8 Priorities That Must Shape Every Kingdom Community
If you're part of a kingdom community, these aren't suggestions. They're the ground you build on.
There’s a moment every church leader knows. The vision is clear, the calling is real, but the path forward is anything but obvious. Where do you even begin? What deserves your attention first? What gets built now and what can wait?
I’ve identified eight priorities that separate thriving movements from well-intentioned gatherings that slowly lose their fire.
But before we get to strategy, we need to settle something foundational.
Kingdom culture begins with a King.
Everything we build, every structure we erect, every vision we cast must flow from one reality: Jesus is Lord. A title with weight. A claim with consequences. The one who holds “all things together” (Colossians 1:17), in whom “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Colossians 1:19), and who must have “the preeminence in everything” (Colossians 1:18).
That word, preeminence, is the Greek prōteuōn. First place. Supreme rank. The one from whom all authority flows and to whom all things return.
Paul’s vision of Jesus in Colossians 1 is staggering. He is the image of the invisible God (v.15). The firstborn over all creation (v.15). The one through whom all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities (v.16). Before all things, sustaining all things, heading all things. And then: “that in everything he might be preeminent” (v.18).
This is the Jesus we are building around. The sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, who has been given “all authority”(Matthew 28:18), before whom “every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:10), and who is even now seated “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (Ephesians 1:21).
A Kingdom community is one that has submitted every other thing: structure, culture, mission, money, leadership, ambition, to His Lordship. That’s the foundation. Build on anything else and you’re building on sand (Matthew 7:26), no matter how impressive it looks.
1. Cultivate a Christ-Centred Community
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” — Luke 9:23 (ESV)
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” — Philippians 1:21 (ESV)
Kingdom culture doesn’t happen by accident. It has to be intentionally built and consistently protected, because every community drifts, and it always drifts in the same direction: toward the preferences of the loudest people rather than the priorities of the King.
The practical question isn’t theological. It’s diagnostic. Look at your calendar, your budget, your Sunday gathering, your leadership meetings. What do they actually reveal about who is Lord here?
Jesus was unambiguous about the cost of following Him. “Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow me.” This is the posture of a Christ-centred community, one where self is dethroned and Christ is enthroned, in confession and in practice. Where the cross shapes how leaders lead, how members relate, how conflict gets resolved, and how decisions get made.
Paul lived this out. For him, Christ was the atmosphere he breathed, the logic that ordered his existence, the one in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). That kind of radical Christocentrism is what distinguishes a Kingdom community from a religious gathering.
A Christ-centred community is one where Jesus is the life of the gathering, where Paul’s confession, for me to live is Christ, is a community value lived out, not framed on a wall.
Ask yourself:
Is Jesus first in our decisions and finances, or only in our language?
Does the way we lead, resolve conflict, and make decisions actually reflect His Lordship?
Would a newcomer encounter Jesus here, or a well-run religious organisation?
Practical moves: Run a regular “Lordship audit” of your programs, asking the harder question: is Jesus actually Lord of this? Develop leaders around the cross-shaped values of the Kingdom: humility, sacrifice, servanthood, generosity. Build a consistent rhythm of corporate worship and prayer that nothing else bumps.
2. Build a Kingdom Culture
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” — Matthew 6:33 (ESV)
“The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” — Romans 14:17 (ESV)
Christ-centred community is the root. Kingdom culture is the fruit.
Jesus came preaching one message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). The Kingdom was His central theme, His governing reality, the lens through which He interpreted everything. He taught His disciples to pray for it, seek it first, and give their lives to its advance.
The Kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God breaking into human history through Jesus Christ. Where the King is present, the Kingdom is present. And where the Kingdom is present, everything changes. The blind see. The captives are freed. The poor hear good news (Luke 4:18). Death itself is defeated.
When a community genuinely submits to the reign of Jesus, a distinct culture begins to form. There is no competition for glory, because all glory belongs to Him. There is no grasping for position, because the greatest among us is the servant of all (Mark 10:43). There is no fear of sacrifice, because the cross is our daily posture.
Kingdom culture is marked by righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, the lived atmosphere of the community. It’s generous where the world is acquisitive. It’s honouring where the world is self-promoting. It’s other-centred where consumer culture is relentlessly self-serving. It looks, in short, like the Sermon on the Mount lived out in community (Matthew 5–7).
This culture doesn’t maintain itself. It requires leadership that models it, structures that reinforce it, and a willingness to name and correct drift when it happens.
Ask yourself:
What does the atmosphere of our community actually communicate to someone walking in for the first time?
Where is worldly culture shaping us more than Kingdom culture?
Are our leaders modelling Kingdom values, or just managing an organisation?
Practical moves: Identify the two or three Kingdom values most at risk of drift in your context and build deliberate practices around them. Preach and teach on Kingdom culture regularly. Create feedback mechanisms so leaders hear honestly how the culture is being experienced.
3. Create Authentic Community
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” — Acts 2:42 (ESV)
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” — John 13:35 (ESV)
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.” — Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV)
