Ben over at openswitch links to this post by Dan Edelen regarding living the American Christian life. Quote:
I want to believe that a man can work a sixty-hour week, spend quality time with his wife and kids, be involved in his community, find time for leisure, and still be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ. The kind of man who prays big prayers and knows God intimately for those prayers. The kind of man who readily leads many others to his Savior and disciples those same people to maturity. I want to believe, but I don’t know any men like that.
Well, it’s sad that Dan doesn’t know any men like that. I’m not sure I know too many myself, but one thing I do know. Separating out all those pursuits, and tacking on “and still be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ”, is the very thing that has caused the problem in the first place.
Why can’t I be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ when I work a sixty-hour work week? Why can’t I be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ when I spend quality time with my wife and kids? (Frankly, all the full-time ministry people out there need to spend a lot more quality time with their wife/husband and kids. A LOT more.) Why can’t I be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ when I get involved with my community, or when I take time off for leisure?
There is a man by the name of Chuck Ripka. Here’s a page about him on his ministry site. He’s a banker. He co-founded a “Christian” bank several years back, and when I say Christian, I mean people call up the BANK for prayer. They go to the bank and get healed. People have been saved by coming to the bank. In fact, that bank is more church for some people than church.
Chuck wrote an awesome book called God Out of the Box
So, my conclusion is this: you can indeed do it all. But first you need to get out of the horrible mindset that says that ministry is something you do within the confines of “church” that you aren’t doing when you’re working, playing, and generally doing life. That’s wrong, and that mindset must be crushed if we are at all going to have a major impact on future generations.
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I do agree with you. What I think Dan was saying, and what I was agreeing with, is that most Evangelical Christians aren’t concerned one bit about whether or not they’re being a Disciple of Christ. They’re concerned about getting the big house, putting their kids into the best schools, getting their kids high paying jobs.
You’re exactly right, there’s nothing preventing you from being an effective disciple of Christ when you do those things. But the point is that most evangelical Christians don’t do those things. They’re not concerned about using their career as an opportunity to make disciples and when they go off on vacation they sure don’t want to be bothered with sharing the Gospel. I’m not saying you don’t do those things, I’m saying most people don’t do those things.
I think it largely boils down to where values lie. I think for the vast majority of evangelical Christians in the United States they are devoted to money much more than they’re devoted to being an effective disciple of Christ. They tend to have a mindset that “I’ll go make the money to put a roof over my family’s head, you [the minister] make sure they follow Jesus . . . because that’s what I’m tithing for.”
Hey Ben, I agree with what you were agreeing with. But the problem as I see it is that the evangelical church has put such an emphasis on “sharing the Gospel” = handing out tracts or feeding orphans or telling people to come to a worship rally, etc., that most people go “yeah, whatever” and head back to watching the Super Bowl. We aren’t teaching people that sharing the Gospel means cultivating meaningful relationships with non-believers, it means praying for people, it means asking God to open up opportunities every day to make a difference in someone’s life. It isn’t about the marketing materials or the apologetics or the $100,000 joint mission checks to Uganda or the guy with the big hair and the big suit up on stage.
This kind of “incarnational” Christian living is starting to make a comeback…I just hope it’s enough to sustain a movement.
I’m totally on board with that thinking. When I say “sharing the Gospel” I really did mean via the relationships, etc we build. It will catch on, I have no doubt. The tracts and stuff is archaic, especially to our generation. We’re looking for more of a relationship-based evangelism style.
But, and I think this is important, we need to be careful with any kind of evangelism, even relationship based. I tell my students constantly that the danger lies in us Christians forming friendships with nonChristians with the goal of “converting” them. I tell them that if they’re not genuinely interested in them as a person, in having an actual, real, friendship with them, then don’t look at them as a project. No one likes being treated as a project.
That’s awesome. I think we’re on the same wavelength here. I seem to remember a study that came out that indicated that a lot of non-Christians feel like every time they get to be friends with a Christain, once they aren’t able to “seal” the sale, the Christian dude goes off. Yikes. Why are we getting to be friends with people in the first place? To convert them, or to love them?
Dear Jared,
There’s a level of intimacy the Lord is calling us to where His Spirit flows into us and our spirit flows in His. We become united and one in fellowship with Him so much so that where we go the Spirit also goes.
A while back after coming back tired, I lay down on my bed. And suddenly the room was filled with an aroma. I couldn’t describe the fragrance. It was heavenly. After sometime I went over to meet speak to some visitors and the fragrance came with me. I was reminded of the verse in2 Cor 2:14-15:
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
Sidharth
TWJ Ministries
Jared,
Great post!
It’s been a while since I’ve stopped in and I have to say, I love what you’ve done with the place! It really looks great.
God bless!
Thanks Shannon!
@Sidharth, that’s a great story. I love the verse as well… some time ago I was going to go give a testimony at church about the amazing things God did at a conference, and that morning before I left, I got an aroma of a match being lit — even though nobody in the house was lighting a match. And it wasn’t woodsmoke — a moment later it was gone. I took that to mean that God was going to set our church on fire! (Spiritually speaking, of course!)
I agree. There seems to be a mindset these days of dividing our life into the sacred and the secular. But as a Christian, we shouldn’t do that. We should seek to glorify God at all times, in all places. We should all consider ourselves “full-time ministry”, even if we have to sit in a cubicle in a secular corporation or whatever. We should take the Light wherever we go.