e~mergent kiwi

Taking the con out of conversion 2

During our 2nd sermon on Biblical pictures of witness I showed a table (download), placing Acts 2, Acts 14 and Acts 17 side by side. It produced excellent discussion, as people noted
- how one size does not fit all;
- how in Acts 14 and Acts 17, not a single Bible verse is quoted, in contrast to Acts 2;
- how evangelistic success is far from universal;
- the ability to improvise.

I concluded with some stories about ways I'd seen announcing the good news publicly in New Zealand today. A number were taken from my blog post here from a few weeks ago and a big thanks to those in my blogging community who commented - you added a huge amount of richness and freshness to the sermon.

The open invite follow-up discussion group meets again this Wednesday in the church foyer to simply read the Bible texts, and apply them prayerfully to our life. There is already talk of keeping the group going after the series finishes, which was my big dream - the formation of an evangelism action team!

Taking the con out of conversion

Every Wednesday in April (9, 16, 23, 30), a conversation around the place of witness and evangelism in Christian faith is happening in the church foyer. The catalyst is a sermon series titled "Biblical pictures of witness" being preached on Sunday mornings. On the Wednesday those interested gather to read the Scriptures used on Sunday, to apply and to pray.

On the first Wednesday we talked about the Samaritan woman in contrast to the huge feelings of guilt Christians carry in relation to witness. We wondered about the following guilt free statements.
1. Only do your bit. No more and no less.
2. Only witness where God is working. Witnessing anywhere else is dumb, especially in response to evangelism seminars.
3. Only share what you know. Anything else is bearing false witness.
4. Only be real. Human struggles open doors.

I love this part of ministry: creating conversations around the Bible and in relation to mission, sitting with people, listening, being honest, learning, growing.

Christmas pain

Station 5 of the Christmas Journey Peace Labyrinth in Latimer Square invited people to explore a moment of personal peace by posting a secret. They could do this publicly on a noticeboard, or privately into a confessional. Here are some of the public confessions.

For more go here. There's a lot of pain in our world. I wonder where those first Christmas angels are, those who announced "peace on earth" to the shepherds? Are they weeping over these cards? Or are they still flying, still singing, still hoping, still praying?

God at work group at Opawa

Today marked the beginning of the end of 13 months of planning. A year ago I wanted to orientate Opawa much more intentionally around workplace mission. I initiated the following:
: 3 sermons on work place spirituality, in order to promote
: a 3 week God at work midweek discussion group (which 20 people attended)
: in order to invite those interested to form a regular and ongoing God at work group.

Today this regular God at work group started, with 7 people gathering. The group will be based not on content and information, but on a process of reflecting on actual workplace experiences, and how we might live as salt and light in our workplaces. The following processes will be employed:

a) Dwelling in the … work - a person will bring a workplace experience. It could be a practical work problem or an ethical work problem or a theological wrestling. The group will listen to an experience, will explore by asking – what strikes us? or what questions do we have? and then reflect together and back to the person who shared what they are hearing.

b) Dwelling in the … Word – the group will engage with a Bible passage relevant to the work area, by listening, exploring by asking – what strikes us? or what questions do we have? and then reflect together on how work and Scripture link.

c) Dwelling in the …. practise – a person will bring a particular work practise: it could be individual (a prayer, a practise), it could be church-based (work prayer for Sundays, shaping a work-place pastor), it could be community-focused. And these will become a concrete way to respond as God@work followers.

To run the group will require a scribe to document what is happening, a keeper of the conversation as safe and focused and an organiser of times, dates, reminders, drinks.

The group started today. The processes worked well and all the responsibilities were picked up. The processes will ensure that the group does the work and generates life within itself.

Each year we will re-run the 3 week God at work discussion group, thus allowing those new to Opawa to engage, to keep this mission before the church and to ensure new life drips down into the regular God at work group.

It is a dream come true, due in no small part to Nigel, from the UK, who served with us setting up part of this project last year. Thanks Nigel. Thanks Opawa for letting me dream and plan. Thanks God who loves this world and it's workplaces.

would Jesus carry a tract?

Excerpt from Sunday sermon:
Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. "Teacher what do I need to do to get eternal life?" Luke 10:25.

And what does Jesus do? Does he pull out a tract from his back pocket

called Eternal Life, a gift from the Southern Baptist Convention, and introduce the Roman road?

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23; "...The wages of sin is death..." in Romans 6:23a; "God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!" in Romans 5:8; which leads to; Romans 10:13 "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!"

Actually, that's not what Jesus did. But the option's worth pondering isn't it. It makes us appreciate this amazing ability of Jesus to face questions of eternal life, yet never use a pre-programmed, tract in the back pocket, method of communication. Instead, Jesus treats every person he meets as unique. Can we?

christmas journey in the news

The 06 Christmas Journey, run by Peter and Joyce Majendie and Opawa Baptist and supporters, is making the printed press this month; an article in the February New Zealand Baptist and an article written by Jonny Baker (full article is on his blog), which appears in the Church Times (UK). I have suggested to Jonny that he should get Pete over to Greenbelt to do his containers and run a seminar on "Church outside the box."

For more on the Christmas Journey: go here for Christmas 05; some missiology here; New Zealand Listener article here; photos of Christmas Journey 04 here.

I also have a DVD; 4 hours of Pete and Joyce Majendie explaining the whole installation process from start to finish. Drop me a line if you want some resourcing input in doing some art outside the church in your community.

storytelling as a pathway in discipleship

"I think, therefore I am" proudly proclaimed Rene Descartes. And so, in modernity, the individual mind was given priority.

The consequences for Christian discipleship were huge. Discipleship becomes book based and content focused. Information is passed from one mind to another. Christianity runs the danger of becoming rational individualised information.

I am tossing around the idea of trialling the use of storytelling in community as a pathway for discipleship. As Douglas Coupland writes in Generation X of the need to take time to tell stories and make our lives worthwhile tales in the process.

So here is the first draft of the storytelling approach to discipleship.

Key learning question: How do people grow? And the realisation that it is not information that grows people. Rather, people have the DNA to grow inside them and require environments of love and honesty in which they flourish.

Key learning moment: Providing a contemporary re-telling of the Kingdom parable of the treasure by giving people "treasure" that was symbols of their past ( eg plastic spoon from a coffee shop to symbolise a person and a conversation that has grown them). And seeing the spark in people and realising that well chosen symbols help people name the work of God in their lives.

The plan: a 10 week course as follows:

week 1: Re-tell the parable of the treasure and give out 8 symbols. Invite people to consider which symbol draws out a story for them. Explain the course format.

week 2-9: For the following 8 weeks we explore each symbol 1 by 1.

week 2: a symbol of life's journey;
week 3: a symbol of a nurturing relationship;
week 4: a symbol of a mystical encounter;
week 5: a symbol of hard times;
week 6: a symbol of serving/mission;
week 7: a symbol of maturing;
week 8: a symbol of integration;
week 9: a symbol of celebration.

Each evening of weeks 2-9 occurs in 4 parts:
a - a story - people share their selected story/ies of growth
b - a Bible story is told that adds more light to each symbol i.e. a bible story of a nuturing relationship
c - discernment - people are invited to reflect togther on 'what they are hearing' from people's stories and the Bible stories.
d - some teaching - is offered to add content to the stories and the discernment processes.

week 10 - the last week would involve inviting people to consider which of the 8 symbols has most challenged them. They are provided with options if they want to continue to explore this area (say Opawa's Growth coaching).

Why? We are in community. We are naming the work of God already in people's lives. We are hearing how God is uniquely growing people. We are bringing people's real life stories into engagement with God's story. We are helping people integrate them both. We are not neglecting content. We are giving people storytelling confidence, a possible stepping stone to them sharing their stories, say at church services, or with their friends.

That's the first draft of a storytelling approach to discipleship. Comments? And any suggestions for a course title: something that will appeal to those outside the church while being honest about the approach. (No switch and bait titles wanted).

For more on postmodern discipleship in terms of content, go here.

when art comes to town: reflection on art as public mission

here are some reflections I wrote today on the recent Christmas Journey. Love some feedback on my last section "unresolved tensions" if anyone has the time.

When art comes to town: Reflecting on a Christmas Journey 2006

The concept is simple; to employ art to tell the Christmas story. Seek tactile interaction – make a star out of wire, mark your home town on a world map, record the one thing you would take with you on a refugee journey - as a way of inviting people into the Christmas story.

The use of containers is a master stroke. A container provides a space in which a unique environment can be created, allowing a different part of a Journey to be created. A container has roofs and floor, allowing a Christmas story to be placed outside. They are lockable, ensuring security for art and electronic gear in public spaces.

In 2005 permission was gained by Side Door Arts Trust, in partnership with Opawa Baptist Church and Creative Communities, to place 8 containers, each container telling part of the Christmas story, in the square at the centre of Christchurch city. The Christmas story was to find a home outside the church and in the marketplace.

Ironically, Council regulations demanded a temporary building permit and required a wire fence. As soon as the Christmas story was taken outside the church, it acquired a fence! However the public response was excellent, with nearly 8,000 people visiting.

Building on the relationship with the Christchurch City Council, permission was sought in 2006 to place the 8 containers, not together, but separately. Each was wrapped in nylon fabric to represent a Christmas present, and placed at strategic tourist sites – the art gallery, the museum, the information centre - around the city. Each container was also placed adjacent to the tram route, a major Christchurch tourist attraction.

The art for inside each container was prepared at Opawa Baptist Church. A hi-ab container truck transported the containers into town. Picture the scene as suddenly, nine days before Christmas, eight 20 feet long wrapped Christmas presents suddenly appear, scattered, throughout the city centre.

On the door of each container part of the Christmas Bible story was painted (in the style of Colin McCahon, a famous New Zealand artist). Inside each container a different theme is explored.

The results:
1. Stories of people emerging church containers declaring "I am changed."
2. People's written responses at various containers indicating an honest and deep engagement.
3. Over 15,000 people visited. (Note that there was no way to record if these visitors had been to other containers. So while unlikely, it is conceivable that a total of 2,400 people visited all 8 containers).

The implications:
1. Don't do this if your goal is increasing church attendance. It takes a lot of energy out of a church and you end up encouraging people to volunteer on containers during church time.
2. Ideally each container has someone for purposes of explanation, welcome and security. This requires a large commitment (8 containers for 9 days open for 3 by 4 hours slots = 212 volunteers).
3. This volunteer dimension allows people a practical way to "give" during Christmas. This needs to be placed alongside the busyness and rush that people face.
4. Another volunteer dimension is that people are exposed to the rhythms of the city. This allows a missional conversation. Equally, it raises issues of safety.
5. A project on this scale demands a huge variety of gifts - to create, to stand at a container, to publicise, to negotiate. It feels a lot like 1 Corinthians 12, with all parts of the body important and thus becomes the mission of a church community.

Unresolved tensions
1. The tension between whether the Journey should act like an interactive signboard or the foyer of a building. Should each container stand alone, as a signboard? Or should the Journey be like a foyer, that welcomes and points people toward church or Christianity in some way? The concept of gift is important. Many churches offer subtle switch and bait operations. Should the containers be offered as a gift, with no strings attached? Or should they come with a subtle price tag. (This could include invitation to church services, a Christian tract, a takeway resource). Yet society at Christmas is so dominated by consumerism and when the church offers "switch and bait" have we not bowed down to the gods of consumerism in our culture? Each year this is debated. In 2006 the Journey simply offered a takeaway potential of a memorable moment.
2. Should the containers be grouped (as in 2005 in the Square) or separated (as in 2006 around the city centre)? The former allows greater visibility and increases the chances of completing the whole Journey. The latter increases visibility and curiosity and allows walking time for reflection. However it demands a greater effort if people want to then complete the Journey.

The Christmas Journey evolved under the leadership and creative talents of Peter and Joyce Majendie. They have prepared a teaching video "Art in public space as mission." This is a four hour seminar in which they trace the creative process. This is available for sale from artcomestotown at emergentkiwi dot org nz.

written on city walls

8 shipping containers, placed in the centre of Christchurch, around the Christchurch tourist tram route. Each is wrapped in fabric. These are gifts, each an interactive art installation, waiting to be unwrapped, a present to our city, telling part of the Christmas story.

While this is a huge undertaking, the Lectionary Scriptures for today were of immense encouragement to the tired and stressed and nervous among us, for in Daniel 5, God writes on the walls of the place. God's words are displayed in the corridors of power.

Interestingly, sown into each shipping container are scriptures. The words of God hang on container walls, around our city.

Today, as in Daniel's time, God's words are being written on the walls of our city, in the places where lawyers walk and shoppers shop. We at Opawa rejoice in being God's handwriting. And we pray that today, as in Daniel's time, our city might have the wisdom to discern the words of God.

8 christmas presents

8 shipping containers, each wrapped in 40 metres of fabric to suggest a Christmas present. Each placed in the centre of Christchurch, around the Christchurch tourist tram route. Inside each is an interactive art installation, telling part of the Christmas story;

container 1, God of the Universe come to earth in Cathedral Square;
container 2, enforced family get-together, on Worcester St Bridge;
container 3, angels and ordinary people and a Kiwi musterers hut, Art Gallery;
container 4, the stable, Arts Centre;
container 5, consumerism, outside Museum;
container 6, suffering of innocents, at Armagh St, Bridge;
contianer 7, moving on with a refuge theme, Cramner Square;
contianer 8, our response as a chapel in Victoria Square;

Open from 10 am to 9 pm (hours of the Christchurch tram), from Saturday December 16-Sunday December 24.

This is part of Opawa Baptist and Side Door Arts Trust gift to the city in 2006. This is public mission, taking Jesus back out of church and telling his story in our marketplace, in the City Square and outside the Art Gallery and Museum.

After months of negotiation, we gained Council permission 3 weeks ago. We have been scrambling ever since. In an ideal world, each container would have a person at the door, to offer welcome and provide security. If there are any Christchurch readers of my blog that have 4 spare hours between now and Christmas, please email me, steve at emergentkiwi dot org dot nz, as we desperately need volunteers.

my God questions tougher than your God question

Update: Unfortunately, due to spam, I am having to close this blog post. I am planning a panel to discuss each question once the New Year has been properly celebrated.

So what is the toughest God question you've ever been asked. A mate and I started discussing this today. Not the nice, easy, switch and bait Alpha questions, but the real tough ones ..

Why do kids suffer?
Why did God invent cancer?
What about Buhddists, they seem ok to me?
Why do you priests fiddle with kids?
Does God have an ego problem?
Why do Christians fight each other?
Would God forgive Hitler?
What about all the killing in the Old Testament

Update:
In the same sense that a heroin addict only has an illusion of choice over taking some heroin that is in front of him, does a child born to Fundamentalist Muslims in Saudi Arabia ever really have a choice to follow Jesus?
If we really have free will, how come it's impossible for us to choose to not sin at all tomorrow?
If a devout Christian gets true amnesia and forgets who they are and stop being a Christian, then was he ever saved? And which begs the question of, if our soul is clearly not attached to memory, for memory is an aspect of the brain, what knowledge will we take to Heaven?
Does a Christian still go to heaven if he/she commits suicide?
If a Christian converts to another religion, are they still saved?
What happened to people before Jesus? Did they all go to hell? If not, where did they go?
Did God create life in the universe outside of earth (i.e. aliens)?
Who made God?
Why does God chose to condem some people to hell?
When Jesus died for your sins, so that your sins were removed, when you backslid away from God, did Jesus "undie" for you sins?

Comment away ... just for fun, I'll give a book prize to the question I deem the toughest.

Update: Hey folks, these are great questions. Keep them coming. A few comments have drifted into answer mode. I think the questions are too good to try and answer quickly.

What I would like to propose is
a) That we hold fire on answering the questions.
b) That I delete the comments of those of you who have provided answers, in order to keep this blogpost focused on questions. Deleting should in no way be seen as my thinking the comments are not helpful. Quite the contrary, I will be saving the coments for ...
c) Doing separate blogposts for each question- inviting 2-3 panelists to provide an answer.
b) This should help ensure good discussion occurs for every question and thus each question would get the reflection it deserves.

How does that sound? Drop me a line at steve at emergentkiwi dot org dot nz if you want to be a "panelist."

saint thomas

This is Saint Thomas and I've given him a cellphone. I like Saint Thomas because he stood against his peer group. The 10 disciples were keen on Jesus. Thomas was brave enough to raise his doubts and voice his questions. I like people that are honest and ask the tough questions no matter how enthusiastic their mates are.

A few weeks ago I gave out blank pieces of paper and invited our Digestion congregation to write down anonymously any questions they had about God, life, meaning. We got back 20 excellent questions.

What to do next and how to honour these questions? On Sunday I chose 5 of the questions and invited a panel of 3 to respond by preparing short soundbites - a relevant Bible text, a good quote, a prayer or story.

1: Why do non-Christians get a lot and yet faithful Christians miss out on their desires?
2: Why cats? Why did God create cats?
3: If God has a plan for us - and he knows what's going to happen into our future - why do we need to pray?
4: Is is OK for Christians to be nudists?
5: 1 John - God first love us so we should show love to others. So why? Why does God love us?

I asked the panel the questions and kept the discussion bouncing around between them. I concluded by giving out wee cards with Saint Thomas printed on them and inviting people to name 1 thing they'd learnt. These were stuck to the cross.

Glancing at what people wrote, many had got the idea - that Saint Thomas inspires Christians to be honest and ask questions.

evangelism as process and event

My Friday blog post - found bears - became a sermon that compared the apostle Paul and the disciple Peter, conversion as event and conversion as process (Download file). Next week I want to explore the question: what does a church look like that takes seriously both event and process? For this week I just wanted to affirm that bears and people are found in unique ways. So much of contemporary evangelism seems to miss this point.

found bears

Update: The writing piece below eventually became the introduction to the following sermon. Download file

On Wednesday night great sobs erupted in the Taylor family. On Thursday night great sounds of joy erupted in the Taylor family.

On Wednesday, squirrel and bear were lost. On Thursday, squirrel and bear were found. Great rejoicing and mighty giggles of relieved laughter echoed down the hallway.

Face down in the washing basket, squirrel and bear were retrieved, then held aloft to be paraded around the house, triumphantly presented to mother, father, sister.

But the theological question is this: When were squirrel and bear converted?

This is a vital question. If squirrel and bear were to give their testimony, would they point to 6:53 pm, Thursday, 29th September as their conversion?

Or would they note the tears of intercession on Wednesday, the thoughtful probing questions of Mother Taylor on Thursday, the guiding companionship of Father Taylor.

Is conversion an event, or a process? Well, it depends whether you ask Paul or Peter.

missional discipleship

I just had an email asking me what Opawa was doing in the way of missional discipleship. Over the last year I have developed a programme called Growth coaching; which offers one on one; whole of life coaching. A person meets with a coach, together they set a programme, and the coach holds them accountable.

This was what started the idea , and the realisation that most discipling programmes are content based, not people based. They impart information and have set starting and ending points. How to be more flexible?

It was also important to see growth as whole of life and at all life stage, not just for "new" Christians. So this is some research I did as part of a sermon series.

This is our finished publicity product, which is given out to interested people. And this is an article from a New Zealand Christian newspaper about the concept.

We trained 10 growth coaches toward the end of last year. They met last week for support and prayer and feedback. They are quietly working away, behind the scenes, connecting with people, quietly changing lives.

the Friday of Easter week

On the Friday of Easter Week, in the easter egg the colour is black. We break a black (painted) piece of polystrene, to find inside a red heart. Easter Friday is the saddest day, a day of darkness.

We will gather around and wrap the cross. We will sprinkle our rose petals. We will express love for a heart of love, broken for us.

Note re atonement: I have really struggled to include the more cosmic and wholistic dimensions of the atonement at this point. God died for the whole world, for the integration of people and planet. A red heart speaks of God's love for individuals. There are hints of relational connectedness, as Christ restored relationships on the saddest day, so we are offered hearts of love which include restored relationships. But the central metaphor remains individual, and I have struck a creative brick wall.

the thursday of easter week

On the Thursday of Easter week, in the Easter evangeegg, the colour is blue. Often we talk about having a blue day, a sad day.

Wrapped inside blue cellophane in the Easter evangeegg is a lolly, sweet on the outside, sour on the inside. On Thursday Jesus disciples said sweet things, but by nights end, their actions left a sour taste. Sucking the lolly becomes a reflection on what walking with Jesus means for us this Easter week.

Note re interactivity: By this stage in this Easter evangeegg, people have used taste, touch, smell, sight and sound. We are made whole people, in the image of God, and so an ideal is that worship is multi-sensory. When I first came across the alt.worship movement, I marvelled at their video loops. Over time, I have tried to use technology less, and everday tactile objects more. It takes less time, it beds God in a different part of everyday life and it often opens up more senses.

A few weeks ago their was a surprise at church. The service was "hi-jacked" and the congregation took time to celebrate my being at the church a year, and to express thanks for all the change. There was space for people to share and a common theme was people talking about how interactive tactile symbols - sheep, flowering the cross - had been vehicles of help and inspiration.

the wednesday of easter

On the Wednesday of Easter week, in the Easter evangeegg, the colour is purple. Purple is the colour of royalty and inside the Easter evangeegg, a purple coloured card is perfumed.

Today at our 7 pm service, we will reflect on perfume, the act of expensive love, as what was likely a family hierloom was poured onto Jesus head. This costly act of love invites us to reflect on how we are loving Jesus this week of Easter.

Note re colour: It was Olive Drane who helped me find colour in ministry. We sent her some of our Pentecost Spirit cards (for examples see here and for explanation of the missional context go here and read the side-bar, titled Practicalities at the bottom). Olive and John had a worshipping group who met at their place. They showed them the cards and one woman was stopped dead by the colour red used in one of the cards. Colour alone evoked powerful connections.

This week my 5 year old is navigating the Easter evangeegg by colour - today is .....

tuesday of easter week

On the Tuesday of Easter Week, in the postmodern evangeegg, the colour is brown. Why brown? Because during Easter week, Jesus announced that unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it can not produce many seeds.

Today, at our 7 pm service, we break open a brown (painted) piece of polystrene. Inside is a seed, which we plant in the earth. And we reflect, as we walk with Jesus toward Easter ... What needs to die in our lives this week? What needs to planted in our lives this week?

Note re environment: This is a very organic image. It reminds us that what Jesus did at Easter, the atonement, is more than Jesus dying for individual sin. Jesus journey connects us with our environment, with the cycles of birth and death. As we feel soil and seed tonight, we are earthing ourselves with God the Creator, and Jesus the Re-Creator, dying for planet as well as people.

postmodern evangeegg?

Part of our commitment to being an inter-generational community at Opawa is "Take a Kid to" services, in which we all, adult and children, explore the Jesus story. We had over 190 people in attendance, including 50 kids, a good number from the community. At the risk of being called a postmodern Ned Flanders, by the tallskinnykiwi, as part of our walk to Easter, I unveiled this today.

Inside each "egg" is something to open, break, suck, for each day of Holy week. I'll post about each one as we go through Holy Week. Our kids got the "egg" after the service and are invited to open it each day of Holy Week, sharing the story with their families.

So why, tallskinny, might I not be more cheesy than Ned Flanders?

1. This is designed to let people enter the story, for families to sit together and tell the Jesus story. I know a church that did something similar, but all the activities were focused on inviting people to church. This is the opposite. It invites families to enter the story amid the fabric of their own lives.

2. It is tactile and experiential - there are things to break and suck and smell.

3. It is integral to the life of our community. We are having a short service each day of Holy Week that takes the same symbols and the same readings. Together, we walk the Scriptures with Jesus.

4. Help me ....

Updated note re evangelism: I like the distributed nature of the postmodern evangeegg. An egg has gone for use in a school class in Auckland, for a school class in Christchurch, and to give to a family of migrants in the community.

strangely familiar: how to respond to religious bigotry

I preached on Luke 9:61-56 on Sunday. What initally seemed a rather opaque text in the end became strangely familiar. This weekend a religious group marched in protest of family values. We have seen how the US responds to 9-11. We live in a world dominated by religious terrorism.

In Luke, Jesus meets religous opposition. He choses to journey to Jerusalem via Samaria. It's a shorter trip, 150 km, but goes through an area in which a different ethnic and religious group dwell. He could have taken the longer route, 190 km, and avoided Samaria. Most religious pilgrims did.

For some reason, Jesus takes his pilgrimage into religious pluralism. He is faced, probably naturally, with opposition. Rather, than turn or burn, Jesus lives out the Sermon on the Mount. In the face of religious hostility, he will love enemies, and quietly move onto the next village.

inside a story

My early experiences of Christianity were in what I now call a “point” faith. Testimonies were framed around the conversion moment and the emphasis was on a decision to follow Jesus.

My recent reading of Scriptures has moved to a greater desire to indwell the story. Rather than preach for the “point,” rather than worry about who is in and who is out, I want to tell the story of the amazing grace of God and the radical ethical implications of this grace for our lifestyles.

This seems to me to open everyone to the challenge of the gospel. All of us need to hear and re-hear grace and ethics. It allows people to explore their actions from within, rather than be told what to do. It honours the fact that most of us live our lives by the story/ies we tell.

I was talking with a person on last week. A year ago, they were nowhere near church. In the process of a pastoral conversation we talked about the implications of Genesis 1 and 2, and God as Trinity for a specific area of their life. Rather than give advice, a list of “how tos”, we explored the story and made application. As they talked I suddenly realized they were inside the story. At some time in their year, at a point probably invisible to them, they had moved inside a story by which now guided their life and actions. I was seeing new life, without ever witnessing the moment of conception.