Stories

As Christians prepare to celebrate Ascension Day, soon followed by Pentecost, we are reminded that the Christian faith was never intended to remain confined within walls, cultures, or national identities. The ascended Christ sends his followers into the world, and at Pentecost the Holy Spirit enables people from many nations and languages to hear and understand the good news together. Christianity, from its very beginning, has carried both a deeply personal and profoundly communal identity.

This theme of religion and identity became especially striking during a recent visit to North Macedonia — one of Europe’s newer nations, still discerning and shaping its national identity. In much of the Western world, however, religion no longer shapes identity in the same way it once did. Church attendance has fallen, daily prayer is uncommon, and faith is often relegated as a private matter rather than part of communal life. Meanwhile, across large parts of Africa and Asia, faith and religious devotion remains deeply woven into public life and personal identity.

The question for Christians, especially in the West today is how we meet people where they are, helping faith become once again a living and visible part of identity and community. Encouragingly, there are initiatives around the world where Christians from different traditions seek to work together in mission and witness. The collaboration between Orthodox and Evangelical Christians through the Lausanne Orthodox Initiative is one such example. Faith2Share’s has a vision: to enable effective collaboration between mission movements and leaders worldwide, so that together we may share faith and bring hope to a searching world.

• Issues

  • Discipleship
  • Collaboration