Once again, Mark Greene – director of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity – gets it right. In a recent letter to supporters he recounts how a Christian teenager battled against a problem at his school. “Why am I telling you this story?”, Mr Greene asks rhetorically.Because, he says, he hears little about Christian teenagers doing great things unless its through their school Christian Union or overseas or in social action at the weekend.
“Of course, lots of teenagers may be doing great things in nine-to-five but, if they are , those aren’t the stories that are judged important enough to be told… here is one more symptom of the pervasive influence of the sacred-secular divide… It is precisely this narrow, lesure-time focus of mission that LICC [offers] alternatives to”.
I have a friend who took a break from [paid] church leadership in, what was in many ways, a missionary situation abroad. He recently informed his prayer and financial supporters (which includes me) that he would not be returning to that role and that he was unsure as to what he would be doing next. He then wrote, “…we quite understand that some of you many not wish to continue receiving our letters”.
Do we really believe that some Christians – usually those in paid Christian work – need more prayer than others? Lord, have mercy.
June 20, 2010 at 5:18 pm |
Spot on once again, Alan. For me, it resonates with Stuart Murray’s thoughts on ordination in one of his post-Christendom books (I can’t remember which one), i.e. the limitation of ordination / commissioning / laying on of hands to a narrow range of “ministry” roles, giving the impression that these are more important than the work (paid or unpaid) that the vast majority of Christians do.