One of my student said the other day while we were eating lunch. “I’m so tired to live as if I were a christian – and not as a christian!” The phrase struck me. It was really good. We were talking about all the strategies, methods and stuff we are facing. (I’m lecturer at a theological school – www.salt-sv.se) Sometimes these strategies and stuff is hindering us from living as Christians. The focus in all the strategies is how to evangelize or do mission. But seldom what the content of the mission should be. But the truth is that the strategies are a theology! There are no value free strategies. The question is – are they true to Christ or not? Growth has most often become the most important thing. But our task is not to sell coke as coca cola co. should sell coke – we have to incarnate the gospel of Jesus Christ. Maybe is efficiency not a value taken from the gospel but from another story…
The christian life is sometimes getting so technical – we should do the right things to become successful instead of being a good person (understood in a christian way of course). The thing is that I think that the content and the strategies should be the same thing – DO-BE-DO – we should do what we are. And then reflect if we did what we should be… As an example – Jesus set demonized people free as an concrete example of the freedom of the Kingdom. He had done that, I’m sure, even if had not been successful because it was the content of the kingdom. He did reflect who he was.
I think we have to think through if all the methods, strategies, Mega Church techniques are a faithful way of living the Gospel in our specific context.
Challenging stuff. I think that this relates to a thought I had last night “you can’t enforce love”. Strategies are basically a set of rules about how to do something, but surely love has to come from within not from outside rules and strategies.
Let’s consider how our ‘do’ love can come from our ‘be’ love. Oh look, DO-BE-…!
It never ceases to amaze me how we can make strategies about everything. How we want to copy the concept from one church to another. How we nervously and longingly look and yearn for success of our churches.
And sort of miss the whole part of our calling – to be God Incarnate, the Body of Christ. God is not interested in how your church is “doing”. God is interested in what your heart is like.
My whole point when I talked to Fredrik was sort of a cry for help. I don’t need more textbooks telling me what to DO, DO, DO “for Christ”.
I need to have my life changed. And I need to BE a follower of Christ.
(Although, at the end of this post, I realize that Fredrik is already making the same point, only more coherent…
Oh, and had I mentioned Yoder somewhere here, too, Fredrik would have given me an “A” on this post 😉