Ten of Spades: The Insider

This book was given to me by a friend and neighbor (literal) as one of those “Read this and let me know what you think” deals.

Well, it took me a little while to get to it, but this is one of those books that really resonates with where the journey has been taking me lately. The basic premise is pretty simple…that the Kingdom of God and the Gospel has its most profound impact when it is lived within the context of everyday life and the existing relationships we have within our world.

Unfortunately, Christians are often encouraged directly or indirectly to pull away from their social context and become “outsiders” to those who need Christ the most. In an attempt to connect believers with a new set of relationships (supposedly for some discipleship which rarely happens) we sacrifice our identity as “insiders.”

Quoting from a chapter entitled “The Insider’s Role in Missions”…

“Insiders are at the heart of God’s pursuit of the nations. They are essential to what he wants to do. Yet, in many churches and missions efforts they face resistance and disapproval rather than support. They are made to feel they are somehow disloyal because of the time and space they give their unbelieving friends. What they need instead is affirmation, equipping, and resourcing—and lots of it.”

For those who may want to better understand how live ‘Kingdomly’ in your everyday world along with those who want to influence others to become ‘insiders’ Petersen and Shamy have some great practical chapters on how to do that…especially the idea of simply inviting someone to journey through Scripture with you.