What happens when you, a Christian, find out that people you have met in a non-church context are also followers of Jesus? Does it change the way you see them or feel about them? Do you have a sense of connection with them as part of your spiritual family? Commonly, our first question upon learning of a person’s Christian identity is to ask where they fellowship. The answer could tell us a lot about them, and about us. What brand of Christianity do they subscribe to? Are they light-a-candle liturgists? Flip-flop fundamentalists? Promise-claiming pentecostals? Expository evangelicals? Or meditative mystics? (Some of those groups aren’t really Christians, are they?) Inevitably, we get to the question, “Who is the pastor (or the priest) there?” Have we heard of him? Is he famous for anything? Maybe on the radio? Should I check out his podcast?

It is a very human thing to size…