A Glimpse of the Kingdom

Good morning, bonjour, buenos dias, bom día, mangwanani akasaka, mbote. I am writing to share the news of an international Congress breaking out at the Charlotte Temple Corps — every Sunday!

Amid our regular, ordinary lives, on a regular, ordinary Sunday, the Kingdom of God revealed itself in a small, yet extraordinary, way. We have been given a glimpse of that ultimate reality into which God is reshaping our world through the work of Christ and His Church.

In his book, “Walking the Theological Life,” Dr. Tim Gaines says, “Even as we await the fullness of God’s realized time, theological courage is boldly singing of what God has done in Jesus Christ, speaking it confidently into a world that is yet unfulfilled.” This is how we choose to step out in faith. I want to share a small moment from the Charlotte Temple Corps as a way of “singing with theological courage into a world that is yet unfulfilled.”

It was a seemingly unimportant encounter, but it was really the very Kingdom of God realized in our midst — a glimpse of the way things will be when Christ comes and reclaims his bride, the Church.

We recently had a new visitor at the Charlotte Temple Corps. Luis grew up in The Salvation Army in Peru, went a little wayward, and had not stepped foot inside a Salvation Army building for 15 years. Our corps sergeant major (who speaks excellent Spanish) and I (who downloaded Duolingo once) spoke to Luis for a few minutes before he left, promising to return the next Sunday.

I was absolutely delighted when Luis came back. In fact, he also returned later in the afternoon for the Soldiers’ Rally. After the service, I told Luis I wanted to introduce him to Munya. I thought that, though a slight language barrier might exist, the two of them could bond over their love of professional soccer.

We ended up in a circle: five men who had come together to worship at the Charlotte Temple Corps, sharing a few minutes of fellowship and spiritual encouragement. It was not until later that I realized the incredible thing the Lord had done.

I was there from North Carolina, speaking my native (and only) language, English. To my left was Solaire from the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose native languages are French and Lingala (among others). To his left was Munya, Spanish soccer aficionado from Zimbabwe. Munya speaks English as a native but would have grown up speaking Shona at home. To his left was Benjamin, a new addition to the corps who has been coming for less than a year. He grew up in Angola speaking Portuguese. And finally, to Benjamin’s left, and my right, was Luis. Luis speaks Spanish natively and says he learned all his English working at McDonald’s in Charlotte.

In our little circle, talking about faith, life, language, and the ways God has used The Salvation Army in each of our stories, we had representatives from five nations, six languages, and three continents.

It is easy to feel discouraged these days, occasionally observing the ways we seem to be losing ground in this eternal battle we fight. We have even felt like we have been in a little bit of a slump at our corps lately. But I could not help feeling grateful that the Father saw fit to give us a small glimpse of the Kingdom of Heaven here at the Charlotte Temple Corps. In some small way, we saw God’s Kingdom made real in our midst.

I praise God for the work He is doing at our corps to bring people together from all tribes, nations, and languages to sing together, “Worthy is the lamb who was slain.” And I look forward to the day when we all sing together in Glory.