Where Do We Go From Here

56 Question • SecondMark of Mission Build welcoming, transforming communities of faith. A Close Reading It is hard for modern Christian readers of Acts 11 to grasp how momentous this moment is in the life of the church, given that religious dietary regulations are unfamiliar to most of us. These rules were not simply part of their religious tradition, they were embedded in the Scriptures and were a powerful unifying symbol of the identity and cohesiveness of the Jewish people. Still today, kashrut for many Jewish believers and halal for Muslims are central to religious practice and identity. So how did the early Christian community come to change its mind about this matter? In your own life, what cultural barriers have you encountered? What have you challenged and what have you been able to accept? What cultural norms, practised in your own church or community, might be disconcerting for a visitor? Can these be examined, acknowledged and changed in order to build a more welcoming community, one open to the new and different? Have you ever discovered the joy of moving from seeing someone as ‘the other’ to naming them as your friend?