Jesus for the Curious: The Mission We’re On

Mission Is Participation, Not Performance

The missio Dei has never been about performance and production but participation and faithfulness. It is not a project we manage, but a story we inhabit—the story of the God who so loved the world that he came to redeem and renew it. Mission is not primarily our activity; it is God’s. Mission flows from God, and we are invited into his great movement of reconciliation, not as entrepreneurs of religion but as witnesses of resurrection.

Mission is not primarily our activity; it is God’s.

Yet somewhere between our podcasts and production meetings, our preoccupation with efficiency and excellence has blurred this truth. We have confused fruitfulness with metrics, obedience with outcomes, and faithfulness with success.

Much of what fills today’s Christian blogosphere revolves around increased productivity, higher efficiency, better retention strategies, and more appealing messages. It feels as if our culture is obsessed with this. These have their place and can serve the gospel when rightly ordered. But when they eclipse our participation in God’s mission, they risk reducing ministry to management and discipleship to data.

The Chuch is called to be a living sign of the Kingdom, not merely an efficient organization within it.

The Church was never called to out-produce the world but to out-love it—to be a living sign of the Kingdom, not merely an efficient organization within it.

Why Curiosity Matters

This is why curiosity matters. Holy curiosity slows us down long enough to see people not as targets, numbers, or ministry outputs, but as fellow image-bearers whose stories matter to God. In this sense, curiosity is not a soft alternative to mission; it is one of the ways we resist reducing mission to performance and recover participation in the heart of God.

This reflection seeks something deeper: cultivating a heart of holy curiosity and learning to better engage those around us who may be curious about Jesus but would never darken the doors of a church.

The Incarnation as God Drawing Near

From the beginning, mission has always belonged to God. The missio Dei reminds us that God is the initiating missionary—he seeks, sends, and saves. “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). Curiosity, therefore, is not merely a human trait but a divine impulse—born from the God who came close in Christ. 

The incarnation itself is the ultimate expression of holy curiosity: God stepping into human history, asking, “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9), and walking among us in grace and truth (John 1:14).¹

If God’s mission is centered around his willingness to come near, then our witness must be marked by the same posture. We cannot love people from a distance or proclaim good news while remaining indifferent or aloof to the stories, wounds, questions, and hopes and aspirations that shape their lives.

Seeing People the Way God Does

In an age marked by hurry, hurt, hesitation, and hatred, we must slow down and rediscover what it means to see people as God sees them—to be curious about the world around us and the people within it. 

What are their stories? Their struggles and joys? Their doubts and dreams? How does the gospel intersect—or lovingly interject—their narratives?

In a world obsessed with possessions, the gospel reminds us that our truest treasure lies not in what we own but in who we reach. We cannot take possessions with us when we leave this world, but we can take people with us into eternity.

The Gospel in a Culture of Distraction

People matter deeply to God. We are made in his image and likeness (Gen 1:26–27). The incarnation shows us that Jesus entered our story to redeem it from within (John 1:14), and the Holy Spirit continues this work by indwelling believers, empowering us for godly living in turbulent times. The fullness of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit—demonstrates divine concern for every soul, near and far².

Should we not share that same concern for the eternal destiny of humanity?

As we seek gospel impact, we must guard against the drift toward moralistic therapeutic deism—a belief that God exists merely to make us feel better—and return to gospel-centrism³. We must resist the lure of materialism, which confuses provision with possession, and remember that Jesus calls us to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matt 6:33).

Recalibrating Weary Hearts

Too often, the world’s agendas—more money, greater influence, relentless schedules—have seeped into the Church. When we chase the same goals as the world, we risk losing sight of the simplicity and power of the gospel.

Yet these pressures are not merely “out there” in the culture; they often work their way into our own souls—if we’re honest enough to acknowledge this. The same hurry, comparison, and hunger for visible success that mark the world can quietly shape our expectations of ministry, leaving us weary when the fruit is slow or unseen.

If we are honest, many of us carry our own burdens of disappointment, disillusionment, and discouragement. These can lead us to withdraw, grow cynical, or become spiritually fatigued. Yet such seasons can also be invitations to recalibrate—to allow God to re-align our hearts with his mission.

The call is not to escape the world but to enter it with gospel-shaped compassion and curiosity.

The Posture of Faithful Witness

Our human conditions mirror those of the world, but the Spirit calls us to respond differently: with compassion, wonder, love, hope, and a holy curiosity.

The early church, as depicted in Acts, embodied this posture of grace and truth. Their mission was defined not by platform or power but by love, humility, and Spirit-filled courage.

In a polarized and pluralistic age, we too must recover that posture—to embody good news that is both spoken and seen.⁴ 

If this is the mission we are on, then the question becomes deeply practical: what kind of people must we become in order to bear faithful witness in this moment? The answer is not another technique, or a better strategy, but a renewed posture—one shaped by patience, grace, embodied love, and Spirit-filled courage.

What Does It Mean to Embrace the Mission We Are On?

1. Normalize the long game

Evangelism is rarely instantaneous—it is relational and patient. Most people need multiple, authentic encounters with the gospel lived out in everyday life. As Bosch notes, evangelism requires bold humility—“an approach that is both confident in truth and humble in tone.”⁵ 

Good news is best received when embodied over time, in love and integrity.

2. Trade heat for light

Too often, Christians are known more for the anger we mirror than the faith, hope, and love we carry.

Missiologist Ed Stetzer remarks that in an age increasingly marked by outrage, division, and hostility, followers of Jesus must resist the instinct to answer fear with fear or anger with anger. This does not mean ignoring injustice or pretending that evil should not grieve us. Rather, it means discerning when righteous anger has morphed into unbridled outrage.

Our calling is to bring light: to live like Christ amid the noise, to speak truth in love, to meet real human need with gospel grace, and to offer hope where others offer hostility.⁶

3. See the Church as a missional lab

Evangelism is both caught and taught. The Church must be a living classroom where believers are equipped and encouraged to practice evangelism together. 

Evangelists, in particular, should model and multiply this ethos—helping believers feel competent and confident to show and share the gospel in their own relational networks.⁷

4. Show and tell

Our witness must hold together clarity and credibility. We must pair clear gospel explanation with visible acts of love and justice.

 As Wright notes, “Word and deed belong together as integral aspects of God’s mission.”⁸

Faith without love is noise; love without truth is sentimentality. Together, they reveal the fullness of Christ.

From Curiosity to Conversation: Four Simple Practices

These postures— patience, grace, embodied witness, and truthful love—must now take shape in the ordinary rhythms of our everyday conversations. If mission belongs to God, then evangelism is not simply a technique to master but a way of being present to people with a sense of holy curiosity.

conversation is one of the primary ways we participate in God’s mission.

We do not move from mission to conversation as though they are separate tasks; conversation is one of the primary ways we participate in God’s mission. After all, speech itself has divine origin: the God who creates, calls, reveals, and redeems through his Word has made us in his image as speaking beings, able to listen, name, bless, question, witness, and invite others into the story of his grace⁹.

The long game of evangelism, the call to trade heat for light, the life of the church as a missional community, and the integration of word and deed all converge in the simple but deeply spiritual practice of listening well, asking better questions, and discerning where the Spirit may already be at work in another person’s story.

How is this done? Let’s explore four simple practices.

Four Simple Practices for Gospel Conversation

1.    Ask Better Questions

Good evangelism begins not with answers but with sincere curiosity, as Jesus modelled with the woman at the well (John 4). Thoughtful questions honour the other person’s story and create space for deeper reflection without forcing the conversation.

Examples:

• “What’s giving you hope these days?” 
• “How do you make sense of suffering?”
• “Where do you see God, or struggle to see him, in your life right now?”

2.    Share an Authentic Story

Let Christ, not you, be the hero of your story (Mark 5:19–20). Testimony is not self-promotion but witness: a simple account of how Jesus met you in need, brought grace, and continues to change you.

Keep it brief: two minutes, three beats—Before (need), Encounter (Jesus), After (change).

3.    Live Conspicuous Love

Be available, interruptible, and integrous. Let your service speak the name of Jesus (Matt 5:16).

In a skeptical age, visible love often creates credibility for verbal witness. Small acts of hospitality, compassion, generosity, and presence can serve as signposts of the kingdom and open doors to gospel conversation.

4.    Open the Scriptures

Read a short Gospel passage together; ask:

•  “What stands out to you?” 
•  “What might God be saying here?”

Scripture has power to awaken curiosity and lead hearts toward Christ (Luke 24:32).

Listening Beneath the Surface

Yet these practices are not mechanical steps; rather, they are decent starting points. Asking good questions, sharing our story, loving conspicuously, and opening the Scriptures all require discernment and dependence on the Holy Spirit. Conversations unfold at different levels, and people rarely begin with their deepest questions. We therefore need to learn not only how to speak, but how to listen beneath the surface—attending to the interests, values, beliefs, identities, stories, and worldviews that shape how people make sense of life.

Layers of Conversation

Sam Chan maps human dialogue across three progressive layers—Interests → Values → Worldview—each moving closer to the heart.

We begin with Interests (safe and social: sports, work, weekends), progress to Values (what is good or beautiful: health, family, justice), and ultimately reach Worldview (what is true or ultimate: God, meaning, death, hope).

Chan’s framework helps us see how ordinary conversation can move gradually toward deeper questions of meaning. Yet when conversations reach this deeper terrain, missiology gives us another helpful lens for understanding what is happening beneath the surface.

From Interests to Worldview

Building on this conversational framework, Lloyd Kwast’s anthropological model¹⁰ adds an important fourth layer: Beliefs. Beneath visible behavior and stated Values lie deep convictions—what people actually believe to be true, not merely what they profess.

At the foundation sits Worldview, answering the question, “What is real?”

This sequence—behavior, values, beliefs, worldview—helps us discern how people make sense of life, and why they live as they do.

To these, I propose two additional layers essential for our missional age: Identity and Story.

Whether the dominant story is progress, self-fulfillment, victimhood, or success, evangelism invites people to find their place within God’s grand narrative

• Identity asks, “Who am I, and whose am I?” In a world defined by self-curation and competing loyalties, many locate identity in career, tribe, sexuality, or achievement rather than divine belonging. Evangelism today must engage not only what people believe but who they are becoming. The gospel reorients identity around union with Christ (Gal 2:20), restoring the image-bearing self that sin distorts.
• Story asks, “What story makes sense of my life?” Humans interpret reality narratively, not abstractly. Whether the dominant story is progress, self-fulfillment, victimhood, or success, evangelism invites people to find their place within God’s grand narrative—creation, fall, redemption, and restoration (Eph 1:9–10).

A Holistic Map for Gospel Conversations

Together these six layers—Interests, Values, Beliefs, Identity, Story, and Worldview—form a holistic map for gospel conversation. 

Each layer calls for discernment and humility: the evangelist listens their way into the soul. 

As conversations move deeper, curiosity becomes compassion, and proclamation becomes participation in the Spirit’s work of revelation in the lives of people we engage with.

Seen this way, conversational evangelism is far more than a method for moving from casual talk to spiritual topics. It is an act of missional participation. As we listen, discern, love, and speak, we join the Spirit’s patient work of drawing people toward Christ.

The missio Dei has never been about performance in mission but participation in God’s redemptive work and purposes. It is not a project we manage but a story we inhabit—the story of the Father who sends, the Son who saves, and the Spirit who empowers. 

God’s mission advances not through our productivity but through our proximity

Evangelism is not our initiative but our invitation into God’s redemptive movement across history. We are not entrepreneurs of religion but witnesses of resurrection—called to embody the good news with grace, truth, and love.

Yet in our pursuit of excellence, it is easy to confuse fruitfulness with metrics and faithfulness with success. God’s mission advances not through our productivity but through our proximity—through people who love deeply, listen well, and live with holy curiosity. The early church did not conquer the world through efficiency, but through empathy; not through programs, but through presence.

Our mission, then, is not productivity—it’s people. It’s not efficiency—it’s empathy. And it’s not self-promotion—it’s surrender to the Great Commission. 

The mission we share is the mission of God himself—the Father who sends, the Son who saves, and the Spirit who empowers. The moment we are in may be complex and nuanced, but the mission we are on remains unchanged.¹¹

Such love finds its voice not in monologue but in meaningful conversation. And as holy curiosity becomes Spirit-led conversation, conversation can become momentum—a movement of ordinary believers joining God’s extraordinary mission in the lives of people around them.

Endnotes

1. As Christopher J. H. Wright observes, mission is “God’s long-term purpose to restore all creation under Christ.” It begins in God’s character, not the Church’s strategy (The Mission of God, 2006).
2. The Triune nature of mission reminds us that evangelism is relational and participatory: the Father sends, the Son embodies, and the Spirit empowers. Missio Trinitatis precedes missio ecclesiae.
3. Christian Smith’s term “moralistic therapeutic deism” (2005) describes much of Western spirituality—comfort without covenant. Recovering Gospel-centrism reclaims both grace and discipleship as the twin poles of authentic mission.
4. The incarnation stands as the clearest expression of God’s missional curiosity—His willingness to enter our story. Bosch calls this the “paradigmatic model for all mission,” in which presence precedes proclamation (Transforming Mission, 1991).
5. David Bosch’s phrase “bold humility” captures the paradox of faithful witness in a pluralistic world—confidence in truth joined to compassion in tone.
6. Lausanne Movement. (2025) Webinar | Jesus for the Curious | Proclamation Evangelism. YouTube, 4 November. Available at: https://youtu.be/aVge_sc1ec0?si=2qWMUafqDW21xMCD&t=1694 (Accessed: 10 May 2026).
7. Lausanne Movement. (2025) Webinar | Jesus for the Curious | Proclamation Evangelism. YouTube, 4 November. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVge_sc1ec0 (Accessed: 10 May 2026).
8. Wright (2006) argues that word and deed are indivisible in the mission of God. Evangelism divorced from justice loses credibility; justice without witness loses direction. Christian mission is a single, integrated enterprise that requires both verbal proclamation of the Gospel and practical action that demonstrates God’s love. 
9. Millard Erickson argues that humanity’s uniqueness within creation is grounded in being made in the image and likeness of God, which gives human beings a “transcendent element” distinguishing them from other creatures. This supports the claim that speech is not merely biological communication but part of our image-bearing vocation: as creatures made in the likeness of the God who speaks, humans are able to listen, name, bless, question, witness, and invite others into truth.” Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1998), 512.
10. Kwast, L.E. (2009) ‘Understanding Culture’, in R.D. Winter and S.C. Hawthorne (eds.) Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader (4th ed.). Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, pp. 397–399. Kwast presents a four-layer model of culture—behavior, values, beliefs, and worldview—as successive levels of meaning that reveal how people interpret reality. His insight that transformation requires engagement at the worldview level remains foundational to missiology. I have used and adapted his model in many different ways, and in the context of conversational evangelism adapt it because contemporary contexts marked by identity crises and narrative pluralism invite the addition of two further layers—identity and story—to address the relational and narrative dimensions of belief formation.
11. In Lausanne’s language, the whole Church taking the whole gospel to the whole world summarises this missional posture—an enduring reminder that the moment we are in does not pause the mission we are on.