Introduction to Above Base Camp
Walking with Jesus in the Good Way
Hi! In this initial series of ABC Articles we are introducing what Above Base Camp is all about.
It all began in 2018 with a group of four friends. All of us had been Christians for a long time, but all of us were feeling beaten down, just treading water in our faith and not seeing the fruit we were expecting. It felt like we had been a one-year-old Christian thirty times, rather than becoming a thirty-year-old Christian, and the cry of our hearts was simple: there must be more than this!
That heartfelt cry started us on a new journey of discovery, where we learned about practical discipleship and spiritual formation as being a lifelong journey where we must intentionally accept the invitations of the Bible and the Holy Spirit to climb higher. We were inspired by people like NT (Tom) Wright, Scot McKnight, John Mark Comer, Tim Mackie and the Bible Project, Henri Nouwen, M. Robert Mulholland, Ronald Rolheiser, and many others, to take up the journey again, but this time in community with each other, rather than going it alone as we had before.
That led to our first book, The Journey Above Base Camp, which we co-wrote in 2020 as a counter to the challenges of Covid lockdown. Since then, I have picked up the theme and developed it into a framework for the life of faith, which I am now starting to turn into books, courses and discipleship guides. At its heart, it is about opening our eyes to wisdom from all across church history and working out how to apply that to our lives today. In other words, discovering how to walk with Jesus in the Good Way of the Ancient Paths (Jeremiah 6:16) as Modern Pilgrims of the Christian faith.
Really there are two series that make up Above Base Camp. The first is a series of seven books on Climbing the Mountain Path, using the ascent of Mount Everest as a metaphor for the life of faith as we climb up God’s Mountain: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. Isaiah 2:3”. The second is a series of seven discovery guides that are based around seven questions related to that climb: What is our destination? Who are we? When does new life start and what does it involve? Which stage are we at? Why do anything? Where is our place of action? And finally, How do we put it all into practice?
Thanks for reading this ABC Article! We hope that you will join us on this journey as we ‘Follow the Path Above Base Camp’. Please take a look at our website: www.abovebasecamp.com, where we set out in more detail what Above Base Camp is all about. In addition to these Articles, our website also offers access to our Books, Courses and Discovery guides as well as details of our Firebreak Retreats. We’re aiming to release a new Article each week that will reveal more of what Above Base Camp is all about, so please subscribe for free to receive new posts and kick-start your climb for the summit.