Abstract
The ancient practice of the secret discipline is given fresh application by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. From his early statement that faith must not ‘be screamed loudly in a propagandistic manner’, he later argues for the urgent priority of identifying with ‘the sufferings of God at the hands of a godless world’. This costly discipleship is both visible and hidden, ‘in the world’ as well as in the places of worship and devotion; the overriding concern is to ‘preserve the mysteries of the Christian faith.’ This creative covenantal tension can too easily dissolve into idolatry of too fixed institutional routines and a new diaspora is needed where the body of ‘Christ existing as community’ is formed in response to the human need which we encounter ‘in our place’. Some contemporary examples are given of where churches have ‘come out’ to form Christ in serving the people of their places.
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