Get Your Pretense On!

Chapter 6: The Oikos Factor • 141

where they personally make connection and association. This may include their own place of origin, family background and neighborhood, but also include their larger network of friends and community where they are known of and cared for. The three critical areas of oikos connection are kinship relationships, friendships, and associates . Kinship refers to our family connections, including our mother and father, whether their birth parents or those who raised and nurtured the person in their infancy and youth. Also, this would include our brothers and sisters (whether by birth or association), our extended family members as well as our “adopted families”: i.e., those relationships which operate as family for the individual. 26 Next, oikos includes those who we count as our friends, our “significant others.” In the city where I grew up these immediate friends were called our “running partners,” your “dawg,” those individuals with which we most readily affiliated and connected to, i.e., those folk we counted as “members” of the same crew or group, who share with us our common commitments and/or special interests. Finally, our oikos includes those with whom we naturally associate, whether in proximity (neighbors), work, or play. This includes our relationships at our work and place of business, school, or regular place of attendance, including those whom we see in our circle on a regular basis (such as grocers, gas station attendants, laundry folks, etc.). We can connect with these people because we share the same hobbies, recreation interests, share ethnic heritage, or national, or cultural associations. Distinctives of Our Modern Oikos Networks The nature of life today is dramatically different than that of the time of the apostles. In a culture where people are alienated greatly, and now largely connected with one another through