Introduction to the 7 Mountain Mandate
INTRODUCING THE 7 MOUNTAIN MANDATE
INTRODUCING THE 7 MOUNTAIN MANDATE
The 7 Mountain Mandate is a concept that originated from a conversation between Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, author of The 4 Spiritual Laws and producer of the Jesus Film. The foundational premise states that there are 7 primary spheres that ultimately mold, shape and control the culture of a nation – and whoever governs these 7 spheres (referred to as “mountains”), thereby dominates the culture and has the power to reap a harvest for their cause, whether good or bad. (The principle has been developed and popularized by many other teachers, pastors and leaders in the church.)
While there may be more or fewer than the suggested 7 mountains, the infrastructure is helpful as a grid to reference as we consider the role of the church in the earth today. With that in mind, here are the 7 suggested “mountains” that mold culture:
1. Religion/Church
2. Family
3. Education
4. Business (Money)
5. Government
6. Media (News)
7. Art (Entertainment)
As a sad generalization, the church has historically focused most of its energy and efforts almost exclusively on the Religion/Church mountain. This has been due to a pervasive and crippling misnomer referred to as the “sacred vs. secular divide,” whereby church-related activity has been honored as “spiritual” (sacred), and therefore significant, while all other activity has been minimized as “worldly” (secular) and therefore of no Kingdom-of-God consequence. This defective premise has disconnected the church’s influence on culture by blinding us from seeing the significance of the call to invade the systems of this world so that we can gain control over the other 6 mountains and wield widespread Kingdom influence in the composition of our nation’s value infrastructure and philosophical beliefs.
It is no wonder that any serious revival-seeking Christian in our country is concerned about the fact that the church has been losing the battle for the heart and soul of our nation.
While the Church has been occupied on the Religion Mountain playing religious entertainment games while waiting to be saved out of this evil world by the rapture, the enemy has captured the flags of the other 6 mountains, establishing garrisons of control whereby a relatively small minority with a unified agenda has had an inordinately amplified influence over a mostly passive, culturally disengaged and disorganized majority.
As a generalization, the church has squandered the era of influence that it enjoyed in former decades by indulging in self-centered and self-aggrandizing activities while neglecting the gritty responsibility of our mandate to disciple our nation. The result is a scenario in which we realize with increasing alarm that the forces of darkness have not been passive while we have been distracted – in fact, he has taken the opportunity afforded by the church’s slumber to practically take the other 6 mountains and increasingly wield their power to reshape culture according to the will of their malicious master.
We see multiplied ominous examples of this reality in our nation as government, art, media and education forces combine into a near irresistible coalition to deconstruct and redefine God’s design for family, sexuality and human identity, while simultaneously muting the voice of the church in culture with a seeming consensus of pseudo-intellectual peer pressure manifesting as scorn, combined with governmental and legislative intimidation.
Due to the fact that the church has long lost the battles for influence in the other 6 mountains, we find ourselves in a position where we are unable to regain traction to disciple the culture from only the religion mountain. It is as if the enemy may have known that it would be impossible for the church to reach the majority of the population from our one and only sphere.
With the above said, I am simultaneously greatly encouraged that there is a seismic shift afoot in the church-at-large in America and around the world. It is important that we (local churches and individual believers) join the shift and help others to also shift with us. This shift has to do with a renewal of our minds in the area of understanding the mission of the church.
The church has to redefine its mission to strategically equip and release Kingdom influencers to INFILTRATE the systems of this world – the other six mountains – to overthrow the garrisons of our spiritual enemies, and be activated as salt in the stew and light in the darkness. Sons and daughters of God ruling and reigning in life by the grace of God (Romans 5:17), each within their God-appointed sphere!
As the church mobilizes with the vision to infiltrate and transform our culture, we will need wisdom and discernment to identify the places of jurisdiction within the various spheres where our spiritual enemy has built his encampments in the vacuums of our atrophy. These will need to be attacked in spiritual warfare prayer and Spirit-led assignments as we depend on God’s grace and favor to promote us into roles of influence and proximity from where we can disrupt the garrisons of the enemy and replace them with Kingdom truth.
With this in mind, it is important to get comfortable with some differentiations that are complimentary dynamics within the wholistic Kingdom mission of the church:
1. While direct evangelistic proclamation is mostly overt as we demonstrate the Kingdom, the work of cultural reformation is often covert as we infiltrate the systems of this world. We need to see that the irreplaceable work of Gospel proclamation, if devoid of cultural reformation towards Kingdom values, will only leave newly converted believers to be gobbled up by deceptive ideologies that are rampant in the culture.
2. While we can never neglect the quantitative call to preach the Gospel and reap the harvest, we must awaken to the qualitative call to disciple (teach) our nation and transform society.
3. The church needs to expect more than just in-house renewals that excite believers into lives of increased personal devotion. We need to trust God for revivals that break out beyond the four walls of the church and that result in cultural transformation.
4. The success of the church should no longer be measured by the size of the congregation, but by the condition of the city and its impact on the culture.
5. Each believer is therefore called to:
1. Find their appointed placement in the arena of God’s purpose for their lives,
2. Engage there with Kingdom vision and a missional mindset,
3. Trust God for wisdom, anointing and favor in order to steward Kingdom influence, and
4. Leverage Kingdom influence to facilitate a transfusion of values which shapes the culture of their sphere.
Matthew 5:13-16
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.