christian-ish

Internet, have I mentioned how blessed I am to be on the leadership team for our youth group?

No, but seriously.  I love talking about ministry with these people.  We all have different views and opinions and I love discussing them during our time together.

We had a meeting last weekend and I have been so blessed by the discussion.  Earlier last week Rob emailed the leadership team asking us to listen to a Podcast of Al Mohler talking with Kenda Creasy Dean, author of "Almost Christian".

It is about 45-50 minutes long but totally worth it!  Here is my summary and the things that stuck out the most to me:

It sounds like the book 'Almost Christian' is talking a lot about the disease of living the 'christian-ish' life.  Especially my generation - we have been plagued with the temptation to assume that living a moral life {being sweet to people} is what it means to live the christian life.

Internet, there is so much more to living the christian life than being nice and keeping the peace among the people around you.  Living 'christian-ish' is not living the abiding life discussed in the bible.

Let me just throw out a few reminders here:

-Being intentionally sweet to others is a good thing.  It is NOT the spreading of the gospel, though.  We must stop assuming our sweetness is spreading the good news of Christ. {of which I'm certainly the biggest culprit}

-Living a life with good morals is a good thing.  However, it is NOT the spreading of the gospel.

OK - so where was I, oh yes- summarizing the podcast.... {stepping down from soap box}

There are so many good pieces to share... so here they are in kind of word vomit order:

-Live intentionally instead if Christian-ish

-"Discipleship is less about sharing all we know about Christ and more about sharing how to live a life of love for Christ."  I love the truth of this statement.  It is so easy to be intimidated or prideful about 'sharing all we know'... and we need to focus on sharing how to live a life of love for Christ. 

-"Kids learn best the things they love the most" 

-"Kids are more likely to recognize Christianity as being significant if we don't treat it as an an extra curricular activity... Not something that comes at the end of our week but something you organize your life around."

This one can sting a bit.  But it is so true! If students see us organizing our lives around the work of the gospel - they are more apt to see the importance of doing that themselves.  There is something else implied here.... how can one know how someone else is organizing their life if they aren't intentionally invested in one another's lives?  

So.... how do you let someone in... close enough to let them see how you organize your life? Be. intentional.

-"Parents have a much bigger impact on their kid's than they realize. Your faithfulness is much more powerful than you realize."

-"What you are [as a parent] is what you get [in a child]"

-Research used in the book 'Almost Christian' has shown students who continue to have faith from HS to young adulthood is hugely impacted by the religious devotion of their parents during their teenage years.  

-"Instead of focusing on having 1 leader per X number of students - focus on surrounding each student with 5 adults who love The Lord"  Bringing them into the church community... Showing them what it is like to live a life sold out for Christ.

-Moralistic therapeutic deism is the fancy term for this living a 'christian-ish' life that seems to come so naturally to our generation considering the culture we live in. {no excuse, though}  We are so concerned to offend those around us that we hang on to moralistic living and forget the urgency of the gospel.


This has been so good for my heart to stew on as I write this out.  I pray this will truly impact the way I live my life and the way I invest in our GSM students for the gospel.