whole gospel – whole church – whole city

November 20, 2025November 21, 2025 ~ dwc ~ Leave a comment

[I originally shared this as part of a City Collectives Retreat with leaders from Wellington, Tauranga, Invercargill and Auckland. It is a letter that draws from snippets of 1st century church history, and seeks to imagine what the Apostle Paul might say to modern Christian leaders seeking to pursue unified mission at a city level.]

Letter from the ‘Corinth Church Network’

Paul, a fellow slave in the Gospel, by the hand of Tertius my faithful collaborator and scribe, To those called to serve church networks in the cities of Aotearoa New Zealand.

I pray, as you partner together for the Father’s purpose, that the Gospel may continue to bear fruit in Invercargill & Tauranga, Wellington & Auckland; just as it has in our City Gospel Networks in Jerusalem & Antioch, Thessalonica & Rome, Ephesus & Phillipi, and Corinth where I am currently writing from.

Our labour here as the ‘Corinth Church Network’ has not been without diƯiculty. You’ll find this anywhere you have many gatherings of believers in a single city. I do not want you to be unaware of both the blessings and the challenges you are likely to face as you collaborate for His glory in your cities. So yes, I will dare to boast to you of our experiences of God’s power, which are always found in the midst of weakness, not strength.

I am not ashamed of the Gospel. Deeper than the gospel of Caesar in my time, or the gospel of consumption or the myth of progress in your time. The gospel is the gospel of Jesus. The good news that Jesus is Lord. This news has profound implications both for humanity and the whole creation. Yes, the whole gospel has holistic implications. Not simply for the afterlife, as even Greeks believe, but for a New Life that transforms minds, hearts, spirits, souls… and raises bodies, marriages, families, communities, cities and ultimately heaven and earth.

You have a few really useful creeds that express the dramatic, transcultural, trans-historic scope of this gospel – from the Apostles, Nicea, Athanasius and more. I myself tucked a very short, very early, and very resurrection-focused creed in the fifteenth chapter of my letter to the Corinth Church Network. Resurrection is everything – without it we should all go do something else. The whole gospel hinges on resurrection. But as I said in the ending of that chapter, the truth of resurrection must lead to the ‘therefore’ of abounding in the work of the Lord.

There are so many ways to abound in Resurrection work in a city. Collaborative evangelism campaigns. Local food drives. Christmas floats. Partnership with social service orgs specialising in wrap around care. The whole spectrum. Timeless hope for eternity… and timely help for the poor.

This is the whole gospel. Sure, the Lord can use dreams and visions to directly implant this gospel in people’s imaginations. But his usual way of propagating it is through ordinary human messengers – the Church. The whole Church, in united and reconciled diversity is God’s ongoing evidence of resurrection. A beaming miracle of grace. The whole Gospel, displayed in the whole Church.

This gorgeous full display of the whole Gospel is wrecked by all forms of disunity – competition, comparison and division. Think of Peter’s mealtime hypocrisy at Antioch, or Euodia and Syntyche’s incessant bickering at Phillipi. These all had to be dealt with – directly and even publicly – no matter how awkward. Unity is that precious.

I’m not saying you can’t disagree or debate. Actually, that can be healthy. Don’t imagine, as so many do, that unity is some kind of effortless ‘good vibes only’ zone where there is no disagreement. Welcome – even invite disagreement within your teams and networks – that’s how you build trust, make people feel that they are not just serving your thing, and that’s how you begin to build unity that is truly collaborative and missional. Don’t assume you know what needs to be done all the time.

That sounds counter-intuitive to your ears, doesn’t it? It’s because your culture has a particular aversion to anything that stands in the way your own personal sovereign will and imagination. But proper debate and dialogue must be normal in the kingdom. Great things are on the other side of patient listening. One of our famous early disagreements about Gentiles, circumcision and law observance was worth having slowly. At this assembly in Jerusalem, Barnabas and I patiently worked through “much discussion” with the church, the apostles, and elders. We came out with an outstanding letter because we had the courage and patience for a full conversation. So then, as you plan, build, strategize, form, storm and norm, don’t rush. Hear people out. Move at Godspeed.

Not everyone that disagrees with you is being divisive or argumentative. Know the difference. Sure, sometimes we choose to work separately, like me and Barnabas or John Mark. But don’t permanently write one another off. Make every effort to unify.

There’s another huge mistake to stay aware of, made famous by some here at Corinth. They obsessed over Apollos, Peter, super apostles, and anyone with the prized abilities of knowledge and speaking. Their choices of who got to speak, and who was important sent a clear message of “I don’t need you” which – surprise, surprise, always leaves many feeling “I am not a part of the body.” This is travesty. I love to praise people, but I cannot praise this. In my letters to the Corinth and Rome Church Network, I went out of my way to name many members of the body. High and low. Male and female. Jew and Gentile. Servants and free-persons. Low-sounding names like Fortunatus (‘Lucky’), or simple servant names like Tertius and Quartus (‘third’ and ‘fourth’), deserve to be named alongside Erastus, the city’s director of public works. Name orators next to slaves. Speakers next to scribes. Hosts with guests. That’s the whole church.

Your city gospel movements must stretch and reach to the whole church in each city. Strive to acknowledge and associate with the names of churches and leaders that are less acknowledged. Don’t only associate with people from ‘thriving’ churches. Build teams where ‘average’ lead alongside ‘inspiring’ people. Don’t just tell success stories. City Church Networks, like individual Christians and Churches, rarely grow from strength to strength, but frequently through the usual mix of good bursts, small fizzles, pivots and improvements. It’s not about being amazing all the time.

Host prayer gatherings with all kinds of prayer styles, not just the ones that look great on Instagram. Take, for example, one of your recent moments of revival at Asbury. The gathering it started with was not glitzy. Jon Tyson called it a “badly run prayer meeting”; but… it had humility… sincerity… confession. Utter disregard for brand, logos, or celebrity. More of that please. I’m not saying we should worship with half-hearted complacency. Go hard. Spend money. Practice. Break your jars of precious ointment. But just beware the obsession with awesome people doing awesome things. It’s more Corinthian than Christian.

Most of your cities will have many kinds of believers. The things churches pride themselves on are often the very things that separate. Expertise in end time predictive prophecy. Obsession with spirit gifts and miracles. Exacting explanations of precisely how the Spirit is – or isn’t – present in bread and wine. Making a competition out of worship, preaching or social justice…

Why does all this matter? Because the how and who of our city church networking says something about the God we believe in. God is not only the God of Big bible names like Moses, Isaiah and David, but also Miriam, Amos and Nathan. Not only prophets, priests and kings, but also slaves, widows, orphans, strangers, farmers, rubbish collectors, waitresses, Uber drivers, tradies and truck drivers.

I’m not saying anyone can do anything. I’m just saying work hard at unity that is shocking, surprising and unexpected. That Aussie bloke Stuart Piggin is onto something. It’s never been about platforms, personalities or performers. Find ways to weave the tribes, the worship styles, and levels of cool. Catholics and charismatics. Robes and jandals. Affluent and awkward. Perfect haircuts and bad teeth. Why? Because it takes the whole Church to display the whole Gospel.

And finally, the whole Gospel summons the whole Church to and through the whole City. Churches and church networks should match the demographics of the context God has placed them in. Christians are drawn from the whole city… and sent back into the whole city.

I’ve already mentioned how diƯicult this was in the Corinth Church Network. The elite leaders didn’t like this. They loved high lofty leaders and super apostles who postured themselves like Greek sophists. They were addicted to gathering around big names from overseas. They wanted their gatherings to flow with the finest wine, food and philosophy as if church was a Symposium. They were happy to get gorged and drunk while others starved – some literally to death. I think I said it best when I wrote to the Rome Church Network to “associate with people of low status.”

Don’t get me wrong. We need generous hosts like Gaius. And yes, the gospel is advanced through strategic connections with civic leaders like Erastus. Yes, we can and should network with people outside our immediate spheres. But bi-vocational tradies and tent-makers like Aquila and Priscilla, young people like Timothy, people with past mistakes like Peter, Onesimus and John Mark – they are crucial to God’s work. Don’t overlook quiet, local and un-amazing wisdom.

Your cities, especially you, Auckland, are dripping with diversity of culture, income levels, language, interests and lots of struggle, isolation, pain and privilege. Be people of the whole city. Work hard at it. Go past the performative levels of diversity and compassion. Oh yes, learn Te Reo Māori by all means. God is delighted that this language renewal movement has become popular in your time. But also make the effort to learn a few greetings in NZ Sign Language, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Fijian, Samoan and all you can. Don’t just occasionally enjoy their foods but get to know their histories. All the people… in all of the City. That’s how we begin on the long journey of living out the meaning of
Pentecost and the multi-cultural, multi-lingual reality of kingdom life the Spirit.

That, my dear friends, is my appeal to you. That is the pain, the challenge, the vision and the blessing of being City Gospel Movements.
Witnessing to the Whole Gospel.
Joining together with the Whole Church.
Reaching in blessing to the Whole City.

The Grace and Shalom of God be ever with you. Amen.

a Resurrection letter from the first century

April 20, 2025 ~ dwc ~ Leave a comment

(For a sermon for Birkenhead Community Church, 20 April 2025)

Resurrection Letter from Tertius

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Risen!

My name is Tertius. I’m a scribe – a letter writer – from the first century. You might remember my name and my greeting from the very end of a letter you call “Romans”. I scribed that letter for a well-paying, well-connected customer… who eventually became a dear mentor and friend. Known as “Saul” around his Greek contacts, we came to know him as “Paul” – the Apostle – a towering figure in the early church, though he preferred to speak of himself as a slave of Christ.

My name, Tertius, simply means ‘third’. Roman families often named children by birth order. First, Second, Third, Fourth… or Primus, Secundus, Tertius, and Quartus. The name ‘Quartus’ also features not far from my greeting in Romans. My name has taken on so much more significance for me now. It signifies so much more than my birth-order. It now points to my Master and Redeemer who was raised the Third day.

Paul and I wrote “Romans” while staying with the wonderfully hospitable Gaius in Corinth. And Corinth is where I am currently writing this letter to you. He tells me you did a sermon series a couple of years ago on the first of Paul’s two famous letters to the Churches at Corinth. So, you’ll be familiar with the ways in which the Resurrection collided with the philosophies and practices of Corinth… a fashionable new colony, full of pomp, athleticism, philosophy… and questionable sexual ethics!

I’d worked as a scribe for a wide range of wealthy people at Corinth. One of these was Erastus, director of public works – like a treasurer for the city. It was significant for a believer to have such an important position… important enough for his name to be inscribed in various places at Corinth. Some of your archaeologists have found a couple of those inscriptions you can still see today. It was Erastus who recommended me as a scribe for Paul. Dale thought it would be helpful for me to tell you my experience of getting a grasp on – or should I say becoming grasped by – the Resurrection of Christ. I pray my words reach Dale in time for him to read to you on Resurrection Sunday.

Ancient scribes like me didn’t simply sit in a dark, candle-lit room with ink and papyrus. We travelled. We consulted. We socialised. This helped confirm details for the letters we scribed. Many of us were educated in rhetoric and had strong language ability.

When Paul employed me for his first major letter to Corinth, I was not yet a believer. Let’s just say, as someone with my level of Greek education, I raised my eyebrows just a tad as I transcribed his words about the ‘foolishness’ of Greek wisdom. I grew to know Paul as a man of deep love and compassion, but he was not afraid of robust dialogue! And I grew to understand that Paul had a surprisingly impressive knowledge of the same philosophers and poets I’d learned about. He could quote, as he did at Athens once, the hymn to Zeus in one minute, and then be preaching the risen Christ in the next. See Luke’s second manuscript, which you call ‘Acts’ for more details, and to get a sense how intelligent Paul really was.

I was fairly familiar with the Jewish religion, but to be the best scribe I could be for Paul, I would need to learn more about this new sect. Paul suggested that I spend a fair bit of time getting to know the various networks of believers at Corinth. He probably had mixed motives… He knew I’d be able to confirm the accuracy of all that was going on… but he also knew I’d be exposed to a community that just might change my life. And that’s exactly what happened.

The Christian communities at Corinth were mostly independent households who would regularly come together in various larger gatherings for special religious meals. Mixing with these communities for a few months, I experienced two very different groupings of people, with very different kinds of dinner gatherings… As I found out, you can tell a lot about people by the way they gather.

As a man trained in language and ideas, I initially gravitated to the more philosophically inclined group. They loved the Greek schools of thought, and eloquent speakers… That’s probably why they came to identify as the people “of Apollos” – one of the more prominent speakers in the early church. By contrast, they were thoroughly unimpressed by a comparatively rough, at times blunt, tentmaking Apostle like Paul. They thought his teaching about Resurrection was nonsense. What would it even mean to have a ‘body’ in heaven? As some of the great Greek thinkers had said, “a dry soul is best”. The soul “flies from the body as lightning flashes from a cloud.” You don’t really want, let alone need a body in the heavenly realms. So… Resurrection of the body felt strange. Unnecessary. Restrictive. Clunky. Even dirty…

A typical dinner for these folks was luxurious and intellectual. The loftiest ideas – for those who could understand. The finest food – for those who were invited. Meticulous decorations. You folks might say it was “Instagram-worthy.” As in Roman symposia, the most important people were given the best spots. Servants kept every wine glass topped up and every plate loaded… whatever the guests wished for. I was well-familiar with these kinds of lavish gatherings composed of such cosmopolitan characters. This was the clientele I would often write for. They paid well.

A city like Corinth had plenty of hungry unfortunate folk… Their natural place was on the street… but having no understanding of how dinner invitations work, they sometimes would find their way into those gatherings… These sad folks were tolerated… permitted to watch… provided that they would not disrupt our proceedings with their sounds… or their smells… Someone told me about a beggar who wandered in months ago… he literally died of hunger. No ‘body’ in the gathering had noticed… Out of sight… and out of mind… in an adjacent room, he’d quietly fallen asleep… permanently. Thankfully, some of the servants of the house were believers and they tended to his body… though they gave his burial more time and expense than most would have thought appropriate…

The attendees at these gatherings were typical in their Corinthian-style immodesty and what we might call ‘ethical flexibility’. Controversially for many, the heads… and bodies… of some of the women… could frequently be uncovered… Many attending these gatherings could also be spotted taking part in proceedings at the temple of Asklepios… some even participating freely in the infamous after-parties, where more than food was on offer… “The body is for meats!” was a rationale which applied just as much to sex as it did to food. Such people latched on to some of Paul’s language about being ‘free’ in Christ… conveniently forgetting the parts about self-control and considering others… Such logic had one member proudly justifying a sexual relationship with their father’s newest wife… In Greek ways of thinking, matter didn’t truly matter. And apparently neither did the body. It was merely a temporary tool for attaining pleasure and status. A costume.

By contrast, the dinner gatherings of Chloe and her household were strikingly different. Chloe was a very successful businesswoman, and one of the early Greek women to join the way of Christ. She stood in a rich and fruitful line of leading Christian women – stretching from that early Resurrection morning by the tomb to now. Mary, Phoebe, Lydia, Priscilla, Junia and Chloe. And more… Women who changed the world. Chloe owned a number of olive groves and her oil was prized and distributed all over the region. Since following Christ, although Chloe’s business continued to be profitable, she was less motivated to maximise business success, and more interested in people, ministry and the Good News.

The social dynamic of her gatherings was something I’d never seen. And I’m not talking about the generous amount of Chloe’s premium olive oil at her table. I’m talking about the awkward, uncomfortable disregard for rank and status. Quite simply, there were no special guests eating special food in special places. Indeed, the only ‘special’ person at this meal was the risen Lord Jesus, who they insisted was present with them – especially as they broke a ceremonial loaf of bread and shared a cup of wine. More on that later… This dinner, with Jesus at its centre, seemed to be open to the whole world. It was for every… body. Glamourous bodies and disabled bodies. Rich and poor bodies. Jew and Gentile bodies. Male and female bodies. The altered or differentiated bodies of eunuchs. Every ‘body’ shared the same table…

In his letter, Paul had mentioned a number of people who were still alive who claimed to have seen Christ alive after his crucifixion. I was shocked to learn that two of them were part of Chloe’s household. Could such a thing really be true? If so, what did that even mean? How did it fit with the philosophy I was so arrogantly proud of? What was the significance of a single person being raised from the dead? What philosophical relevance did it have for the rest of us? And yet, this strange Resurrection philosophy was clearly animating these people… They were convinced, philosophically and practically, that the purpose of the ‘body’ was not directed at sex or food… but at serving the Lord and one another. It was clear that their future hope in the resurrection of the body was the motivation behind their concern for every ‘body’ here and now.

So different from the Apollos group! Instead of debates dominated by speakers, these gatherings were ordered. They prayed in turn. Read scripture. Chanted Psalms. There were moments for everyone to respond together as one Body saying responsive phrases like “Jesus is Lord” or a simple “Amen.” You didn’t have to be a scholar to participate. Every ‘body’ had something to give… and something to receive.

I’ll never forget meeting Chloe’s adopted son, who she had named Anastasios, which means ‘Rising up’. His body was a little small for his age. His thin legs were unconventionally angled. Others helped him with his meal. He thanked them and took his turn leading the gathering in prayer… speaking slowly but with definitive clarity. His tone and eyes radiated joy. Chloe had taken him in off the street – literally. He did not know his parents. You see, a practice that was common in the Roman world, which I have now come to detest, was leaving disabled or deformed infants ‘exposed’… to die… in a ditch. To have a body that was not ‘healthy’ was unfashionable for cosmopolitan Roman families. The resurrection of Christ, and the resurrection to come, had transformed Chloe’s mind. She valued lives and bodies that were unwanted…

Chloe would always introduce Anastasios as one of the teachers in the household. “He teaches us how to serve and be served. To give and receive. How to hope, believe, pray, and persist through suffering.” She meant every word. And she was absolutely right. God truly uses what we think of as ‘weak’ to humble those we think of as ‘strong’…

I began to see the true foolishness of the intellectual debates of the Apollos crowd, and the true wisdom of the radically counter-cultural Resurrection ethics of Chloe and her household. Their communal life embodied the Gospel. It was a letter to me… a letter I was learning to read… and a letter that was ‘reading’ me…

I had always thought that the values, ideas, and lifestyle I had inherited from Greek culture was so strong, wise, and glamorous. But I was now clearly seeing that they contributed to a world-system that divided people into those that mattered and those who didn’t… the strong and the weak… the valued and the worthless… the honourable and the dishonourable… the high and the low… the rich and the poor… the successful and the forgotten…

The comfort and living of a select few was built on the suffering and death of many… The more time I spent with Chloe and her household, the more I cared about every ‘body’ my world-system was harming. I felt dead… trapped within the system. I wanted out. I needed to get free. I needed what Chloe and her household had. I needed everything their Christ offered and gave… I needed to be raised to new life.

One evening after the gathering, I spilled all this out in conversation with Chloe and a few others. She told me that in confessing this with my mouth, I had already begun to receive the new life I knew I needed. As they prayed for me, I felt waves of freedom, and purpose, and life flow into my mind, heart, and body. A new Spirit.

I was due to return to Paul with a report on my time, which now included news of my own conversion. Paul beamed with joy, and when I asked if he could answer my many questions he eagerly agreed. It turned out that writing that second letter with him provided us with a timely opportunity to continue our conversations to help me grow in my understanding.

The Resurrection really is the truth that holds all other truths. When Christ rose on the third day, the ultimate future of humanity and even the cosmos, walked out of the Tomb. The future had rushed into the present. His risen and indestructible body was the template for the transformation, redemption, healing, and glorification of the entire human person: bodies, brains, neurons, hearts, motives, wills, relationships – our entire selves will be made new.

All kinds of bodies will be glorious and free. Male and female bodies. Modified and mistreated bodies. Abled and differently abled. All bodies need freeing and healing. Resurrection does not mean the perfect male and female bodies look like Achilles and Aphrodite, or to use some of your examples Brad and Angelina. No. Resurrection will make you more you, not more like some generalised ideal from Greek or any other cultural imagination.

Just as Christ’s risen body still bore the wounds and scars of the Cross, so too our bodies will be redeemed to reflect – and heal – all the experiences, deformities, modifications, injuries and anything that hinders us. Our bodies will be liberated into glorious freedom.

The Resurrection also extends to every corner of the cosmos. New gardens, new cities, new oceans, new ecosystems, new solar systems. New stargazing. New moon-rises. New biology. New chemistry. New physics. New Creation. New Heaven. New Earth.

This ultimate future is to be anticipated now. Resurrection means we have work to do. Justice will reign in this this New Heaven and New Earth. Justice for every Body. We anticipate Resurrection when we work to feed, clothe, house and care for every Body.

And we practice our care for every Body when we practice communion. Communion is for every Body. It’s not a sumptuous meal with my best mates who are just like me. It’s not about ignoring others to have a private moment with me and God. It’s about practicing Common Union as one Body.

And so, my sisters and brothers of Birkenhead Community Church, when you gather around the table of the Lord, do not feast like the world. Remember the Lord’s death. Proclaim his Resurrection until he comes again. Celebrate as one Body. Honour every Body.

Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed. Alleluia.
In the common hope of Resurrection from the Dead,
Tertius.