In my professional life, I use a range of strategies for communicating about Jesus. They’re the kinds of things you’d imagine. I open up scripture using stories, I teach young people about the death and resurrection of Jesus. My team are even involved in giving Bibles out to children with the Gideons.

Did I mention that I’m evangelist? Anyway…

By far the most helpful resource I’ve found in recent years for use in evangelism is a little course written by friends at Reign Ministries. The course is called Stir, and it starts with the simple premise that young people need to understand they’re spiritual to be able to understand and accept Jesus.

Of course, to have the opportunity to use a resource like Stir, my colleagues and I do loads of community-enhancing projects aimed at communicating about faith in Jesus.

About eighteen months ago, I was mulling over new projects, and I found myself writing the outline to a fictional story. The story would need to follow the biblical narrative closely enough to be able to be used by evangelists like me. But it needed to be exciting, it needed to explain why Jesus had to die, and why we need a saviour. It also needed to be visually stunning.

So I asked an artist friend to help and got a few friends to commit to reading things I was beginning to write. Within around six months ‘Hikaru: Name above all names’ was taking shape, and then the hard work began. I had a book… But it wasn’t very good yet. What I did have, however, was a solid vehicle for making sure that readers would understand what it was all about when they finished.

The structure of the book is simple. You open the book and read a novel, and then at the end, there are six extra mini-chapters which open up the Gospel and explain more of who each of the characters are.

The process of writing this book has been really interesting so far. If you’ve ever tried to write a novel, you’ll know how hard it is! But one thing really struck as I got deeper into the story, and that was the truth that this book needed to appeal to my own kids as well. They’ve been very much involved in developing the story, but only time will tell whether they’re impacted by it positively. Here’s the thing though. Forgot me being an evangelist for a moment. I’ve got to find as many ways as I can to keep Jesus relevant to my children, as a father.

Below is the opener to my ‘Hikaru: explained’ section, and it’s where I’d like to leave you today. In the coming weeks and months, I’m going to be talking more about Hikaru, in the hope that I can drum up support for it. I might even ask some of you to read it for marketing. In the meantime, my first book ‘Stuck in the Mud’ is in the system ready for release, January 2021.

For now, just imagine you’ve read the most engaging novel you’ve ever picked up, and now it’s time to understand more.

Hungry?

I love to cook, and the other day I was cooking for my family. At the same time as I was cooking, my kids were in the next room playing on their games console. It’s a familiar scene in our house, probably the same in yours.
“Guys, can you set the table, please?” I called from the kitchen.
Of course, there was no response.
“Hey! I need the table laid!” I shouted in a far more frustrated, gruff way.
Ten or so minutes pass, and I’m still cooking. The table’s still unlaid, and the kids are fighting, or building, or driving on their game. But then an amazing, mystical thing happens.
As the food I’m cooking begins to get hot, tiny particles jump out and surf the steam all the way out of the kitchen, into the living room, and without my kids having any idea why they start to feel hungry.
The tiny particles have made it all the way to the other side of the living room, and my son has this thought and shouts through to me in the kitchen.
“Daddy!?” He shouts from the living room. “What’s for dinner?”
He had no idea that I’d called for them to set the table ten minutes ago, and he had no idea that his brain had been infiltrated by the smell of the food. But now, and only now, he’s completely ready to listen.
“Hey, mate,” I calmly respond. “It’s pizza, would you like to set the table?”
And, of course, now he’s feeling hungry, the table gets laid in two minutes flat: he puts out flowers, candles, the best cutlery, bone china, a beautiful table cloth, and somehow he’s also got completely changed into his best clothes and sat up ready to eat with a napkin tucked into his collar like a bib.
Why are we talking about dinner?
Have you ever had anyone try to tell you about Jesus, or try to explain the Trinity? Maybe you’ve even had someone try to help you understand sin and death and why Jesus had to die, only to be left feeling like your brain checked out before you even arrived.
Honestly, until you’re ready until you’re hungry, you may not even be capable of understanding about Jesus. Just as my son wasn’t able to hear that it was dinner until he was hungry, you won’t be passionate about Jesus until you sense God for yourself.
And if this is true, then you might need to chill out about it.
So, you don’t fully get Jesus yet? It’s fine. I don’t get it all either. But I do want to, and so I ask God to reveal what I need to know, as I read the Bible and listen to the people who are trying to teach me.
Now, what’s all of this got to do with this book you’re holding? You might not have realised, but you’ve just read pretty much everything that’s important about Jesus and our relationship with Him in a fictional story.