Asia's Urban Harvest Won’t Fit Into European Wineskins - Here’s What You Can Do

By S. Crawley

The harvest is ripe, but our choice of wineskins can make a big difference. (Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash)

When we think about discipleship, many of us have a particular picture in our minds. 

Usually, this includes a Sunday church service with a bundle of customs and traditions originating in Europe. We could call that bundle a wineskin—a particular container we use to live out our relationship with God. Jesus used ‘wine’ and ‘wineskins’ to contrast religious traditions with the deeper reality of God’s Kingdom (Mark 9:14-17). This language is equally useful and relevant to us. 

The ‘wine’ of God’s Kingship and Fatherhood is exceptionally good.

The wineskins are a problem for people who don’t like them.

God has done many powerful and wonderful things in and through these European wineskins.

However, human evil and brokenness have also used those wineskins to do terrible things in Europe and beyond. As a result, many communities have not only rejected them, but are carrying wounds inflicted by them. They look at Jesus and see Him bundled with a wineskin that was used to oppress and abuse them. This is one problem.

In addition, European wineskins are… European. 

Which means they are NOT Asian. 

Or African. 

Or even American. This is another problem. 

Things from other cultures can be interesting and enriching, but they rarely connect deeply with our hearts. And God is interested in connecting with our hearts. Genuine, transformative discipleship will always connect our hearts deeply with God. Wineskins from one particular culture struggle to speak to the heart of people from other cultures.

People don’t want the wineskin, they want the wine.

God has made it clear He is at work everywhere (Acts 17:26-27), calling people to His Kingdom and drawing them to Himself. 

Every community on this earth longs for wholeness. Each one (Christians included) has brokenness in their lives they wish were healed or restored. They long for the restoration that God wants to bring to them.

Jesus said the harvest is plentiful and sent His disciples out, expecting them to find “people of peace” (Luke 10:1-12). Likewise, in these communities, there are people who are spiritually hungry. They may not have the language or mental models to describe what God is doing, but they are leaning towards it and trying to work out how to be part of the change they want to see.

We can be confident that there are many who are looking for the wine of the Kingdom. They haven’t seen it in European wineskins because of culture and human brokenness. But they haven’t seen it in their own wineskins, either. 

They are stuck.

We can help people taste the wine of God’s Kingdom without a European flavour.

We can never entirely separate ourselves from our cultural wineskins - this is part of how God has sovereignly shaped and formed us. However, like Paul, we can adjust our verbal and non-verbal communication so that people from different groups can understand us better (1 Cor 9:19-23).

This is particularly important in cities. 

The urban context is incredibly complex. There are so many different groups, each with their own language and ways of relating. Urban groups don’t just form along ethnic or religious lines, but people come together through shared brokenness, shared needs, shared interests, and shared causes. It’s impossible to create a wineskin that will communicate effectively to every single one of these groups.

However, communication in a complex environment can be simple if we know our audience and what they want.  

Spiritually hungry people:

• Lean towards anyone who is embodying the reality of the Kingdom in what they do. 
  Do we love by listening? Are we a source of healing, peace and positive change to the community? This proclaims the Kingdom more powerfully than our words - especially where people are dealing with pain from European wineskins.

• Lean towards anyone who lives an authentic, dynamic and life-giving spirituality with God at the centre. 
  So many religious people are following rituals, accumulating intellectual knowledge or striving to perform up to ethical ideals. The spiritual energy and life change that comes from a living relationship with God brings another level of peace, wholeness and “right-living” that flows from the inside, out. People can taste it before they hear a word. What do they taste from us?

• Lean towards anyone who shares stories that reveal the Father-King and His Kingdom. 
  These stories might be our personal experiences of God. They might be stories from God’s Big Story (the Bible). Either way, God’s stories reveal Himself, His words, and His work to people. Their hearts may recognise the One who has already been inviting them to move towards Him. 

Simple, Effective Communication

Three things help us pass Kingdom wine to the spiritually hungry:

• Place God at the centre of our lives and decision-making (exactly what He wants for us!)

• Live out that relationship with God authentically and transparently, which includes

• Practice sharing stories and experiences from our interactions with Him - from the Bible or from our daily lives

These 3 things are simple. Anyone can do them, and they can be done in any social environment. 

Practising these things benefits us, because we can’t do them unless we are personally living out the faith we want to share. Intellectual knowledge alone is not enough. When we don’t have a healthy and living walk with the Father, we will struggle to do these things. When we recognise a gap between our heads and our lives, it is a helpful and needful reminder to us.

Practising these things benefits others:

• They feed the hearts of the hungry. 

• They give the Holy Spirit additional material to work with as He moves in that community.

• They can reveal to us where God is at work in a community. 

Most importantly, if you consistently practise these things, hungry people can discover someone who can help them move towards God without embracing a foreign and/or uncomfortable wineskin. 

You!

Reflection and Response

1. A Scripture
   1 Corinthians 9:19-23
   - What does this passage tell us about Paul's view of wineskins? For himself? For other people?
   

2. A thoughtful question
   - What wineskin(s) have been most significant in your discipleship journey so far? What part of this wineskin are you most thankful for?
   What do you find most challenging?
   - Think of a friend or colleague who is not following Jesus. What would they find challenging about your discipleship wineskin?
   

3. A possible application
   - Think about your most important relationship with someone who is not actively walking with God. How might you embody the Kingdom,
   express your relationship with God and/or share a story in the context of that relationship? Ask God for opportunities and insight.

Discipling the Urban Harvest provides practical insights and encouragement to walk with God in multiplying discipleship in an increasingly urban world - growing as children of the Father, serving the communities He has called us to, and discipling those hungry to know Him.