Bonus Conversation: Alan Hirsch: The Six P's of Incarnational Mission - Walking the Way of Jesus

Alan brought the heat and the light in our Starfish Accelerator, pouring out his heart on incarnational mission. What does it mean to truly live the mission of Jesus? Alan, take us through the Six P's.

Gladly. These six principles form a framework for incarnational mission — for disciple-making that flows from the way of Jesus himself.

The first P is Presence. The incarnation begins with showing up. God didn't fix the world from a distance — he entered it. Presence means being physically, emotionally, and spiritually available in the places and spaces where people actually live. It means choosing to be in a neighborhood, not just driving through it. It means lingering instead of leaving.

The second P is Proximity — the discipline of nearness. Jesus didn't minister from a platform; he ministered from a table. Proximity means reducing the social, cultural, and physical distance between yourself and the people you're called to serve. This is why I'm a huge advocate for relational mapping — actually charting the people in your immediate vicinity and asking, "Do I actually know my neighbors? Do they know me?"

The third P is Prevenience — the recognition that God is already at work before we arrive. This is the missio Dei. We don't bring God to people. We discover where God is already moving and join in. This requires humility and discernment. Before you speak, you listen. Before you act, you observe. Before you lead, you follow — follow the Spirit.

This is the hardest one for Western Christians. Powerlessness. The incarnation was a descent — from glory to a manger. Jesus chose vulnerability, dependence, servanthood. In a culture obsessed with influence and platform, the way of Jesus calls us to the opposite. We enter as servants, not saviors. We come to learn, not just to teach.

The fifth P is Passion — and I don't just mean enthusiasm. I mean passion in the fuller sense, including suffering. The Latin root "passio" means to suffer. Incarnational mission is costly. It will break your heart. You will experience rejection, disappointment, and grief. But that passion — that willingness to suffer with and for others — is what makes the gospel credible.

And finally, Proclamation. After presence, proximity, prevenience, powerlessness, and passion — then you've earned the right to speak. Proclamation isn't the first move; it's the culmination of a life lived among people. When you've been present, when you've drawn near, when you've served in weakness, when you've suffered alongside — then your words carry the weight of lived experience.

That framework is pure gold. Thank you, Alan.

Now go live it. That's the point.