Making margin in your life for discipleship – a talk with Sarah Han

You want to follow Jesus. You want be faithful and even share your faith. But you’re just so… busy.

And stretched. And tired.

It just happened. As a result, your “margin” is non-existent.

This podcast might be your helpful next step.

The Pulse Podcast is about living abundantly wholeheartedly. It includes feature topics, interviews, and weekly biblical studies. This episode is a talk with Sarah Han.

Dr. Han is working on a book about margin, and the role it plays in our discipleship—more specifically, in mission and evangelism.

Sarah is the Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry at Tyndale Seminary and Director of the Tyndale Centre for Pastoral Imagination. She is an ordained pastor, wife and mother-of-three. Sarah is passionate about seeing the Kingdom of God experienced by all those around her and lives in a missional community that intentionally and organically reaches out to its neighbours with the gospel. She is a foodie and loves to be with people, and you can count on a dinner party taking place in her home on any given evening of the year.

You can listen to the audio version of our talk here or wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Audible or TuneIn). You can also watch it on YouTube (link below).

Beneath, you will also find the links and resources Sarah mentioned, as well as a list of more specific topics and quotes from the interview itself.

I hope you enjoy this winsome conversation about faith, margin, discipleship, joy, rest and modern life.

Audio:

YouTube:

Topics and quotes:

• What it means to live in a “missional community” in a neighbourhood
• How Sarah became a Christian
• What is mission and evangelism?
• “Mission always starts with our Triune God.”
• “God’s greatest heartbeat is to bring people into reconciliation with himself.”
• What is “margin” and how does this hinder our discipleship?
• “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” -Jesus (Luke 17:21)
• Is there space for the kingdom of God in my daily life?
• “Busyness really became the biggest challenge…”
• Lesslie Newbigin: New plausibility structures
• To what extent does FOMO (fear of missing out) motivate our schedules?
• Is busyness getting worse for Christians in the modern period?
• “Be open to entertain God in moments where you may not expect it.”
• “Hospitality cannot happen without margin.”
• “When we’re resting in God it leads us to the most meaningful work.”
• “If the Devil can’t make you sin, he will make you busy, because either way your soul will shrivel.” -Anonymous
• What would you say to someone who doesn’t have a lot of margin but who wants to make a change to follow Jesus more faithfully?
• “God’s word… is really a language God is giving us to speak his language of love to all those that are around us.”
• “When you experience the excitement of being part of God’s mission it’s addictive.”
• Involving your children in discussions about what is important and what is not.
• Margin and seeing God work creates joy

Resources:

• Sarah Han preaching at Tyndale Chapel (January 31, 2023) – click here
• Book: Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society
• Book: Gregg Okesson, A Public Missiology: How Local Churches Witness to a Complex World