intriguing conversations

Back in February, at the end of a post in which I engaged with Alan Kreider’s The Patient Ferment of the Early Church (link) I invited people — anyone, anywhere — into a conversation. With our life in the mission of God as the context, I wanted to consider whether it is enough to target being relevant, or is there something more, something deeper?

See, the difficulty with relevance alone, is that when it is the sole focus for cultural engagement, we run the risk of being salty, without being lighty. Too often and too easily we end up being very involved, but not very distinctive — not ‘doing/being’ in ways that are that different from the society around us. Again and again, studies of the church in the West reveal that there is no discernible difference between the behaviour of those within the Christian community and those beyond it. This is not something I’ve experienced outside the West nearly as much, especially among first-generation believers. Maybe we need to listen and to learn from them a bit more? There is a blindspot to be exposed. Being involved, without being distinctive, is flawed mission. It is deficient. It ain’t got what it takes.
The church in the early centuries, on a cultural canvas not unlike our own, certainly thought so. Their little pockets of influence eventually white-anted the Roman Empire. Plenty of scholars chime in about how it is that they did this: “fitting in and being different” (Hurtado); “they lived lives that contained a ‘yes’ and a ‘no'” (Kreider); “there was a clear difference between being an insider to the group and an outsider” (Hurtado, referencing Stark); they had a “faithful (to God) presence within the world” (James Davison Hunter); they were salt and light (Jesus). On and on it goes…
Yes, maybe we need to recover the “twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are” dynamic in mission. The curiosity. The surprise. The attraction, not just the incarnation. The aroma of Christ. The gospel of Christ, lived and spoken. Very involved, very distinctive … intriguing.
15 people responded.

Off we went together: a journalist, an artist, a software engineer, a business-entrepreneur, a consultant (medicine) — together with some pastors, homemakers, theological educators, and mission agency staff members.

To accommodate schedules, we split into two groups. One met at Tuesday lunchtime and the other on Tuesday evenings — just for 60 minutes. I gave one piece of homework beforehand: to watch The Intern, a movie which highlights, in a setting far from the church and the gospel, how an ‘intriguing’ life can be far more transformative than a merely ‘relevant’ one.
The first conversation took time to hear each person express why they were interested in being part of the conversation. It gave each one of us the opportunity to hear each other’s back-story and context. So valuable, so critical.

The second conversation involved me integrating some of my stray thoughts on the subject and presenting them, inviting the responses of the others.

The third conversation involved each person presenting a case study, with the task being…

EITHER
1. To identify an existing community-bridging ministry in the life of their church…
And if it is already intriguing, describe how this is the case & share how this can be made even stronger.
But if it is (merely) relevant, describe how they could nurture it towards becoming intriguing.
OR
2. To imagine a new ministry into existence, a fresh initiative, and describe how they would embed an intriguing dynamic into it.

We were drawn into some fascinating conversations around intrigue as we roamed across diverse mission contexts together: 
An English-language class for Indian immigrant communities.
An honest, permission-giving group, led by a believer & an atheist, for discussing big topics.
A initiative with children, in a neighbouring primary school, who are struggling with reading.
A series of retreats for women, open and welcoming.
A ministry among mothers with young children.
A group hosted by two older people creating a space for international students over lunch.
A space created among students designed to help them pauseso as to serve and to create.
A worship space created in a public ‘art gallery’ space, offering hospitality to the passer-by.
A space for belonging and connection around food, after the worship space.
A ‘priestly’ presence in the midst of the commercial workplace, enabling others to flourish.
A fresh approach to ‘justice’, rising above the polarizing views in both society and church.
A website originating probing questions and messages .
An approach to churches working collaboratively across borders (ethnic, generational etc).

With one of the presentations, these two slides captured me. They express such careful and care-full thought around how to be both ‘very involved’ and ‘very distinctive’ in the same ministry at the same time.
This is a glimpse, a taste, of the way forward in mission…
nice chatting
Paul
PS…
As I was writing this post, my weekend was being absorbed with an Indian Christian wedding here in Auckland. Interesting to be reminded again of all the traditions that are designed to highlight the distinctiveness of a Christian wedding in the multi-religious context of India. The God-stuff, foreign though it be, is maximised as a witness to those who are not Christian. And yet, how many times, at a New Zealand Christian wedding, have I been asked, quietly, to minimise the God-stuff because there will be many people who are not Christian who will be present? I think this scratches where these conversations were itching…

Archive

Receive new posts to your inbox

I’d love to keep you updated with my latest news and posts.

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

About Me

paul06.16

the art of unpacking

After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.

Posted in ,

Leave a Comment





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

true, but not true enough

February 5, 2025

“What is a Christian?” A ‘follower of Jesus’ is the standard response. And it is true, but it is not true enough. Let’s think about this for a minute. So I have this encounter with Jesus. Maybe at a camp of some kind. In the singing and the speaking he becomes so real. It is…

yay! it’s you

January 27, 2025

We had been on holiday in Queenstown. Barby had to come back early to go to work. I stayed on for a couple more days with our daughter, Alyssa, and her family. When I did fly back, Barby had the car and so the easiest thing for me was to get an Uber home—and so…

expect an exception

January 24, 2025

I know I’ve mentioned this one before, but I am not really a flag-in-church kinda guy. All those years ago, as a student in the USA, it was a shock to see the flag up there in the same neighbourhood as the pulpit, the Lord’s Table and the baptistry. “What is going on?” “Have I…

transforming friendship

January 15, 2025

Just when I thought that it could not be possible to have another first-hand account of the impact of John Stott’s life (d. 2011), along comes this book by his close friend, John Wyatt. I am always ready to learn more about John Stott, but also about friendship. It fascinates me. It keeps coming up…

handa leads the way

December 29, 2024

Reading stories to grandchildren over Christmas reminded me again of how powerful they can be. They are so compact and simple in presentation, and yet so clever in construction. There are just so many features at work in an effective story. It is some years since I taught narrative preaching, but when I did I’d…

elchristo, elmina—and beyond

December 19, 2024

Today is Day 56—and on Day 57 we board a flight for home. There has been so much to absorb as Barby and I have encountered the people of God in different places. el-christo, in bolivia A few days before we left NZ, I discovered that I had five sessions to give in Pakistan. Yikes.…

cadeca art

November 20, 2024

The little chapel at Cadeca Casa del Catequista, a retreat centre on the fringes of Cochabamba (Bolivia), caught my eye on an earlier visit in 2017. Lots of photos… I was thrilled to learn that there would be a return visit, this time with Barby—and with lots of video. Enjoy. A 360 view Some Old…

the emus

October 19, 2024

Apart from the eight years in which we were based overseas, Barby has been working at the Refugee Resettlement Center in Auckland since 2002. This year she is a ‘release teacher’, spending one day each week in three different classrooms, with three different age groups. Impressive—and demanding. One day is spent with 11-13 year olds—from…