A Key Scripture
‘So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’ (Gen.1:27)
A Key Quote
“A Creative Minority is fueled, driven, and framed by a compelling counter-narrative – the full, Biblical story of God’s loving relationship with His people. Out of that flows a substitute vision for the economy, education, human sexuality and many other areas – all of these larger issues fit into this all-encompassing story.” (p.27)
Summary
This week, we continue to look at the six defining characteristics of a creative minority. We reflect on the second:
Narrative – A Compelling Alternative Story: we live in a world of ‘the story wars’; we compete for the hearts and minds of people and the best story wins. Many Christians have a crisis of confidence in their story – the gospel – and one reason is that we have only been given half the story. The half story is that we are trying to get sinners into heaven when they die. But the full story is that we are made in God’s image and our purpose is to partner with him in renewing all things.[1] This means we can have a vision of faith for every job and activity. The half story creates an ‘elite’ of missionaries and pastors but the full story, in which we all carry the dignity of divine image-bearers, empowers us all. It enables us to present a vision for every job and all areas of human life that is a counter-narrative, subverting society’s stories. It also enables us to live out this story in our everyday life and to influence our communities in small but powerful ways.
Questions for Reflection
- What are some of the stories that are out there in our society?
- Why is the full story of the gospel so compelling and attractive?
- What would living out this story in our everyday worlds and everyday lives look like in practice?
Next
Next week we will look at the third characteristic: Ethics. We will reflect on what we offer to our world as a distinctive moral vision.
[1] This big story was traced in the last book we did in our LifeWords book club, All Things New by Pete Hughes.