Christians are supposed to be different. In the gospel of John, Jesus says we should be “in the world but not of the world”. But given how deeply immersed we are in the culture around us, it can feel like telling a fish not to get wet. So how do we do it?

One day, as I stood warming myself by the fire in my parents’ home, my dad caught me by surprise. I learned our family has a rich Christian heritage, dating back centuries. It’s part of the inspiration for this message, where we explore how followers of Jesus Christ can thrive in the face of persecution.

In the melting pot of the Roman Empire, where people were defined by their wealth or their ethnicity, the idea that your identity could be determined by what you believe was a radical innovation. It demolished all sorts of barriers to belonging. And in the body of Christ, everyone has a role to play.