inside a story

I actually found this on a fellow blogger's site (http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/), and it could have been something I wrote myself, so here it is.

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.

http://www.TheH.org/