We are those who find ourselves scratching our heads about faith and life and what they have to say about each other. We are curious. We are those who want to celebrate each other’s talents and hear each other’s stories. We are seeing Jesus transform peoples lives. We are seeing the kingdom come.

As I’ve read articles week after week that have sparked my imagination and caused me to see Jesus at work in the daily rhythms of my life, threads has been a blessing to me. I know it has been a blessing to you too.

In the past six years, full of flux, threads has helped us process what it looks like to live well in our changing world.

As we look back at the threads story, we are deeply grateful for the journey we’ve taken together. Each of the threads have come together to form a pattern displaying what it looked like to follow Jesus in a changing culture.

Yet we believe we’re stepping into a new moment for the church in UK, a new moment for disciples like you and I.

A moment full of opportunity.

As we at the Evangelical Alliance look ahead, we want to focus our vision and energies into initiatives like Public Leadership, Great Commission and our efforts in unity and advocacy. We believe that we can best serve disciples like you, the church throughout the UK and the wider public square by gathering around the common thread of together making Jesus known. 

This platform may be ending, yet the conversation around integrating life and faith will always continue – it’s right at the heart of who we are.

We will continue to lean into this conversation in all we do and we would love to invite you to join us as we do it. 

In this final threads post, we want to leave by saying two things.

Firstly, thank you. 

For every article you read, every comment you made, every like and every share, thank you. And especially to each of you who have written for us over the years, we are so thankful. You each did a wonderful job.

We can’t thank you enough.

Secondly, I know it’s been quoted many times before, but I want to leave you with the words of Frederick Buechner:

“The place God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

As we finish, we want to bless you as you unapologetically pursue purpose, full of faith and empowered by the Spirit of Jesus. You have a role to play in the renewal of all things. Your purpose will fill you with joy and will display the love of Christ to those around us. 

Thank you and bless you.

This is threads signing off.

–

Over the next few months our website will remain open for you to enjoy six years of brilliant articles.

*

Meaningless, meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

My church has started into a series on the book of Ecclesiastes, one of the three books part of the Bible’s wisdom literature. It’s the first time I’ve spent any meaningful time in the book and am thoroughly enjoying it so far. It’s so peculiar, so different, so jarring. The things the writer is coming out with seemingly sound at odds with things from the rest of the Bible. Seemingly, but not really. What it is at odds with is the sentimental, coffee cup, bumper sticker Christianity that can sometimes feel all pervading.

I mention it by way of introduction as I wish I’d have engaged with this book earlier in my life because it feels like this is the heartbeat of threads.

The book paints a beautiful, sceptical, if not downright nihilistic picture of life. It puts words to our lived experience. It captures the ways in which we find frustration in our jobs, our relationships, our sex, our finances, our possessions, and even to the core of our faith. It articulates what life just feels like.

When I reflect on threads and the space it occupied, in hindsight, it was our paraphrasing of this book. It was a group of Christians who’d typically grown up in faith but in the transition to adulthood, have felt the onslaught of questions come close to overwhelming. It was a space where we had room to doubt while still clinging to faith by our fingernails.

Personally, my favourite moments came from reading reactions to articles which discussed mental health struggles. Essays of staggering openness and vulnerability that elicited stunning responses of support. I think of Katharine Welby-Roberts calling the Church to make space with those whose suffering doesn’t seem to cease. I think of church leaders like Dave Magill taking the plunge by bravely letting us hit ‘publish’ to admit their struggles. I think of Rachael Newham sharing her story of the hope she found in Jesus and the voice she has used to encourage those who are hurting.

Meaningless? Perhaps. A chasing after the wind? Probably. Ecclesiastes, in the middle of it all, gives space for moments of optimism. In the bleakest moments in his monologue, the teacher enjoys simple good things in life.

Friendship, family, a good meal or a sunny day. There is beauty in the chaos. There is hope.

As this endeavour wraps up, I hope and pray that there’s something we’ve published over the last 6 years that has given you cause to find something of God’s peace in the seemingly chaotic. 

I’ve loved the space that threads has provided for this multi-layered conversation that we’ve been having together as a collective of Christians from all walks of life, who are living, working and trying to carve out our identity in our worlds.

As artists and bankers, singles and marrieds, visionaries and geeks, the hilarious and the deadly serious; we’ve been able to share our best thinking with our brothers and sisters from across the UK. 

threads has allowed us the opportunity to write and read about faith, our vocations, sex and relationships, ethical living, justice, the role of government, the scriptures, our joys, our heartaches and everything else in between. You would be hard pressed to find a more diverse set of articles, yet each having the common thread of how the kingdom of God influences our everyday lives.

We’ve been challenged, moved to laughter and stirred to action as we read the thoughts of others and thrown our own insights into the mix. We’ve been inspired as we’ve read of people who we’ve never met, yet people we can identify with, choosing to bravely embrace new opportunities, full of purpose.

In the next few weeks, threads is going to draw to a close. 

This is the final thread.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be looking back to celebrate the threads story as we reflect on the journey and share some of our favourite articles from the past six years.

Yet we also want to highlight some of the ways that you can join us as we move into the future.

We at Evangelical Alliance remain as passionate as ever around resourcing those of us in our 20s and 30s. Through our ongoing work, particularly with Great Commission, Public Leadership, One People Commission and our national teams, we are committed to equip you with the best thinking and tools as you seek to practice the way of Christ in the UK. Many aspects of the Evangelical Alliance’s vision around advocacy, unity and mission has people just like you in mind. You have much to offer us as an Alliance and we would warmly welcome your influence and leadership as we move forward.

If you want to keep up with everything that’s going on at the Evangelical Alliance, why not join us and add your voice to thousands of others sharing Jesus and speaking up for Him in society? You can find out more here: eauk.org/join

As we take the next few weeks to honour what’s gone before and look to what’s up ahead, we want to take this opportunity to thank you for being a part of the threads collective. Thank you for writing, for commenting, for sharing and engaging in this valuable conversation. It’s been a joy to serve you in this way.

 Let me wrap up with a verse that has been right at the heart of threads and remains our prayer for each of you today.

 “The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope.” 

Colossians 1:5

The Message

It’s difficult to identify our key leaders today. We’re suspicious of the government, celebrities may have more influence than experts, and the established church’s influence is diminishing, even in Christian circles.

We often don’t know who is setting the agenda or influencing our lives behind the scenes. We may not even know what leadership is. This presents Christians with a challenge to understand leadership and authority, but also an opportunity to stand up and be counted. We live in a noisy world that is desperate to hear voices of wisdom.

At the Evangelical Alliance, we believe that leadership is not an elite pursuit; it is something that is needed at every level, and in every community, workplace, city and village. To put it simply: leading things changes stuff.

So we are supporting Christians to be a voice for God and for good across our nations. We want to raise up the ‘go-to’ people in local communities, the leaders in workplaces, and maybe, just maybe, the people who in generations to come are remembered for changing a nation.

If you want to be one of these leaders, we challenge you to be intentional and take the first step in your journey today.

Five steps to being a public leader

1. Take the step in front of you – there are no magic bullets and rarely any short-cuts. Work out what the first step is for you, and take it. It might be a step of preparation, or a step of action.
2. See the need – what needs to change in the place you live or work? Can you restore something that has been lost? What good can you champion?
3. Have a vision for the future – don’t settle for ‘okay’ but ask ‘what if?’. What can happen if all your dreams became reality? What is God’s plan for your place?
4. Take time to learn – leadership and influence do not happen overnight, so work for the long term. Take the time to understand the context you are in and how God is forming and shaping you, and build the experience and expertise you need to make a difference.
5. Use your voice – do not underestimate the power of your voice; things change when we speak out. Where are the opportunities for you to speak truth into a world craving meaning?

Here are a few ways we can help

Join us at Spring Harvest in Skegness, Harrogate or Minehead 2, where we’ll be leading a seminar series on Living bravely in public life. You can also join us at events in London, Frinton-on-Sea and Belfast, or take a look at upcoming events from some great organisations we work with. Check out the full details on our website, thepublicleader.com, where you can also sign up for our mailing list.

Get hold of our free Change the World small group course and take four weeks with your church small group to explore what the Bible says about public leadership and what it might mean for you.

Invite us to come and speak at your church on what the Bible has to say about leadership and how we can apply it to our lives. Email hello@thepublicleader.com.

And don’t forget to follow us on those pesky socials: @thepublicleader on Facebook and Twitter.

Join a leadership training course

In your local community

We’re developing a four-month training course for you to use in your church to meet with others also leading in public life, to learn together and to support each other.

If you want to be one of the very first groups using it and get exclusive pre-release access, email us at hello@thepublicleader.com

Across the UK

If you are in your 20s-30s, already leading in public life and have a vision to see your nation transformed, join a small group of emerging public leaders in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland on a year-long training course featuring weekend retreats, evening events and mentoring sessions. Read about the Scottish course

Email  hello@thepublicleader.com for information about applying.

For me, this is a daily reality.

As part of my job, I get to film stories of how people have come to know Jesus all around the UK. Every story is a fresh miracle of salvation; a reminder that no-one is beyond the reach of the gospel. As lives are transformed to display the beautiful, irresistible nature of Jesus, the impact is contagious – you don’t want to miss the opportunity to encounter Jesus for yourself, whether it’s for the first time or the 1,000th time.

Because of the boldness of someone around them, each of these people got a glimpse of Jesus, and couldn’t turn down the opportunity to meet Him. Not only that, but they have now been adopted into the worldwide family of God, becoming my brother or sister in Christ – a bond that crosses any differences in gender, age, language, upbringing or ethnicity.

Despite regularly interacting with this family of believers, reflecting on the irresistibility of Jesus, so often I picture my evangelism totally differently. I feel that people won’t be interested when I share Jesus, and it’s entirely up to me and my abilities as to whether they chose to follow Him or not.

Fundamentally, I forget that life with Jesus is not only so attractive that it’s worth sharing, but that when we share it, we do so as an international family. Evangelism was never meant to be a solo sales pitch.

That’s why we want to invite you to join a movement of Jesus-followers; an inclusive community on a great commission to spread the good news of our contagious, life-changing Saviour.

We may be dispersed around the world, but while you name-drop Jesus in conversation with friends, Usha is running alongside women to model what it means to be a Jesus-follower. Just like you offer to read the Bible with a friend, so Balbinder’s friend sent her a Bible and she finally discovered peace. When you pray for a friend going through hard times, Damien is using his own story of a difficult childhood to introduce others to Jesus.

I want us to dare to imagine what it could look like if we teamed up, pooled resources and stepped out, united, to make Jesus known.

And that’s exactly what we’re trying to do at Great Commission. We’ve gathered together a wealth of resources to equip the UK church to confidently share Jesus together. Whether you’re sharing him with a youth group, an elderly member of your community, or a friend with disabilities, we want you to be equipped and resourced to do that confidently.

As you watch stories like Sarah’s, Roy’s and Othniel’s, we hope that you’re inspired to share your own story with a colleague. As you read articles about worship, accessible church, and relationships, we hope you think about how you could pursue the same life-transforming power of Jesus in your community. And as we realise that we can’t do any of this without God’s spirit in us, we hope you’ll use our prayer resources as a great reminder that prayer and mission go hand-in-hand.

Ultimately, we want everyone in the church to feel empowered to, together, show the irresistible grace, freedom and salvation of Jesus, so the world can find out more and not miss out.

Visit greatcommission.co.uk and work out how you can get equipped to share Jesus.

Across the nations, the Evangelical Alliance is investing in young public leaders with the intention of equipping and empowering them to be able to go confidently into the public square and represent their faith, and more importantly Christ well.

For young adults, students, and recent graduates interested in finding out more about how their faith and work can and do interact, there’s the opportunity to intern as a research assistant with Evangelical Alliance. The internship is a great opportunity for anyone who is interested in public leadership to get a first-hand experience of advocacy, policy and politics in NI. As a research assistant this year, it’s been great to be able to meet with politicians, the Department of Justice and church leaders to discuss some of the latest issues facing Northern Ireland.

I’ve loved the freedom that’s been given to me to explore topics that I’m passionate about, particularly focusing on the legislation surrounding human trafficking and modern slavery in Northern Ireland. While I’ve had the chance to learn more about issues I’m interested about, I’ve also been challenged to think about other topics, including thinking more about what ‘culture’ is. I’ve come to appreciate why for us as Christians, it is important for us to engage with culture, and in many ways change it, so that it is both open to, receptive and reflective of the gospel.

It’s also been great to be able to get involved with the work of Both Lives Matter, and to learn more about how BLM are adroitly ‘reframing’ the conversation around abortion. I’ve learnt a lot about how language is everything, and it can be a very helpful tool when trying to navigate controversial issues like abortion.

I’ve also enjoyed learning more about what Public Leadership looks like. We are ambassadors of Christ and so we have a responsibility to champion truth in every aspect of our lives- especially in the public square. The internship has been a great way for me to learn more about what that tangibly looks like in law, policy and in the media. I’m really looking forward to the launch of the Evangelical Alliance’s Public Leadership programme in Northern Ireland in September.

I’ve also found greatcommission.co.uk really helpful. It’s also been really interesting to listen to and read around some topics that I wouldn’t be just as familiar with.

The weekly learning part of the internship has been a great source of new podcasts, books and articles which have helped shape my thinking and broaden my understanding of the world that we are living in and interacting with.

When I went with the rest of the NI Team to the Evangelical Alliance’s staff conference I was really impressed by how young and diverse the Alliance is across the nations. Conference was a forum filled with wisdom and new insight, and it was encouraging to see that the Evangelical Alliance is, and continues to be, committed to developing young public leaders; providing opportunities for us to use our skills, backgrounds and passions in a way which best serves the advancement of Christ’s kingdom.

Ten years ago, Alain Emerson lost his young wife to cancer.

At the age of just twenty-seven, he found himself as a widower, wrestling with the complexities of grief and his questions about where the God he loved was in the midst of his pain. He felt like he had been left alone in the dark, and heaven was silent.

Yet he came to learn that silence did not mean absence – in the darkness of grief Alain discovered a God was not only there, but a God who intimately understands our pain. A God who walks beside us, suffers and weeps with us and who ultimately restores our joy.

This is the story of Luminous Dark.

Running in the Dark

These days I love running in the dark. On winter nights when the air is cold, I set off for a gentle gallop through the streets of my hometown village. Chasing the long shadows of the street lamps as the fog from my own breath dissolves on my perspiring face, I run over the motorway bridge, stealing away from the noise of the late-night commuting traffic, through the spookily serene railway crossing and eventually into the darkness of the countryside. The only thing lighting my path is the low glow of my phone, helping me navigate ankle-damaging potholes and providing a precautionary warning light for the occasional car. It is dark and still, dangerous and eerie, yet I am not scared.

I no longer fear darkness.

Even though the night appears vacant, the darkness is filled with, dare I say it, ‘presence’. This is the place where I do my best thinking these days. The night is flooded with mysterious luminosity. It is here my mind and soul are laid bare, the imposter is exposed and my true self revealed. I rediscover how deeply known and loved I am.

It hasn’t always been that way though.

Like most people, I have lived my life scared of the dark, fear gripping hold of my senses on many occasions. Darkness for me has been synonymous with fear, confusion and disorientation.

Yet something changed when I learned, or rather was forced, to stare darkness in the eye. I discovered something liberating happens when we acknowledge the genuine fear we are experiencing from the darkness that surrounds us, and yet refuse to let that fear have the last say. Further, the fear is disarmed when we discover there is a light concealed within that very darkness.

What do I mean? Let me try to explain.

In 2007, when I experienced the great loss of my life, I found myself for long days walking down dark trails of grief ending only in cul-de-sacs. This was due in equal measure to my inability to process my pain, and the incapacity of the culture around me to accept the reality of loss and grief.

As a means of catharsis, I began to write, journal and then, more publically, blog some of my thoughts online. Initially this was motivated simply by the fact that many of my friends were compassionately seeking to walk with me through dark and lonely days and the blog allowed me to thank them and inform their kind prayers for me. But I found the heart ponderings I was posting on my blog were gaining a much wider readership than my immediate friends and family.

I became aware that, like me, many people did not know how to grieve, no one had taught them how to wrestle with pain, how to stare darkness in the eye, how to discover the permission to laugh again. Bewilderingly they were talking to me about it, a disillusioned twenty-seven-year-old widower, who most nights, wasn’t sure if he was going to make it to the morning. All I was doing was being honest – describing how I really felt and figuring out as I journeyed through, how to articulate a language for my soul. More, I was trying to pray what I was experiencing.

Ten years on, those days still haunt me. For some of you this is your current reality. For others, your heart is painfully jabbed as you recall those days of dense darkness that have never fully worked their way through you. I hope this book can connect with all who read it, for truthfully, the valley of the shadow of death, and the way of suffering, grief and loss, is a terrain we all must travel at some point in this life. Love and loss, presence and absence, suffering and resurrection; these are not sets of opposites, rather they ebb and flow together in this current of life on earth.

My experience has taught me that most of us don’t know what to do. Of course, there is no formula. Surprisingly though, we are much better equipped to deal with the darkness than what we think. For the Christian, we reflect on how God incarnate was acquainted with grief and sorrow. Imagine, the Light of the World embodied the darkness of the world and of every human heart, his light and presence concealed in a dead body in a dark tomb. Yet even when it seemed the lights had completely gone out the story hadn’t finished. The Light would have the last word.

Not only are we image-bearers of the One who suffers loss with us, a non-forsaking companion for the dark days; we also have a forerunner who has moved through a mysterious and monumental intensity of darkness we cannot comprehend.

‘The light shines in the darkness …’

The light shines in, not outside or into the darkness, but in the darkness. And when this Light is illuminated, we witness an infinitely more beautiful, translucent and transformational light that shatters the opaque circumstances of our lives.

–

If you want to read more of Alain’s story, you can pick up a copy of ‘Luminous Dark’ here.

While most of us don’t go about using the label ‘evangelical’ regularly, I’d say that one of its central components, conversionism, is at the very core of the faith which many of us live out;

· An active change

We believe that we’ve chosen to actively turn away from a way of life which leads us away from God. And that it’s through repentance and acceptance of Jesus as our savior, that we’ve found the way to be reconnected with God again.

Whether it began through a memorable moment or a gradual process, we believe that this journey is one which never stops, as we continually seek to be more like Jesus.

· The Holy Spirit’s role

Yet we also believe that it’s not just our decisions which determine how this journey looks – the Holy Spirit is working behind the scenes in ways we often (more like ‘usually’) can’t explain, bringing people across our path and softening our own hearts.

In the words of George Smith, the experience of encountering the risen Christ is, ‘choreographed by the Spirit rather than evangelistic techniques’ (Oxford handbook of Evangelical Theology, p210).

· A change for the better

And counter to the stereotype of Christianity and its ‘rules’ preventing our fun, we believe this change brings us freedom to live the ‘abundant’ life we were originally created for (John 10:10).

I’m constantly amazed by stories of how Jesus is making a difference in people’s lives all across the UK. Sharing these stories through greatcommission.co.uk is definitely one of the highlights of my work – hearing people from diverse backgrounds such as Balbinder, Neil, Lee and Natalie who talk about the peace and purpose they’ve found through their relationship with Jesus.

But surely, for us millennials, having a faith based on needing to change, and wanting others to change too, jars with the mantra of our day: “accept everyone as they are”? After all, how can our friends trust us if we’re sitting in judgment – wanting them to change their beliefs and actions?

This is exactly how five party-going young women felt when faced with spending a month in a Norfolk convent – a somewhat different ‘spiritual journey’ to what they’d expected when they signed up to the Channel 5 reality show! Arriving in their high heels, heavy make-up and short skirts, their assumption was that the nuns – covered head-to-toe in their habits – would judge, condemn and look down on them.

But what they found was genuine love and friendship, offering them a different way to think about the world. Spending time with the sisters helped them reflect on what really mattered, and realise the places where they were searching (unsuccessfully), for their identity and self-worth. As the Bad Habits series unfolded, we could see them realising for themselves how they needed to change – actively asking for forgiveness, reconciling broken relationships, and starting to focus on others.

So perhaps the message that we need to change isn’t something so off-putting after all, as long as we remember to ‘beyond all these things put on love’ (Colossians 3:14, NASB).

In fact, I’d argue that many of our beliefs around conversion actually resonate strongly with millennials;

1. Wanting to ‘change the world’

I believe that when really pushed, most millennials would agree that the world is full of problems which need addressing, and that we all have a part to play in seeing change come in our communities.

The change we encounter during conversion is not about escaping the real world, but is instead ‘the radical transformation of an individual life towards generous service in the world’ (Oxford handbook of Evangelical Theology, p212). I’d say that’s an appealing concept for millennials.

2. Wanting to become a better version of ourselves

In our age of insecurities and anxieties, just like the five ladies on Channel 5’s Bad Habits, I think lots of us are looking for a more fulfilling way to live. And as we try to fill that hole with social media, drinking, friendships, career success and more, many of us become aware that we can’t do it on our own – we need help. And the faith we hold to says that the only one who can save us in that situation is Jesus; ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14:6).

3. Recognising life is complex

Millennials aren’t after pat-pat answers and simple formulas for success – we know that life is messy. So, the evangelical understanding of conversion as a complex experience, with people coming to faith in Jesus in many different ways, suits millennials – it means the way we discover Jesus for ourselves doesn’t have to fit a pre-prescribed mould.

4. Being genuine

Millennials hate hypocrites. And in this age of fake news, I believe people are refreshed and impressed to see others who genuinely change and shape their lives around what they believe.

Our beliefs about conversion reflect that we’re each living out a dynamic personal relationship with Jesus, not just going through the motions for the sake of it. ‘We cannot be detached’ as we recognise ourselves as sinners who desperately need the salvation which is only found in Jesus’ (Alistair McGrath in Evangelicalism and the future of Christianity, p68).

So, I’d say that our beliefs about conversion, while not something we often sit down and think about, actually run to the core of what it means for us to live out a dynamic personal relationship with Jesus. And they also remind us that this genuine relationship should attract others to want to explore what Jesus-shaped change could look like in their life.

Jesus reimagined the brutal image of the cross through his actions to embody a beautiful symbol of love, redemption and freedom.

The cross is central to my faith as an evangelical Christian.

It is through the cross that my Saviour performed the most selfless act the world has seen and will ever see. This act was countercultural, an alternative narrative to the selfish lives we’re encouraged to live today. When considering big life decisions, we’re expected to practice selfish thoughts, considering what ‘I’ want to do, what’s best for ‘me’ and how ‘I’ will benefit.

Jesus wrote a different script.

When in conversation with the Father, knowing that the most humiliating and excruciating death was before him, Jesus changed his perspective; suddenly he said, “yet not my will, but yours be done.” This shows that the cross is the ultimate manifestation of God’s selfless love for mankind.

The cross reveals to us that our character must be the foundation for our actions. Before sacrificing his life, Jesus consistently demonstrated the idea of servant leadership, an art often lost in the world which we live in today. Our culture is obsessed with power; man craves increasing authority and control. However, in Matthew 20:16 Jesus said, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”, and in Mark 10:45 he says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The words that Jesus taught to those around him became the foundation for his own character which were demonstrated through his actions. He taught that we should seek service and honour instead of power and domination. The love that Jesus revealed to the earth by dying on the cross was an overflow of his character, the greatest expression to reveal that he is Love.

We live in a world full of empty words and promises. Bruno Mars declares, “Darling I’ll still catch a grenade for ya…”.

Lyrics like these are often the foundation for people’s understanding of what love is, only to lead to disappointment and dissatisfaction when they realise that no effort of man could give them the love they desire. Many people are never introduced to the origin of true love and don’t have the understanding that true love required an action. The cross produced the ultimate action of Christ’s love for all, an action that no mere man could encapsulate. As Christians, we need to embrace this love, represent and extend it those around us. There’s a void that needs to be filled in the broken and searching lives that surround us; it’s only the cross that can create this wholeness.

As Christians, it is crucial to our integrity that we embody these symbols of the cross. Our character must be of Christ and representative of his teachings, being prepared to be the last and not the first. Then as God’s word penetrates our heart, mind and soul, we are to then live out accordingly. Instead of just preaching what we believe, it’s time for us as Christians to truly live out the gospel. To live a life of faith, a dangerous life, stepping out in selflessness and service where we clearly need a supernatural hand to guide us. This is what the cross represents. We can, and we must write a different story than the lie that the world is currently being sold. Let’s deal with heart and character, and live and act from that place.

Salvation was made available through the cross to every race, tribe and tongue. So why would we wait to reveal this love to those around us when we can testify for the abundant life that turning to Jesus leads to?

It’s certainly not an easy life, but it is a full life.

I encourage you today to live a life according to the cross. That means living sacrificially, being the last, not the first. Being selfless, not selfish. Being humble and honouring others, instead of taking glory for yourself. If we can incorporate these symbols that the cross represents, and let it infiltrate our hearts and minds, then I believe that through our character and actions people will be drawn to the encounter that we’ve personally had with Jesus.

It is all about Jesus. Evangelicals are passionate about, and want to be defined by, the good news of Jesus.

In my childhood, I attended a church for a number of years that was built on the grounds of a Buddhist Temple. Every Sunday we would gather and worship our mighty Lord and saviour, surrounded by those who would disagree with that claim. Every Sunday I was reminded of how thankful I was for Jesus, for his intervention on the cross for me and for what He revealed about God to us. That truth stills holds central to my life, and now more than ever I am thankful for Jesus and I’m living my life for Him because, it’s is all about Jesus.

As an evangelical, I believe that Jesus is central to everything. I believe that God’s eternal word became human in His Jesus. I believe He conclusively reveals God to humanity, makes it possible for us to come to God through his death and that my life as a disciple of Jesus is to follow His way.

In Colossians 1:15 we read that,

‘The Son is the image of the invisible God’

This shows that God revealed who he is, through his Son Jesus. In all relationships, we reveal our true character to the people that we meet and the more we get to know someone the more we reveal. Someone may not reveal every aspect of their character, but if they are trustworthy what they reveal will not contradict what they choose to conceal. This is the same with God in Jesus. God reveals to us Himself through Jesus. Therefore what we know of God through Jesus may not be everything there is to know about God, but what we can be sure of is that everything revealed in Jesus will not be contradicted by what we don’t know or have not yet discovered about God. Therefore, when we look to Jesus, when the Bible reveals who he is and how much he loves and cares for his people we can be rest assured that this is who God is too.

Jesus not only reveals God to us, but he makes it possible to come to God through his death on the cross.

‘Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God’ (Romans 5:1-2)

Jesus’s death on the cross, allows us to enter into a relationship of peace and grace with our heavenly Father. This enables us to live knowing that Jesus has reconciled us to God. I can live a life in close relationship with God, knowing that Jesus took away my sins that separate me from Him.

So how does everything being about Jesus affect what I believe? And what impact does this have on how I live my life?

Well everything, because it’s all about Jesus. Jesus is central to how we live our lives as disciples. Being a disciple means being a follower, believer, supporter, student, learner, devotee. It’s a word used to refer to someone who takes up the ways of someone else. Therefore, if we are disciples of Jesus, we not only believe and follow him but we are also called to learn from Him and to live like Him. Jesus says to his disciples that,

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).

To live as disciples of Jesus we need to become overcome by His character traits, to allow ourselves to be transformed to become like Jesus as we learn to live like Him. This to me is what it means to be an evangelical – to follow Jesus, to centre our lives around Him and to practice His way in all that we do. We love Jesus and we want people to encounter Him.

It is all about Jesus.