this photo still makes me smile every time i see it. it was one of our crazier ideas in grace where we were exploring the idea that there is an assumption in various places that to be holy is to avoid the world whereas if you look at the life of christ the opposite seems to be true! so we had some defenders of the purity codes on the door as people arrived. looking back it would have freaked you out if it was your first time.

anyway all that to say that in our book imagining mission we riff on john taylor's ideas. he would have been great on twitter in my view as he just has so many brilliant short phrases. 'guardians of universality' is a trap the church in the west especially falls into as though she is the defender of some universal truth passed down from on high. history has shown that those universal truths usually turn out to be very modern western ideas – in other words a local theology. there's nothing wrong with a local theology – tradition is a series of local theologies. the problem comes when it loses humility and starts universalising.

if you are enjoying these photos with john taylor quotes i am gradually adding them to a flickr album. i also made them into a set of cards for my own use that are a fun discussion starter. i mentioned this in an earlier post or two and now have a list of getting on for a hundred people who have requested a set. if you'd like to be added to the list let me know. i'll get round to it round christmas time i expect.

#ImaginingMission