Outside In

" You too were included in Christ." This small phrase was written by an old man to a group of young people who were whole hearted yet recent believers in Jesus. The old man had lived through times of disorienting religious and cultural change. These changes had made it possible for someone like him to connect to this group of new believers. He eventually accepted the changes and was transformed by them, becoming a master of his time whose teaching became the basis of mentoring the new generation. Old men almost never talk like this.

The sincere faith of these new believers meant that they were no longer outsiders to the Jesus movement because faith in Jesus is what created and sustained it, but they were very different than just about everybody else who was already inside the new Church. The older more established churches within the movement weren't quite sure what to make of these newcomers. The insiders stood back from them, watching, waiting, judging. As a result, it was obvious to the new believers that they were not fully insiders; clearly there was more involved in the Jesus movement than faith. The old man who had written this phrase to them knew very, very well what it was like to be an insider as well as an outsider; to feel the warmth of being included and the cold fear of being excluded. He wanted these people whom he specially loved to be assured that they were included, fully inside. His life experience had made him very sensitive to the politics of acceptance.

As a young man he had been the consummate insider; superbly educated, very influential, a powerful leader, the future of the ancient movement into which he was born. But he left them, siding with the new Jesus movement whom he had come to believe was the promised one that his elders had been waiting for but did not accept. This was seen as betrayal, and he was cast out, becoming a hated, hunted outsider. His position in the Jesus movement was not much better. For years he had been attacking them idealogically, socially and even personally, killing entire families. Now he had decided to join them. Of course nobody really trusted him, even though the murderous hatred of his former movement was proof that he was sincere. Eventually he was fully accepted as a part of their movement, but he was too controversial to really be included among the insiders, so they wished him well and sent him away, back to his home town. He was now outside both movements, solitary and isolated.

The Jesus movement eventually spread into new groups of people, and the leaders didn't quite know what to do. They remembered the gifted outsider and finally brought him inside, and he led the way forward. This man was instrumental in spreading the Jesus movement all over the known world, but that once again led him outside as people joined the Jesus movement who were completely different than the people who had founded it which caused lots of controversy. It was these new people whom the outsider had said were included in Christ. Inside - Outside - Inside - Outside. This summed up the life of the old man.

The old outsider seemed to be beyond all of this. It seemed he had discovered something incredibly profound about the true nature of membership in the Jesus movement and he was eager to pass this wisdom on to these new, inside-outside believers. He said not to worry, that we are included in Christ when we personalize the gospel, when we believe. Then, the outsider contnued to reveal the incredible reality of being included in Christ; the precious privilege of being a true insider with God. The Jesus movement is not about clinging to our history and traditions, controlling our social environment, wielding power over people. Christian groups that become exclusive on the basis of legacy or managing the culture of cool are more like clubs that carefully control membership to please the people who are already insiders than churches which follow Jesus into every back alley, suburban cul de sac or small country town with the message " you too are included in Christ."