Here's a quote from the book, A New Kind of Youth Ministry by Chris Folmsbee (Zondervan, 2007):
"If young people are to practice faith when they "graduate" from youth ministry, the most important gift the church can give them is lifestyle faith instead of program faith. Of course, that doesn't mean that Christian programs don't have a role to play. But young peple aren't looking for programs; and when the church makes faith into "one more thing to do," we turn the gospel into an extracurricular activity, one among dozens, and in so doing we gut it of its transforming significance" (p.50).
I believe that this is true for adults, children and teens; people of any age. Who needs something more on the list of their already busy schedule? I would rather spend my days living like a Christian and meeting people through my job than worrying about whether or not I have enough people to staff a program, whether or not my idea is interesting enough, or always feeling like I have to top what I did before so people don't get bored. Doesn't just living life as a Christian and making a difference in the lives of people around us sound a whole lot easier and more natural?
2 comments:
Sound a whole lot easier? Yes.
As you would probably expect, I love this thought. Natural Christian Living. I believe our quest for simplicity at RVWC is going well. Let programs and competition for people's attention go the way of all the earth. Let people get real about just living like Jesus every day. Let people see everyone around them as a person loved and valued by God. Wouldn't this make us a lot more helpful and valuable to a lost world than all of our programs and busyness.
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