Nevermind the answers what about the question?!

According to Hirsch & Frost two of the primary commitments of a missional-incarnational church 'seeking to infiltrate society... are socializing and Jesus talk'. The thinking being that if the church is living an intriguing alternative lifestyle that is so marked by goodness that it makes the gospel attractive, then to truly be effective it follows that this lifestyle must be lived in close proximity to not-yet-Christians. As Hirsch and Frost themselves write 'the missional-incarnational church should be living, eating, and working closely with its surrounding community'.

In trying to make the most of our 'blanksheet' its fair to say that we are keen to learn as much as we can from the early church - the first planters. In doing so it is impossible to miss the prominence of the home and the centrality of the love feast. Keen to reclothe and recover helpful sacramental symbolism there is little doubt that in sharing our dining room table we've discovered a powerful symbol of intimacy, generosity and acceptance.

The idea with the ‘Jesus-talk’ is that as we socialize and the net of friendship expands, so in casual, ordinary ways should the subject of our hope come up. As Paul wrote to the Colossian church ‘be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone’ (Col. 4:5-6).

Of course the assumption – the often forgotten assumption, is that a question has been asked in the first place. As Christians we must always resist the temptation to answer questions that have not been asked! But when opportunities do arise we must ‘always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks [us] to give the reason for the hope that [we] have. But [we have to] do this with gentleness and respect’ (1 Peter 3:15).

As we spent New Year’s Day together, sharing food and playing cards Paul had no shortage of questions… ‘what’s God like then? Did Jesus actually claim to be God? What is church all about?’

Answers on a postcard!