Mannapolis
“[God] has been calling out from the world a people for himself, and sending his people back into the world to be his servants and his witnesses, for the extension of his kingdom, the building up of Christ’s body, and the glory of his name.”
Mannapolis™ is a little-bit-silly-made-up name for the Kingdom of God—the seat of 'with Christ' culture. The name's parts, manna and polis, illustrate three features of God’s kingdom.
Polis means city-state or domain, realm, governed territory. The Kingdom of God spans everything that is submitted to Christ's authority, in heaven and on earth.
Manna was the bread frost God provided daily to the people of Israel while they wandered forty years in the wilderness. Manna symbolizes God's provision. God’s kingdom is the source of our life, our identity, our training, our gifts, and our callings. It's also the source of power to walk out our callings.
Then, the word 'manna' means What is it? Manna was unlike anything the people of Israel had experienced before. Likewise, the Kingdom of God is completely 'other'. When we gaze upon God’s kingdom (and Jesus, its King) we marvel at its beauty and its contrast to the patterns of this world (Pandemonium). God’s Kingdom is treasure worth obtaining at all cost.
So, Mannapolis represents the span of Christ's accepted authority, the source of his provision, and the complete other-ness of Kingdom culture. Our ambition is to explore—and to be shaped by—this culture. To ask What is it? again and again. And as we grow in our cultural fluency, we represent God’s Kingdom back to Pandemonium—yoked to Jesus as he works to seek and save what is lost and to restore all that's broken.
Photo | Eugene Sergeev