A Look at Stetzer's 'Subversive Kingdom'

It’s not often (or ever really) that you will see a book reviewed on this blog, but I recently came across the latest book from Ed Stetzer called Subversive Kingdom. I wanted to take a few minutes and fill you in on Stetzer’s main idea, and what he thinks we as Christ followers should be doing about it. 

Stetzer lays out his main idea in Chapter One in speaking of the Kingdom of God as a ‘Subversive Kingdom’. He says this: “As Christians, we don’t join an illegitimate rebellion. Instead, we live for King Jesus in contrast to those around us. We live in loyalty to the very One the world rebels against. We’re in rebellion against the rebellion.”

This could be a scary view for many, thinking that Christians are out to ‘take over’ and turn our world into a Theocracy, but they would be missing the whole point of what Stetzer means by ‘subversive’. His argument is that, in small ways, the Christ followers of the world would rebel against this rebellion with love. Simple acts of love and kindness that radiate the grace of God and the glory of the gospel to a broken and helpless world.

Stetzer gets this more than most, and he’s willing to get beyond the idea of the Kingdom of God (though it’s well explained), to lay out what it really means to be a part of the Kingdom of God. It doesn’t involve us hiding in our churches to avoid the influence of the world, or openly attacking the world for it’s rebellion against God. Rather, we share the good news of Jesus by living a life of love out in the world that God purposefully placed us in. It seems like such a simple premise, but it’s one that Christians rarely do well.

His last section is a practical plan of action for those willing to live this life of subversion. Using the teachings of Christ and the apostles, he lays out what our individual role is in this mission of subversion. We play an important part if we are going to see the gospel really take hold in our communities and our world. We must be willing to come out of hiding and get out in our neighborhoods. We must care for those we work with, avoiding the wars that pop up so often. We must be persons of peace for the sake of the gospel. We must be subversive.