The National Proclaim Hope! Campaign
National Campaign of Hope
The National Proclaim Hope! Campaign

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NINE THESES
behind the ministry of
PROCLAIM HOPE!

by David Bryant

Many have asked about the underlying assumptions on which PROCLAIM HOPE! is built. Actually there are nine which I call the “Nine Theses”. Here I offer you both a SUMMARY and an EXPANDED version.

THE SUMMARY VERSION

Thesis One
All Christians inherit everlasting hope in Christ based on the full extent of His supremacy and all that He is as Lord. This hope is one of God’s primary gifts to the nations through His Son.

Thesis Two
Christ dominates the focus of our hope: This defines the glory of His supremacy. He is the summation of Christian hope.

Thesis Three
Christ rules over the fulfillment of our hope: This defines the magnitude of His supremacy. He is the consummation of Christian hope.

Thesis Four
Christ embodies the fullness of our hope: This defines the riches of His supremacy. He is, therefore, right now, the approximation of Christian hope.

Thesis Five
Christ shapes the fervency of our hope: This defines the intensity of His supremacy. He is the consuming passion of Christian hope.

Thesis Six
A crisis of supremacy exists throughout the Church today: It is a crisis of Christology. It is the greatest crisis we face. It is robbing multitudes of Christians of the hope and passion toward Christ and His Kingdom that He rightfully desires and deserves. It is hindering the advance of His global cause.

Thesis Seven
This crisis of supremacy must be effectively cured. Hope and passion toward Christ, for all that He is, must be restored throughout the Church. In fact, the Spirit of God has already prepared many for this awakening. The time for a genuine Christ-awakening is at hand.

Thesis Eight
The cure for the crisis — the movement toward a Christ-awakening — consists of three initiatives: proclaiming Christ inside the Church for all that He is; taking Christians captive to the hope we have in His supremacy; and helping God’s people to get ready to be a part of greater displays of His Kingdom and its advances in our generation.

Thesis Nine
Since the cure ultimately encourages a wide-spread Christ-awakening, we need to launch a strategic initiative we call a National Campaign of Hope, that involves every committed believer assuming three critical roles: Messengers of Hope, Prisoners of Hope and Vanguards of Hope.

THE EXPANDED VERSION

1. I believe that . . . one of the greatest gifts God offers, both to His people and to the nations, is a comprehensive hope, for now and forever, based on the nature, character, ministry and victory of His Son. This hope is anchored in four great truths about Him: who He is as the Son of God, where He leads in the Purposes of God, how He imparts the Resources of God and what He receives from the People of God. This hope is defined by nothing less than the full extent of His supremacy. I believe that . . . for the Church to experience the deepest impact of God-given hope, our vision of Christ and His supremacy must be shaped and enlarged by nothing less than the thousands of Biblical promises and prophecies that give expression to His supremacy — that speak to the focus (on the Son), fulfillment (of His Purpose), fullness (out of His Resources) and fervency (from His People) of ALL that He is.

2. This is true because . . . every promise that Christ will fulfill when His supremacy is manifested in the consummation of all things, He embodies now, making Him the supreme hope for our generation, just as fully as He will be in the End. This is the glory of His supremacy — who Christ is right now as the Son of God, as the unceasing focus of all God wants to reveal of Himself and all He wants to accomplish for the redemption and transformation of His creation and His people.

3. This is true because . . . whatever Christ will be Lord of when His supremacy is fully manifested in the Consummation of all things, He is Lord of already, making Him the supreme hope for our generation now, just as fully as He will be in the End. To understand the magnitude of Christ’s supremacy that’s waiting to be displayed at the end of the Age, when all of God’s promises and prophecies will be totally fulfilled in Him, is to be compelled right now to follow and serve Him as He leads His people day by day into the fulfillment of God’s Purposes in Him.

4. This is true because . . . just as Christ will be seen as both center and circumference for the life of the redeemed when His supremacy is thoroughly manifested in the Consummation of all things, at this very hour He reigns as both the Church’s center and our circumference — once again making Him the supreme hope for our generation, just as fully as He will be our Final Hope in the New Heaven and earth. Accordingly, the Church lives in daily expectations of experiencing increasing approximations of the Consummation, on many fronts, right now, as we keep on entering more fully into the reign of God’s Son, living together each day in growing “intimacy with His supremacy”.

5. This is true because . . . one of the greatest displays of Christ’s supremacy is seen in the response of His people who behold His glory. They put their hope in Him as daily they consume Him and are consumed with Him. As I Peter 3:15 urges, Christians must “set apart [consecrate] Christ as Lord in your hearts”, standing ready to “give an answer to anyone who asks of them the reason for the hope that is in them”. Like Psalm 110 describes (in the most frequently referenced Old Testament passage by New Testament writers), “His troops will be willing in His day of battle” because they are convinced that He has sat down at the right hand of God, that His enemies are becoming His footstool, and that the Father is “extending His scepter to rule in the midst of His enemies”. Our fervency for His supremacy is one major dimension of how His supremacy is displayed and ratified.

6. Therefore, I’m convinced that . . . wherever this larger vision of Christ and His supremacy has been diminished and neglected in the Church — wherever Christians struggle with a shortfall of hope about God’s promises in Christ as well as succumb to sagging passion for the advancement of God’s Kingdom in Christ — we face a critical crisis. It is a shortfall in how we see, seek and speak about the person of God’s Son. It impacts every facet of the Church’s life of worship, prayer, discipleship, community, compassion, service and mission. And since the mission of the Gospel is the greatest hope God holds out to the world, any crisis inside the Church that impedes the advance of the Gospel must be regarded as the greatest crisis facing the world at-large! This crisis has sprung primarily because many believers have settled for the “centrality” of Christ (“Christ exists for me”), failing to move into the greater dynamic of the “supremacy” of Christ (“I exist for Him”). The Christian life is more than (though it includes) Christ being at the center of who we are, where we’re headed, what we’re doing and how we’re blessed (“centrality”). The Christian life is primarily about the Father’s plan to wrapped us into what He is doing with His Son — to keep us at the center of who Christ is, where He is headed, what He is doing and how He is blessed (“supremacy”). The failure to understand this distinction is the crux of the “crisis of supremacy” among today’s Christians. It is the primary explanation for many of the other “crises” that paralyze us, both inside and outside the Church.

7. Therefore, I’m convinced that . . . for the sake of God’s glory within His people and among the nations, this crisis calls for multitudes throughout the Church to be re-awakened, intentionally and thoroughly, to fresh hope and passion focused on Christ and the full extent of His supremacy — that is, focused on who He is as God’s Son, where He leads in God’s purposes, how He imparts God’s resources and what He receives from God’s people. God’s Son must once again become for God’s people the summation, consummation, approximation and consuming passion of all the promises, prophecies and purposes of the Father, for us and for the nations. In one sense, there needs to be a wholesale “re-conversion” of many of God’s people back to God’s Son for ALL that He is. I call this a “Christ-awakening”.

8. Consequently, I urge that . . . for the sake of God’s glory within His people and among the nations — in order to foster a Christ-awakening — committed Christians everywhere must begin to render to Christ strategic service on three fronts:

• We must proclaim among fellow believers a message of hope that redirects their faith toward Christ and His supremacy.

• We must awaken fully within fellow believers the power of hope that reignites their passion for Christ and His supremacy.

• We must empower fellow believers to join a campaign of hope that recruits Christians everywhere to reorder daily discipleship, individually and corporately, in a whole new experience of living under Christ and the full extent of His supremacy.

9.Consequently, I want to help envision, foster and serve . . . a broad-based "National Campaign of Hope" that is mobilized throughout churches of all denominations, summoning believers everywhere to foster a Christ-awakening movement, on both local and national levels, by implementing three critical roles:

• To become Messengers of Hope who take every opportunity, every day, to spread among fellow Christians a larger vision of the full extent of Christ’s supremacy and to give each believer they touch greater reasons to put their hope more fully in Him for ALL that He is. “Faith comes by hearing, and what must be heard is the message about Christ.” (Romans 10:17) “Christ is in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning every person and teaching every person that we might present every person complete in Christ.” (Colossians 1:27—28)

• To become Prisoners of Hope who expand and deepen their own vision of Christ, growing with a consuming passion for Him and the hope based on His supremacy, and allowing all of life’s experiences, including times of suffering, to enlarge their capacity for more of Him and of His hope-filled reign in their lives. “I will free your prisoners from their waterless pits (into) prisoners of hope (as I) restore to you twice as much” (Zechariah 9:11-12). “. . . so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

• To become Vanguards of Hope who, as they keep growing as Messengers and Prisoners, band together to share a lifestyle focused on the supremacy of God’s Son — a lifestyle that consists of persistent seeking (primarily by prayer) and consistent preparations for more of His supremacy to be revealed. Their lifestyle empowers them to pursue greater manifestations of His Kingdom where they live, and beyond. For them, all discipleship becomes anticipatory discipleship. Their passion to respond to Christ’s lordship springs from the sure hope (anticipation) that their obedience today will lead them into greater experiences of Christ and His glory tomorrow. “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow God will work miracles among you.”(Joshua 3:5) “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”(Philippians 3:12) “The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom is at hand, repent and believe this good news . . . Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”(Mark 1:15, 17).

For more reading on these issues see
CHRIST IS ALL!
A JOYFUL MANIFESTO ON THE SUPREMACY OF GOD’S SON
(New Providence Publishers, 2005)
Visit www.ChristIsAllBook.com.

© 2005 David Bryant