I receive a newsletter from a mission society on the continent. An article in a recent edition made me write the following to the society:
In the September issue Mr C wrote about the transforming power of good Christian books. He said, “This… led to a longing to serve the Lord”. Dare I say that is theologically inaccurate since Mr C seemed to already be a believer? One of the marks of being a believer is that we long to serve the Lord – isn’t it?
If by “to serve the Lord” Mr C meant a longing to be in paid (ie, not financed by ‘tent-making’) Christian ministry – either pastoring or evangelising then perhaps he should have said so. The danger of such lack of clarity is that ‘ordinary’ Christians (ie, those not in paid Christian ministry) get the impression that they aren’t serving the Lord. I am sure that no-one at the mission – including Mr C – believes that, but we need to be careful about the language that we use so that every Christian can get a vision for how they can serve the Lord in whatever situation the Lord has assigned him and to which God has called him.
Later in the same issue Mr and Mrs B write, “At the time of our marriage we both had the desire to serve Jesus in the church or in the community”. Again, isn’t this the language of the ordinary, Christian man and wife? Shouldn’t that be the desire of every God-fearing married couple? Mr and Mrs B then trained in theology and worked in a Christian bookshop. This is a great thing to do, but the implication (if not the belief) is that you serve Jesus in the church or in the community by being in paid Christian work.
I do believe the greatest need for the church in Western Europe is for people to get a vision that they can serve God whole-heartedly wherever they are – speaking and living for him. ‘Serving the Lord’ does not necessarily mean being in paid Christian ministry and we should ensure that we do not imply that.
December 4, 2009 at 5:08 pm |
Amen – everyone is an FTCW – a full-time Christian worker – whatever their job…
December 28, 2009 at 12:34 am |
Very good point! Speaking from my own experience though, I wonder whether people who are eager to serve imagine that serving abroad or in an ‘official’ way would come with proper training. Serving at home is just as challenging in different ways, but we’ve never been properly trained. I wonder if the real thing lacking in Western churches is discipleship?
December 28, 2009 at 9:06 am |
And the sort of discipleship that’s lacking is ‘whole-life’ discipleship (to borrow a phrase from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity). We have reduced discipleship to what you do in your ‘spare’ time and with your money. So, with this false view, the best ‘disciple’ is the one who has the most time to do what most of us do in our ‘spare’ time – ie, the best disciple is the professional Christian.