Three Stories We Tell Ourselves about “Who I Am” — and a Fourth We Often Miss

1) Identity as given by place and people

I grew up in a small village where everyone knew each other. There was one shop, one school, two pubs. In a small village, your name and history are known, and your identity is tied to the people and the place: “She’s Tom’s mum,” “He’ll be just like his dad,” “They’ve always run the parish council.”

This post marks the beginning of a series of reflections prompted by reading Union with Christ: In Scripture, History, and Theology by Robert Letham,¹ in preparation for the BCUK 2026 conference on Union with Christ.

Where Does It All Begin?

When considering union with Christ, my instinct is to focus on the believer’s participation in Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and glorification, much like the definition found in the Lexham Survey of Theology:²

Note: This was originally delivered as a discussion paper for the BCUK roundtable in May 2025.

1. Blurred Lines and Real Relationships

“I’ve known Anna for about a decade, initially as a small group member, then a friend, now as friend and pastor. We have walked a long road together wrestling, amongst other things, with singleness, long term suffering, sexual assault and miscarriages. We’ve also rejoiced over healing, marriage, Christian growth and God’s faithfulness. We have lived in the same house for a while, been on holiday once as families together. Finally, I also met with Anna to do some biblical counselling for almost a year….”