One thing I am growing weary of is “big name” pastors that everyone thinks we must follow in word and DEED. I love “big name” pastors, don’t worry. They speak at our STICKS CONFERENCES and are an honor to follow and learn from.
But we take it a bit too far at times. When it was vogue to be seeker, many went seeker. When it was vogue to small group, every went small group. When it was vogue to be missional, everyone drank a beer and talked about the evils of mega churches. When it was time to be compassionate, we drilled wells, et al. LOVE IT! So did we!
Now it seems it is vogue to focus on poor, inner-city areas. I applaud that! Yes! Amen! Praise Jesus! Pastors are leaving mega churches and going to the inner-city. Leaders are encouraging us to leave the “rich” and move to the “poor.” Yes! Amen, etc.
This recent article was too much for me to handle. While I agree 100% that we need to be Jesus to people, isn’t our specific calling more important? I am afraid many pastors will jump on this bandwagon and jump hard. If we are called to jump…then JUMP! But let’s not do it because it is the cool, hip thing to do.
I have sat in messages at conferences and read blog posts and they make me feel guilty for my calling and I start re-thinking the area I am in. More on my area later. If that is happening to me, I bet it is happening to you!
I read last night of a pastor at a growing church that read “The Forgotten Ways” a book I LOVE by the way. He then quit his growing church to go be “missional.” I don’t think that is what Alan Hirsch had in mind when he wrote the book. That church is now in a tail spin.
What ever happened to just being obedient to our calling? We were called to RURAL AMERICA, and not that we are special, but we obeyed. Leaders wanted us to go to the 13th fastest-growing county in the country in Ohio and plant. But we had a higher calling.
Then we were ripped from there and God has called us to the fringes of Salt Lake County, Utah. We are 35-40 minutes from downtown in an area that has NO OUTWARD suffering. Everything is perfect. It’s leave it to Beaver city.
But talking with a police officer the other day…we have a HUGE domestic violence problem with this very high LDS [Mormon] population. We are near tops in the country for teen/young adult suicide. in Utah. We are #1 in plastic surgery per capita. We are # 1 for internet pornography! Our perfect LDS neighbor husband just left his wife.
But we also live in nice houses, with manicured lawns that sprinkle at 6am every morning. Our kids are in charter schools, we work out regularly, our kids play on nice ball fields, on and on. No outward suffering, but we are dying from the inside out!
There is also not 1 church in one of the towns we are reaching into. What is wrong with reaching people we are called by God too? NOTHING!
Many people feel “guilty” about their calling as if “suffering” as Shane puts it [I love Shane by the way] is only found by the poor, outcast, drug infused segments of society. We have just as much suffering in suburbia, but it is a very different kind. Young people will head to the inner-cities by the droves to reach a post-modern, suffering generation. GREAT! It’s needed!
But what about the small towns. The rural areas. The so-called “rich” places. The other places that are not getting any press these days? Because trust me…our family has suffered a ton this year and we are living in a nice, quaint little area.
Stop feeling guilty about your calling. Stop trying to be all things to all people.
Be obedient!
If you are called to the inner-city to “suffer” than so be it. If you are called to journey with those who are “suffering silently”…then live it to the fullest and hold your head high. Don’t jump on the latest trends or bandwagon. Jump on obedience.
Be obedient! There is a lot of world to go around that needs Jesus.
I’ve said my peace.
I tend to agree on this one Charles. If we are constatntly running for one “In Vogue” mission to the next I don’t think we are really getting anything done for the kingdom (or really doing it for our Lord). Perhaps the suffering God has in mind for me is to stay put, be still, and wait for Him to tell me what He wants; not what is popular. I have to remember it is Him I should serve and that will likely be in complete anonimity without any earthly appreciation or recognition. Popularity involves pride (my enemy, it almost killed me).
I am tired of hearing about the “in vogue” thing to do. God has called each one of us to His ministry for us. If Shane wants to do it for the poor and suffering have at it. But if God has not called me to that then don’t try to make me feel guilty because i don’t respond as you do. You have been called to the LDS community. How ridiculous it would be to minister to them as you would a Muslim or a Hindu or whatever. I just wrote a post today Charles that came from my heart. It is “right up your alley” I believe. http://billgrandi.ovcf.org/wordpress/?p=4063 I apologize if that appears to be a shameless plug but it states my thoughts better than I have here I think.
Praise the Lord that you have a calling. I fear that is where you hit it on the head though. It isn’t always that these pastors are jumping ship and abandoning their call. All too often, they don’t have a call, but rather have chosen a profession. A few years ago there was a big push in foreign missions to move all missionaries into the large cities. Sad to say there are some who refuse to support a mission in the middle of nowhere Germany. But God has called us here and we are staying. So thankful that God called you to serve on my home turf and equally thankful now that He has sent you to Utah.
This is a great article. Cognitive thoughts.
I TOTALLY agree that each of us needs to follow our own particular calling, but I would like to throw this out and get your two cents.
I heard someone say that they “used to think moving to another country to do ministry was more spiritual than doing ministry here in America.” They realized that thinking is wrong and I agree with that as well.
However, I DO think that we have compromised in this in a big way. If we are called to minister in America, then that doesn’t mean we have to live like the rest of America and spend our time, talents, money and resources on what every other American does. The book “Interrupted” by Jen Hatmaker really challenged me when she basically says that her life looked like everyone else’s life, only a “churched-up version.” That hit me hard. I think when we are committed to making disciples of all nations as the Bible says, then our lives SHOULD look different on how we spend those things , regardless of whether we live in the hood or not. I just think a lot of us use the cop out that we’re not “called” to minister to the poor so we can live comfortable like the rich.
Just thinking out loud.