What is a Kingdom Family?
Kingdom Families are a legitimate micro-church within the Rock Laramie congregation and the Rock Tribe family of churches. They consist of 5 to 20 men, women, and children. They enter into a long-term connection of love around Jesus and with one another to become mature disciples of Christ andto advance Christ’s kingdom on earth.
Within each Kingdom Family are J3s, which are Jesus plus three people (could be 2-5). Matthew 18:19-20 While each Kingdom Family will have their own personality and emphasis, there are core essentials necessary for being a “full-service” Kingdom Family or micro-church within Rock Laramie. (Acts 2:42-47; Acts 4:32-37; Matt. 16:18; Heb 10:24-25)
Here are the essentials of a Kingdom Family:
1. Kingdom Families are a spiritual family – people connected heart-to-heart around Christ to advance His kingdom and help each person become like Christ. They are ecosystems of grace, a highly transformative culture and environment of love, affection, joy, and peace. I Cor. 4:15-17; Eph. 3:14 Kingdom Families include J3s = Jesus plus 3.
2. Kingdom Families are a group of friends unified around Christ’s love and mission. Mt. 11:19; Jn. 15:12-17
3. Kingdom Families are a healing community that prays for the sick, counsels the confused, carries out inner healing, sets people free from curses and demonic bondage, and creates such an atmosphere of acceptance and love that rejection and insecurities are displaced over time. James 5:16; Matt. 10:1,8
4. Kingdom Families are a training and equipping center, a safe setting for people to practice leadership, management, preaching, teaching, creative ministry, spiritual gifts, and all forms of servanthood. Matt. 28:18-20
5. Kingdom Families are a missionary team and spiritual army – a flexible, spontaneous, organized platoon capable of reaching those who do not follow Christ and are not in a spiritual family. They are dedicated to seeking and saving the lost, delivering people from demonic bondage, doing justice, and serving youth, poor, widow, orphan, and alien. Lk. 10; 19:10; Eph. 6:10-18
6. Kingdom Families are a lifestyle of deep, intentional, meaningful relationships that connect at any time and place with an ultimate goal to reach lost people, and transform communities through Christ and the Kingdom of God. Acts 2:42-47, 4:32-35.
7. A kingdom family experiences the down, up, in, and out love of God’s Spirit such as: the Word, Holy Spirit empowering, Praise & Worship, Equipping, Teaching, Support, Discipleship, Encouragement, Prayer, Outreach, Evangelism.
What will we do in our Kingdom Family?
• We will grow in the five key areas of discipleship: 1. Christ, 2. Community (Family) 3. Character 4. Calling 5. Competency
• We will carry out five Kingdom activities: 1. Belonging – both to the Trinity and as sons and daughters in healthy natural and/or spiritual families. Our true identities as sons & daughters are shaped as we belong to God’s Family. This involves building joy-strength, secure attachments, and love bonds. 2. Believing – in God and His Word as revealed in the 66 Books of the Bible. 3. Becoming – healing, growing, and maturing into Christ’s likeness in the context of family. 4. Building – fulfilling our mission, calling, and destiny in the kingdom. 5. Battling – operating in our spiritual authority to displace demonic influence with the rule and reign of Jesus Christ and His kingdom.
• We will activate five kingdom passions: 1. Be with Jesus. 2. Be like Jesus. 3. Love like Jesus. 4. Do what Jesus does. 5. Go into all the world and make disciples of Jesus within natural and spiritual families (Kingdom Families with J3s = Jesus plus three).
• We will attempt to grow in all five levels of maturity, and fill maturity gaps. 1. Infant, 2. Child, 3. Adult, 4. Parent, 5. Elder(Colossians 1:28; 2 Cor. 3:18) We believe that true discipleship involves emotional and relational health and maturity = love. Loving God by loving those who feel like enemies is the “gold standard” of Christian maturity. Matthew 5:43-48
• We will live from God’s empowering presence & grace through: 1. The Word, 2. The Spirit, 3. The Family
• We will help one another love like Jesus, which means we will heal and mature emotionally and relationally.
“It’s impossible to be spiritually mature, while remaining emotionally immature.”
Peter Scazzero
• We will understand these words and practice these expressions of love as disciples in the kingdom, because love looks and feels like something:
1. Immanuel – God is always with us, Immanuel Lifestyle,Immanuel Encounter, Immanuel Journaling, Christ, Lordship, Cross, Shed Blood of Christ
2. Immanuel Healing (aka inner-healing, healing of the heart)
3. Word of God, Bible, Authority of the Word, Believing the Word.
4. Grace = God’s empowering presence, Grace-Fueled, General grace, Saving grace, Sanctifying grace, Great grace.
5. Holy Spirit – being led and empowered by the Spirit, Fruit of the Spirit, Character, Wisdom & Revelation of the Spirit, Power of the Spirit, Gifts of the Spirit.
6. Trinity = Father, Son (Jesus Christ), Holy Spirit
7. Family = Natural & Spiritual, Father’s love, Mother’s love, Kingdom Family, Multi-generational Family, Family Identity, Group Identity, Identity Group
8. Gentle Protector & Provider, Servant Leader
9. Hesed = Covenant, Long Term Secure Attachments, Love Bonds, Stick-together Affection, Love, Joy and Peace, One Heart & Mind, Fear Bonds
10. Relational Circuits = Open, soft, and connected hearts
11. Thought Rhyming with God = conversational prayer, hearing God’s voice.
12. True self & Acting Like My True Self, sonship, identity, new creation person, Last Adam
13. False self – Flesh (Sarks in Greek), Stopping the Flesh, First Adam
14. Abiding in the Trinity, In Christ, Christ in You, Mystical Union with God, Intimacy with God
15. Belonging, Connecting, Attaching, Attachment Joy, Attachment Pain
16. Believing
17. Becoming
18. Building & Calling
19. Battling & Spiritual Warfare
20. Trauma, Trauma Pain, Trauma A (absence), Trauma B (Bad)
21. Insecure Attachments, Insecure Attachment Styles: a. Dismissive, b. Disorganized, c. Anxious
22. Stages of Maturity: a. Infant, b. Child, c. Adult, d. Parent, e. Elder, f. Maturity Gaps
23. Joy, Joy-fueled, Shared-Joy, Joy-strength
24. Capacity, Building Capacity
25. Overwhelm, Overwhelming
26. Relational Skills (19): a.) Share joy, Glad to be with you, Delight, Sparkle in the eyes, Greeting with affection, b.) Soothe myself, Peace & Simple Quiet, c.) Form bonds of two, d.)Create appreciation, Gratitude, Gratitude Story, Golden Memory, e.) Form family bonds, f.) Identify heart values from suffering, g.) Tell synchronized stories, Four-Plus Story, h.)Identify maturity levels, i.) Take a breather, j.) Tell nonverbal stories, k.) Return to joy from the six big feelings, l.) Act like my true self in the six big feelings, m.) See what God sees = Godsight, n.) Stop the flesh (sark), o.) Quiet interactively, p.)Recognize high and low energy responses – parasympathetic and sympathetic. q.) Identify attachment styles, r.) Intervene where the brain is stuck: Five distinctive levels of brain disharmony and pain, s.) Recover from complex emotions: Handle combinations of the six big emotions,
27. Endure hardship well,
28. Attunement, Active Listening, Curiosity,
29. Validation,
30. Healthy Shame Message, Toxic Shame Message,
31. Helpful Feedback,
32. Narcissism,
33. Paying attention to what our bodies are doing and saying.Facial expressions and body language,
34. Six Big Warning Emotions (Sad, Angry, Disgusted, Shame, Anxious, Despair), Returning to Joy (relational connection)
35. Enemy Mode, Recovering from Enemy Mode
36. Enduring Hardship Well
37. Relational Brain, Left Brain, Right Brain, Whole Brain
38. Nonreactive, Staying in Peace, Nonanxious way of being, Triggered
39. Co-regulate, Synchronize
• We will play, celebrate, eat together, take communion, tell stories, laugh, cry, hurt, forgive, do relational repair, and all the other beautiful, painful, and messy things families do.
Commitments and expectations of a Kingdom Family members:
1. Committed disciple of Christ (evidenced by time, energy, finances, and affections that are under the Lordship of Christ).Matt. 28:18-20 Where our treasure is…there is the heart. Matthew 6:21
2. Humble, hungry, teachable, transparent, admit weakness. Willing to understand and practice Word, Spirit, and Family Love. Willing to understand, and grow in emotional and relational health and maturity.
3. Active and eager participation along with regular attendance.
4. Will flow in the down, up, in, and out love of God. (Word, Spirit, Worship, Prayer, Fellowship, Encouragement, Support, Outreach, Evangelism, Discipleship.
5. Active in a J3.
6. Emerging leader – willing to make disciples, be a facilitator and eventually a spiritual parent of a small Kingdom Family.Servant leadership starts with facilitating a J3.
7. Is in unity with the vision, values, culture, general strategies, and leadership of Rock Laramie.
What is a possible relational rhythm of the “down, up, in, out” love of God when we gather as a Kingdom Family?:
1. Greeting = Exchanging love, affection, and delight in our faces, body language and words. (Ro. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14)
2. Meal – may include gratitude stories, check-ins and updates, Lord’s Supper (Eucharist).
3. Praise & Worship – may include prayer, singing to the Lord, ministering to the Lord, Psalms, dance, etc.
4. Interactive time in the Word of God.
5. Interactive time with the Holy Spirit. (Immanuel Encounters, Listening to the Holy Spirit, Immanuel Journaling).
6. Sharing what Jesus is saying through His Word and Spirit.
7. Practice relational skills.
8. Pray the Luke 10:2 prayer for laborers to the harvest. Prayer, Care, Share Lifestyle.
9. Bless each other.