The Wayfarer and The 5 and 25 Christian: All That We Need To Follow Jesus

My good friend Nick and I – who serve as youth pastors together at our church – have been working on an idea for a few months. Before I tell you about the idea, I want to tell you about Nick and I, and the amazing relationship that we have grown into.

Nick was the solo youth pastor at the church when I joined in 2012. I heard his name being spoken aloud, but I didn’t get the chance to meet him until the late spring of 2013. Our church was hosting a food drive, and he and I both showed up to bag up groceries, break down boxes, and serve a number of families in poverty that were coming to receive what we had to give.

We started talking about shared hobbies, like fantasy and sci-fi geekdom. Then, our conversation turned towards our theology. In that short conversation about what we believed, what we thought it meant to be a follower of Jesus, I knew that Nick and I were going to be best friends.

Beyond shared theology, we also had some shared experiences. We were both medics in the Army, both assigned to combat engineer units in very dangerous locations. We had both seen and experienced things that changed us forever, and we both had to leave service with a medical discharge, due to crippling PTSD. We both struggled with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts and tendencies. And we both had come to believe in a philosophy of total non-violence, because of our experiences in the military.

So, Nick and I have had quite a journey together over the past year and a half. It’s been a journey filled with shared doubts, anger at injustice, questions about whether it’s worth it, prayers for a better world, conversations where we yell at each other about things we completely agree on. We’ve laughed together, mourned together, cried together, and eaten “emotional burritos” together. In a life full of great friends, I have never found someone like Nick, someone that I feel is truly my “soul brother.”

We’re pretty much the definition of bromance.

NOW… on to the idea that we had.

In the military, there is a thing called the “5 and 25”. What this drill means is thus: if you are on a patrol, or in a convoy, and your unit has to stop and dismount, you perform a “5 and 25” sweep. First, you sweep the 5 meters around you, to ensure that the area around your person is secure. Next, you sweep the area 25 meters outside of your immediate area, to ensure that it’s safe for everyone else.

As Nick and I have grown in faith and ministry together, we started kicking around the idea of a “Wayfarer Church”. It would be something distinct from what many people see as “Christian” – that is, a collection of rules surrounding what to do and not do, who to associate with and who to reject. Instead, we would focus the “Wayfarer Church” on being “wanderers along the Way of Jesus.” Our movement would be open to all who seek, all who question, all who wish to follow the example set by Jesus (and others) in kindness, compassion and charity towards all.

As we kicked this idea around, I mentioned the idea of the “5 and 25 Christian”. To me, the 5 and 25 Christian would be a simple explanation of 1) what a Follower of Jesus is supposed to be and 2) what a Follower of Jesus is supposed to do. There would be Scriptures describing each of these categories, and the Scriptures follow.

The 5


Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  

Gospel of St. Matthew 5:3-10

The 25

Matthew 25:31-46 New International Version (NIV)

The Sheep and the Goats








The 5 and 25 Christian (henceforth called “The Wayfarer”) needs nothing else to know what God expects, and what God taught us to be and do through Jesus. There are plenty of other words of spiritual wisdom in the Bible, and the Wayfarer seeks the truth in Scripture, wherever it can be found.

But it all begins with the 5 and 25.

If we committed ourselves to simply being what Jesus called blessed at the beginning of Matthew 5, and to doing what Jesus called righteous at the end of Matthew 25, we would be the kind of Christians that the rest of the world could be drawn to. Our beliefs are well-known, but our actions have not been the kinds of actions that follow this pattern of being and doing that Jesus calls us to. We have been so concerned with the wealth of Scripture that talks about the other people and what they should be and do that we have forgotten to take the log out of our own eye.

Christianity has been tied up with Empire since Constantine decided to use the sign of the Cross to conquer. We had a scant few hundred years to try the faith like Jesus taught it, and the 1700 years following have seen every major Western empire rule with the power of the Church. America is one of those empires, even if we refer to it as a Democratic Republic. The problem with tying Jesus up in Empire is that it completely betrays who Jesus was and what Jesus taught and stood for. Jesus never stood for the powerful, and He never called the privileged “blessed”. Instead, He stood with the outcasts, the misfits, the judged and condemned, and He called them “blessed.” An Empire can never put aside power for the sake of compassion: it would cease to be an Empire. Similarly, Followers of Jesus cannot ally themselves with power, when we are called to be the voice and the advocate for the powerless.

So, maybe it’s time to give up the failed experiment of the last 1700 years. Perhaps it’s time that the title “Christian” give way to something new, something radical. Maybe it’s time for the 5 and 25 to become our creed, for us to commit ourselves to being the kind of people that Jesus called “blessed” and doing for “the least of these” what Jesus commanded us to do.

I’m no longer happy being a Christian. I want to be a Wayfarer, wandering along the path that Jesus has laid out for me. Perhaps sometimes I’ll wander from the trail – but “all who wander are not lost.” I know who I follow, and I know where my path leads. It leads to the Cross, it leads to pain and suffering, it leads to death – but it ultimately leads to resurrection and life everlasting and abounding with joy.

Come with me. Stop being a Christian, and start following along the Way.

Grace and Peace in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Michael Woywood

One thought on “The Wayfarer and The 5 and 25 Christian: All That We Need To Follow Jesus

  1. When Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me,” the cross had no spiritual meaning whatsoever. All that Jesus could have meant was that following him meant joining the condemned prisoners being jeered by the crowd on their way out of the city gate to be crucified. To take up your cross is not to engage in asceticism or sacrifice 30 minutes of each day for a personal quiet time. To take up your cross means to renounce your social status and join the ones being crucified. 1 Corinthians 1:28 says, “He has chosen the base things of this world, the despised ones and those who are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.” To be a disciple means to become a despised one in solidarity.

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