Discussion Questions

David Bercot says “kingdom Christians” take the Sermon on the Mount literally and see Christianity as “an obedient love-faith relationship with Christ”; how does that definition challenge the way your church typically talks about faith, salvation, and what “the essence of Christianity” is? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Bercot says “kingdom Christians” take the Sermon on the Mount seriously and see Christianity as loving Jesus and obeying him. How does that challenge how your church usually talks about faith, salvation, and what Christianity is mainly about?

Bercot argues that the early Christians before Nicaea were “all kingdom Christians” and yet “converted people right and left” who had “no belief whatsoever in the God of the Bible”; what assumptions about God’s power, the Spirit’s work, and the plausibility of radical obedience seem to have been normal for early believers but are often absent in kingdom churches today? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Bercot says the early Christians (before Nicaea) obeyed Jesus boldly and still converted many people. What did they seem to assume about God’s power, the Spirit’s work, and obeying Jesus that many kingdom churches today don’t assume?

Using the parable of the talents (Matt. 25), Bercot warns that saying “it’s too hard” to convert unbelievers puts us in the position of the servant who hid the money and was cast into “outer darkness”; what emotions or objections does that warning stir up in you, and what does it suggest about how Jesus views non-participation in kingdom work? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Bercot says saying “it’s too hard” to reach unbelievers is like the servant who hid the money in the parable and was judged. What feelings or pushback does that raise in you, and what does it suggest Jesus thinks about not joining in kingdom work?

Bercot rejects the modern reading of “talent” as natural ability and insists the parable is about entrusted “money” to “do business” for the kingdom; how does this reinterpretation change the way you think about accountability to Jesus, “calling,” and the idea that “my gift isn’t evangelism”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Bercot says the “talents” are money entrusted to us to use for the kingdom, not natural skills. How does that change how you think about being accountable to Jesus, your “calling,” and the idea that “evangelism isn’t my gift”?

Bercot says effective evangelism must be a “full-time vision” embedded in “every service, every program, and every decision,” and he compares “tacking on” evangelism to strapping wings onto a man instead of designing a bird; what current church practices (schedules, service format, budgets, activities) reveal that your congregation is built primarily around meeting insiders’ needs? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Bercot says evangelism should shape every service, program, and decision, not be an add-on. What parts of your church’s schedule, services, budget, or activities show it is mainly designed to serve insiders?

In his Jehovah’s Witness examples, Bercot describes moving Sunday services to make Sunday-morning door-to-door outreach possible and structuring meetings to feel like a public lecture (no opening prayer/singing, no collection plate, built-in intermission); what does this reveal about their view of outsiders, and what parts of their outsider-minded planning expose blind spots in how kingdom churches plan gatherings? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Bercot describes how Jehovah’s Witnesses plan services and meetings around making outsiders feel welcome and making outreach possible. What does that show about how they think of outsiders, and what does it reveal you might be missing in how your church plans gatherings?

In his evangelical examples, Bercot highlights “user-friendly” services, trained preachers, audiovisual aids, youth centers with brief repeated gospel messages, campus houses near universities, and Vacation Bible School that can function like “free babysitting”; which of these methods tempt you to dismiss them as compromise, and how would you distinguish “creative outreach” from “throwing out important teachings” to get converts? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Bercot lists outreach methods like “user-friendly” services, strong preaching, media tools, youth centers, campus houses, and VBS. Which of these make you worry about compromise, and how can you tell the difference between smart outreach and watering down important teaching?

Bercot’s second principle is that evangelism works best as a coordinated team effort, illustrated by Detroit Pistons’ five-man defense on Michael Jordan; where do you see “you’re pretty much on your own” in your church’s current approach to evangelism, and what specific team structures (training, pairing, follow-up, shared tools) would need to exist for evangelism to become normal rather than heroic? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Bercot says evangelism works best when a team does it together, not as solo hero work. Where does your church act like “you’re on your own” in evangelism, and what team supports (training, partners, follow-up, shared tools) would make it normal?

Bercot contrasts a kingdom-church “castle under siege” mentality (moats, walls, rules to protect children from the world) with the New Testament posture where “the world is the castle” and believers move outward so that “the world was afraid of them”; what concrete rules, standards, or cultural habits in your church function as “walls that keep other people out,” and what might a “happy medium” look like that preserves holiness without suffocating mission? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Bercot says some churches act like a “castle under siege” that keeps the world out instead of moving outward toward the world. What rules, standards, or habits in your church feel like walls that keep people out, and what would a better middle ground look like that keeps holiness without killing the mission?

Bercot’s third principle is having a vision that can be “encapsulated and marketed,” comparing evangelism to selling encyclopedias (“people don’t buy a product, they buy a story”) and contrasting the “story” offered by Jehovah’s Witnesses and evangelicals; if you had to explain kingdom Christianity in a paragraph that an unbeliever would genuinely want to embrace, what would you say—and what in your current “story” might sound like mere preservation, insider language, or bad news rather than “gospel of the kingdom”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Bercot says a church needs a clear “story” people actually want to join, not just insider talk. If you had one paragraph to explain kingdom Christianity to an unbeliever, what would you say, and what parts of your current message might sound like insider language, bad news, or just trying to preserve your group?