn Jesus’ day, “gospel” was a herald’s shout of a new king’s reign, transforming all of life (Mark 1:14-15). We’ve reduced it to “salvation when I die,” splitting spiritual from physical. This boxes faith into a corner, ignoring the call to storm the world with God’s rule through homes and daily rhythms.

   
   

2. An Identity Crisis: Spectators vs. AmbassadorsWhen the gospel is purely personal, the household becomes a private retreat rather than a mission base. We settle for "pew-sitting" once a week, forgetting that an ambassador is never "off duty." Our homes remain idle because we have forgotten our commission.

   
   

3. A Misidentified Enemy: People vs. Sin and Death Our misdefined gospel and passive identity lead us to view neighbors as threats, fighting cultural or political foes instead of true enemies: sin, death, and spiritual powers (Ephesians 6:12). By compartmentalizing faith, we see the world as a danger to our salvation, closing doors to love. This blocks hospitality, turning homes from mission outposts to bunkers.

   
   

4. A Confused Mission: The “American Dream” vs. the KingdomA gospel fixated on my salvation, my identity, my benefit fuels a me-centered mission. We chase personal success, enjoyment, and legacy—our own spotlight. This flows from our misdefined gospel and passive identity, distorting God’s call to advance His kingdom through love and service (Matthew 28:18-20). Households prioritize self, not spreading His reign to transform lives.

   
   

5. Flawed Strategy: “Come and See” vs “Go and Infiltrate"Because we have forgotten who we are (ambassadors, soldiers), our strategy isn’t to make more soldiers. It is to make more churchgoers.  We have equated evangelism with inviting a friend to church, rather than inviting outsiders into our homes and hearts, where transformation shines (Acts 16:15).  In this war, our tactic falters, relying on the church to do the work intended for each household.

   
   

6. Ill-Equipped for Battle: Prayer, Community, and MoreBecause we don’t see our homes as being on the front lines, we have stopped training. We neglect the “weapons of our warfare" – prayer, deep community, and radical hospitality (Colossians 4:2). We are like a vanguard unit that has run out of ammunition because we didn't realize the territory was actually contested.

   
   

At Asheville Hope, we exist to equip and encourage households to overcome these hurdles. We want to move the headquarters of the mission back to where it belongs: the dinner tables, the living rooms, and the neighborhoods of our city.