Territory (4) None

No matter how strong and army, it can rarely seize control of a big area of territory in one attack, because it will become over-extended. A better approach is to attack a small pocket of territory, clear out all the opposition and establish strong defences, before pushing out from that stronghold to take more territory, and repeat the process of establishing control over it.

The Modern Church Model cannot take spiritual control of territory, because church members live in homes scattered across a wide area in the enemy’s territory. Even the pastor-leader is isolated in the suburbs of their city and vulnerable to spiritual attack. Christians who live in isolation from other members of their church will struggle to spiritually defend their homes, because they are standing alone and the spiritual powers of evil can concentrate to attack them. They are incapable of seizing spiritual control of territory beyond their home, because they have insufficient spiritual resources.

People driving to a church meeting once a week cannot establish territory there Jesus has authority. The best that they can achieve is gaining spiritual control over a church building. The spiritual powers of evil do not care about that, because they can dominate the surrounding territory. Jesus has authority in the church building where the church gathers, but once the meeting is over the Christians are scattered throughout enemy territory. A gathered church has no ability to seize spiritual control of territory around their church building.

Because the Modern Church Model cannot receive the Kingdom, some pastor-leaders are tempted to collaborate with political leaders in an effort to use political power to establish God’s will. Their strategy will not work, because it strengthens the human kingdom that the enemy uses to fight against God’s Kingdom. Political power relies on Imposed Authority. God will not use Imposed Authority it to establish his Kingdom, because he will not force people to do his will. Instead, he wants people to freely submit to Jesus and obey his Spirit because they love him.

The Modern Church Model has been prevalent for at least the last thirty years, but it has failed to advance God’s kingdom, because it has no ability to take spiritual control of territory. With no territory under his authority, Jesus He is left as a king without territory. Unfortunately, most leaders of these churches are focussed on numbers of people, so they do not even see territory as important. The Modern Church Model cannot take spiritual control of territory, so it cannot receive the Kingdom of God, despite all the talk about it.