Theologian or Tour Guide?
Image by Joe Loong
I read an article a few weeks ago with a quote that has stuck with me. It was in one of those “About the Author” blurbs after an article that Luke Lang wrote:
“More of a tour guide than theologian, he loves to help people encounter Christ by showing them where/how he’s encountered Christ.”
I immediately put the magazine down and thought, “That’s me! That’s how I want to describe who I am!”
I have often struggled with what evangelism looks like in my life - or rather what it doesn’t look like. I have been a Christ-follower since I was in seventh grade. I have served on ministry staffs on college campuses, churches, and denominational offices. And yet, I’ve never thought of myself as much of an evangelist. If I was honest with myself I’d have to say that I have even beat myself up over my lack of ‘soul-winning’ zeal that I have seen in others around me.
But perhaps what I was so quick to judge myself about wasn’t necessarily the ‘one, true way’ of loving people in Christ. I can completely relate to Lang’s description of being a ‘tour guide.’ I feel like my passion is that people wouldn’t just hear about this amazing God that I serve, but that they would experience Him - that they would see His story painted all over my own, and that my story would echo and ring true against a backdrop of countless others.
BTW - Luke has written a book whose title makes me want to pick it up - I Am Standing Up: True Confessions of a Total Freak of Nature
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What Are Thin Places?
"Thin Places" are rich in Celtic tradition. They are the places in our lives where the divine and the natural worlds come so close together that we can catch a glimpse of God. For the Celtics these places were very real - places within creation where we could physically go. The Thin Places in our own lives are those moments where the space between us & the Kingdom is thin, when we are introduced to a greater glimpse of Who He is through our experiences and through the stories of others.
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Brad Ruggles shared their voice on 10.16.2008:
Man, I love the idea of being a “tour guide” for Christ. You’re exactly right, people don’t want to be told what about Christianity, they need to EXPERIENCE it. I think I’m going to add “tour guide for God” to my resume.