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These single point extracts are intended to spark fresh thinking individually or in group discussions of up to ten people – (Christian Unions, church home groups, house churches for example).
JDMC extract – 2
Be wary of reforming people, persuading them to wear different clothes, eat different food or change their customs, culture and language. This won’t reveal Christ to them. If you claim to represent Jesus, they will assume that he is like you. Jesus came to live among the ordinary people of Judaea and Galilee and he expects us to live among the people around us and identify with them just as he did; this demands that we go deep, something Paul understood and practised (1 Corinthians 9:19–23). Jesus shows us how to do it, he ate with Pharisees and tax collectors. He was fully present. He came as a servant and he shared the good news. It’s completely astounding that the Almighty Creator of the universe lived as a man among the village folk of Galilee for thirty years as a carpenter – and nobody noticed! That shows us how deeply he involved himself in the local culture, he became invisible.
Jesus is our example for going out and going deep. These two activities work together so that the gospel (good news) and the church (the gospel people) become firmly embedded in the local community. Rapid expansion is not going to happen any other way. We need to understand that knowing Jesus more deeply will lead us into both going out (Luke 10:1-4) and going deep (Luke 10:5-7). That will affect what church looks like in the place where we live. If we let him, Jesus will take us first into mission and then into new church life shaped as he wants it to be. And this will be different depending on whether we live in France or Fiji, inner city or village, or among the poor or rich.
Discuss
Will you identify with people as you find them, or will you bring your own culture with you as if that, too, is part of the good news? Jesus came in weakness, he came to give up his life. Talk about what that might mean for you as you follow him.
Taken from JDMC page 21.
See also:
- About Patrick – Journeys of heart and mind
- Journeys to Significance – Neil Cole
- Three – Outward and integrated – Journeys of heart and mind
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