When many of us hear the word Christianity, our minds leap straight to personal conviction and private belief. We’ve been trained—by our culture—to keep the gospel tucked safely in the “heart” realm, as though it were a delicate thing unfit for the public square. But that is not the full gospel. That is a shrinking-down, a thinning-out—a distortion of the sweeping implications of Christ’s work, the Father’s love, and the Spirit’s power.

Isaac Watts captured the broader vision far better in his beloved hymn:
“He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.”

And the curse, of course, is everywhere. It groans in our marriages, our workplaces, and our anxieties. It shows up in our schools and governments. But the gospel isn’t merely a vitamin for individual souls. It is a world-renewing force. It touches everything. This is why we see Jesus caring for the poor, giving sight to the blind, and forgiving sinners stumbling toward Him. His hands are in every corner of human life. And He continues that work through His church. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus promises to build His church and declares that the gates of hell and the power of death will not prevail against it. He even tells Peter that what is bound on earth will be bound in heaven. In other words, the church is God’s chosen instrument for ushering the kingdom of God into the here and now.

The church is a kingdom outpost—a bright signpost glowing in the world’s darkness, an instrument of grace for a weary planet, and a foretaste of the coming heavenly kingdom. It proclaims God’s gospel in both word and deed. Like Jesus, it works in the thick of real life.

And as Christ stands as the head of the church, the same resurrection power that raised Him from the dead is now at work in us—pulsing, pushing, transforming—as far as the curse is found.

We want to light the glowing sign that is Christ’s church. We want to shine into the darkness. We want to plant churches that proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior.