Secular historian paints a striking picture about the revolution that was the christian faith during the first four centuries. Tens of thousands flocked to the way of a dead, celibate, middle eastern teacher. Most changed every part of their lives because of what they came to know. The method through which this rabbi’s message and call was distributed was not typical. His followers didn’t begin a marketing campaign of propaganda or apologetics. They didn’t pair off and seek to convert three Romans for every christian at the time. Their was no mass gathering to ostentatiously announce the plans for the continuing ministry.
“They made the grace of God credible by a society of love and mutual care which astonished the pagans and was recognized as something entirely new…”
They lived in such a way that begged the question.
What’s the lesson here? The obvious thing to learn is that your life is the grounds for a message. Whether that message is cultivated or unintentional is up to the decisions you make. Our internal life is reflected in our external life, so even those choices we think no one can see are on full display in how we act, look, and speak. If you have a message to share, if you have a product to sell, if you have a desire to fulfill, the way you live your life will be all the marketing you need (for good or ill).
The less obvious lesson is that certain kinds of lifestyles have a magnetism to them. People recognize change and are drawn into a different story uncoerced. Deviation triggers double-takes. This is a pattern of technological innovation as much as it is a pattern of historical movements. The question we must ask is, “which direction of innovation do these trends go?”
The new, sensational, and addictive no longer turns heads because it’s commonplace. Every week “disruptive” platforms trying to eat TikTok’s lunch appear. “Novel” AI integrations circulate touting increased productivity, life-hacked profitability, or “insane (tryinane) click-through-rates.”
The radically ordinary operates on a different kind of attention. A “slow attention” that works its way into the zeitgeist, not through flashy time-grabs or influencer click-bait, but through unique, relational investment. The person able to integrate technology in a way that prioritizes personhood over productivity draws a crowd. The crowd begins small. It sees something valuable and nudges its friends. They begin to gather and yearn for deeper experience. It makes a change and shares the results. This has been my experience with choosing a divergent path. The slow grind of hearing testimony and becoming a testament works its way into every community to bring about thriving change.
