Unfamiliar Paths: The Challenge of Recognizing the Work of Christ in Strange Clothing

The Challenge of Recognizing the Work of Christ in Strange Clothing

Unfamiliar Paths explores how Christ's presence can be found outside traditional Western evangelical structures, particularly in secular Europe. Drawing from his experiences as a missionary in France, Bjork challenges the prevailing assumption that authentic Christian faith must conform to specific cultural forms. He critiques conventional mission approaches that emphasize programs, institutions, and separation from local culture. Instead, he advocates for a kenotic (self-emptying) approach to missions that seeks to discover how God is already at work in unfamiliar contexts. Central to the book is the call to discern Christ in unexpected places and to embrace a relational model of Christian unity rooted in the Trinity's perichoretic (mutually indwelling) love.

Bjork invites readers to shift from controlling religious expressions to participating humbly in the mysterious and dynamic movements of God's Spirit across cultural boundaries.

David Bjork was Director of Servant of Servants Foundation. He is a Ph.D. student of missiology at Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission, Pasadena, California, and serves in a ministry of evangelism, discipleship, and leadership training in a suburb of Dijon, France. He received his B.A. in French from the University of California, Irvine, his M.A. in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary, and his M.Div. (pastoral ministry) from Trinity Theological Seminary, Newburgh, Indiana. His ministry experience includes four years of training with the Navigators. In 1979, David and his wife began the missionary work of World Partners of the Missionary Church in France, and for fourteen years he served as the Field Director.