We Need New Heroes:
St. Patrick’s Day is a strange holiday. It’s a day when people who have no connection to Ireland wear green, eat corned beef, and dye rivers and beer unnatural shades of green. But behind the parades and party culture, there’s something worth remembering: St. Patrick was a missionary who changed the course of history—not with conquest or coercion, but with a radical vision of the gospel.
Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was an enslaved Roman Briton, who after miraculously escaping his six year enslavement did something unheard of. He went back.
After escaping from his Irish captors, he returned to the very people who had enslaved him—not with vengeance, but with the message of Christ…
But, he didn’t seek to impose Roman civilization on the Celtic tribes, he didn’t come as a conqueror. He came as a guest.
He learned their customs in earnest, walked their land, and spoke their language.
He didn’t tell them that their culture was wrong—he revealed where Christ was already present in it. Where Jesus was already at work around them.
Patrick and the Celtic Christians who followed him were, in the best way possible, masters of the obvious.
They weren’t interested in forcing people into a pre-packaged religious system. Instead, they walked into villages and asked questions. “What matters to you? Where do you see beauty? What do you hold sacred?” They listened. And then, when people told them about their sacred wells, their ancient oaks, their rhythms of life, these missionaries said: “Ah, let us tell you what these things are pointing to.”
The well? A gift from the God who is the true source of living water. The tree? A reminder of the cross where heaven and earth meet. The seasons of planting and harvest? A glimpse of a kingdom where all things are made new.
Patrick and his fellow evangelists didn’t arrive with the arrogance of empire. They didn’t impose foreign customs or demand assimilation. They simply helped people see what was already true—that Christ was already at work in their world, calling them to something deeper.
Because of this, the churches they founded didn’t look like Roman churches. The Celtic Church didn’t organize itself around power or hierarchy. Their churches were not outposts of empire—they were colonies of heaven.
The phrase comes from Philippians 3:20, where Paul reminds the church that “our citizenship is in heaven.”
The early Celtic Christians took this seriously.
They saw their communities not as extensions of political power, but as glimpses of the Kingdom of God breaking into the world. Their monasteries weren’t fortresses; they were community centers, places of learning, hospitality, and worship.
And maybe this is where their example can challenge us today.
What if we thought about our church as a colony of heaven?
What if we focused on helping people recognize what God is already doing in their lives?
What if we became masters of the obvious—people who call attention to the good, the beautiful, the holy, and say, “This is Christ. This is grace. This is God at work.”
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Too often, evangelism is framed as a debate—convince someone to believe something they don’t. But St. Patrick and the Celtic Christians remind us that evangelism is actually about pointing out what people have already seen but don’t yet know how to name.
Paul did this on Mars Hill in Acts 17. He didn’t start by condemning the Athenians—he started by saying, “I see you are very religious…I even found an altar to an unknown god.” And then he told them: “What you worship as unknown, I am here to proclaim to you.” From there Paul taught about the God of the Bible and presented the Gospel of Jesus.
That’s what evangelism looks like.
It’s looking at your coworker’s commitment to justice and saying, “That longing you have? That comes from the heart of God.”
It’s seeing your neighbor’s love for their family and saying, “That love? That’s a glimpse of the love of Christ.”
It’s recognizing joy in the small things—good food, deep laughter, shared burdens—and saying, “These are gifts from the one who made you.”
This is how real churches grow!
-Not with flashy programs
-Not with better worship bands
-Not with flashing graphic design
-Not with handsome preachers (Thank God!)
Not by trying to sell something, but by helping people see what is already there.
So here’s the challenge: Look for points of contact between what God is doing at NHCBC, what He is doing in your own life, and what He is doing in the lives of your neighbors.
Be a master of the obvious. Help people see Christ in the everyday. And when you do—invite them into this colony of heaven. Not because we have everything figured out, but because we are learning together to live under a different King, in a different way, shaped by the love and grace of Jesus.
Church growth grows out of relationships and an honest representation of who Christ is in the world around us. If we want NHCBC to grow and thrive, we must each take responsibility for the work of bringing folks in.
We have plenty to offer, and plenty to be proud of, including our: missions initiatives, classes, events, music, ministries for Children and Youth, work at building an inclusive community, Gospel and Justice work beyond our walls…I am even doing my best to make our preaching schedule something you can be excited about.
But the best thing we have to offer is our community, our life as a colony of the Kingdom of God, here and now.
There are really only two main ways that people come to visit a church for the first time:
Either they are new to the area and Googled something like “Baptist Church Near Me,”
Or someone they know invited them.
The burden of church growth falls on all of us, as a congregation collectively and as individuals. Not just because we love NHCBC and want it to thrive or because it’s nice to have more people in service on Sundays – but because we are a colony of Heaven, a local site of the Kingdom of God, a place where we experiment with and implement Kingdom living.
The invitation to the Kingdom is the same as it has been since Jesus first called the disciples more than 2000 years ago… “come and see.”
The Kingdom of God is already among us. Let’s help the world see it.
HOMEWORK: As a Master of the Obvious, where do you see Jesus at work in the people around you? Be intentional — name where you see Jesus and point out kingdom-connection-points in the life of someone around you.
Who do you know who SHOULD be at NHCBC, but just doesn’t know it yet? Take that easy step to tell them why you think they’d be a good fit here and invite them to “come and see.”
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeremy