As we step into 2024, I want to invite you to have confidence in God’s story about us. It is the truest, most beautiful and good story, and shows us what it truly means to be human. Because the stories our culture tells us about ourselves are full of damaging cracks, and stories matter…
Stories Matter
When my two children were small, we spent a year living in France. Each child faced the challenge of being placed in a French school, when they spoke zero French. My eldest soon learnt the language fluently and amazed the school by ending the year top of her class. My youngest, however, didn’t learn a single word, but instead taught her entire nursery class English!
This story has been retold in our family, embedding itself into the narrative of my children’s lives and affecting how they view themselves. My eldest now loves learning languages, and works hard to welcome international students. And my youngest can make friends with anyone, finding ways to communicate across all kinds of boundaries. The story has shaped them and their habits.
Similarly, the narratives of our culture have profound effects on how we see ourselves and the world around us, and our resultant behaviours. That’s why the Evangelical Alliance set up the Being Human project. It helps us pay attention to these cultural stories and compare them with what God says about us. Being Human seeks to help us recognise the impact the stories have, and align ourselves with God’s story, inviting us to live truly, fully human lives with Jesus.
Five ways we can share God’s story
To help us share God’s story, here are five habits I’d suggest we practise this year.
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Listen for the gaps in our culture’s stories
Everyday life throws us up challenges that reveal the cracks and gaps in our stories. People will ask questions about the whats and the whys of these cracks, as well as the how tos of how to fix them. Our culture’s stories don’t answer these questions well. They leave us dissatisfied and cut us on the sharp edges of their inadequacies. But our story, the God story, tells us that our humanity is rooted in bearing the image of God and is redeemed in Jesus. As we listen out for the questions that emerge from people’s lives, we will find opportunities to share the hope we have in Jesus – a story without cracks or gaps.
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Share God’s story of goodness
To be human is to be made in the image of God, to represent Him and share in His nature. This is true for you and me and every other person. To share the goodness of our story is to share the goodness we recognise in others. This year, why not deliberately seek to affirm, cherish and honour the God image you see in others. Find moments you can encourage others and point out how you see the good in them and how you thank God for that goodness.
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Share God’s story of beauty
To be human is to reflect the character of God, to marvel in the beauty of His creation and to partner in it. With our news feeds flooded with the pain, suffering and ugliness of our world, it can be hard to see the beauty of our lives. But beauty is all around us. The story of humanity is never simplistic or easy, but it is infused with joy and love and kindness. Share with others the beautiful moments in your life, answered prayers, moments of intimacy with God, point out with gratitude the blessings in your life and encourage others to notice theirs.
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Share God’s story of truth
To be human is to project who God is and what He’s like out into the world. We live in a world of distrust and fake news, that craves truth. Who God is hasn’t changed, the truth of His word hasn’t changed, and the truth of His gospel hasn’t changed. Don’t distrust the power of our story, or the God of the story. Share the truth of who God is with grace and kindness and watch lives change before your eyes.
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Share God’s story of hope
To be human is to be invited to be co-heirs and co-labourers in God’s kingdom, but our culture’s stories fail to offer or sustain hope. We are surrounded by crisis and chaos and we are all feeling the effects. But in Jesus our hope is secure. Seek ways to share the story of Jesus, the hope from His resurrection and the confidence of His return. The hope you have that He answers prayers, never leaves us and makes His home with us. People need these stories of hope, they bring life.
Ultimately, as followers of Jesus, we have the best story to share. The story that shows us what it is to be human and live truly, fully human lives. In the words of Dutch theologian Hans Rootmaaker, ‘Jesus didn’t come to make us Christians, He came to make us fully human.’ Let’s know the truth of our story, its goodness and its beauty.
This year, let’s be confident in sharing the hope of our story – God’s story – to all those around us.
Jo Frost is director of communications and engagement at the Evangelical Alliance, co-director of the Being Human project and co-author of Being Human: A new lens for our cultural conversations.
Being Human is here to help everyday Christians live out and share the biblical vision of what it means to be human. With a book, study guide and six-part video course, it is a perfect resource for churches and small groups, helping us all learn to share God’s story with confidence and grace!
Being Human: A new lens for our cultural conversations
Who am I? Does my life matter? What will make me happy?
In different ways and at different moments we all ask life’s big questions about what it means to be human. But in our fast-paced, rapidly changing and often exhausting society, our cultural stories struggle to provide us with good answers. Whether on issues of gender identity or AI, climate change or racial injustice, our individual solutions to life’s big challenges can often end in deep division and broken relationships.
But there is another way. Being Human offers a new lens – a new way to engage with our cultural conversations using four key aspects of humanity: significance, connection, presence and participation. Digging into the foundations of our cultural stories, authors Jo Frost and Peter Lynas expose the cracks in our culture’s understanding of what it means to be human. By contrasting our cultural narratives with the story of the Bible, we can see how cultural truths have been fractured and isolated from the fullness and richness of who God is and who God created us to be, and come to recognise that only in Jesus can we live truly fully human lives.
Being Human is a refreshingly clear and engaging guide for everyone who wants to live out and share the good, true and beautiful biblical vision of what it is to be human.
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash