I have been thinking about how, in a way, the church ought to be referred to as The Dawning Church. This is based on the words of Matthew 4:16 where Matthew quotes Isaiah 9:2 and then adds personal words to it. He writes,

“The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, and those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a Light has Dawned.”

The Dawning Church. It has a sweet ring to it. The light dawns in the land of the shadow of death.

The New Testament calls us to see the church as a living incarnational and missional presence in pursuit of the kingdom of God in a broken and ever changing world.