18plus: Social Christianity
16th June 2011 by Jarrod Newton
When you and your friends get a chance to just hang out, what kind of stuff do you get up to?
The typical answers among my friends isn't anything unusual ... we'd go out for dinner, watch a DVD, play board games, or probably play some footy if it's a guys-only thing.
But I wonder how often you've just been hanging out when someone has suggested breaking out your Bibles for an impromptu Bible study?
I mean, is that even allowed? Surely you couldn't just spring that in the middle of a dinner conversation ...
"Oh, people have to be in the right frame of mind for that kind of thing ..."
"I can't just talk off the top of my head about that ... I have to prepare first ..."
"We're here to relax and have fun, not to have to think about serious stuff ..."
Do you relate to any of that? Could you imagine yourself saying any of these things (or at least thinking them silently) if someone tried to spring a Bible study on you?
At one point in my Christian journey I could totally see myself reacting with any of those three statements.
Why is that?
At what point did our faith get pushed into the "serious conversation only" box? Or, more directly, at what point did our faith get taken out of the "fun, relaxing, entertaining social activity" box?
My friends and I have sat around too many times to remember, bored out of our brains, and eventually settled for the most lame, pointless activities to pass our time.
How rich would it have been just to break open the word of God just because we had some spare time to do it in? How much might we have grown if that was part of our friendship? How incredible would it have been if we'd allowed God to interrupt our bored afternoons with fresh revelation and insight and power through his Spirit?
Don't hear me wrong. I'm not saying we should throw out our DVD collections or stop eating at restaurants or burn all our board games or anything like that. But I am highlighting how often we create little boxes that confine our faith journey to certain times or certain days or certain places.
Social Faith vs. Social Church
I think I can hear what some of you are thinking.
"None of this applies to me. I hang out with my Christian friends all the time. My whole social life practically revolves around the church!"
Well here's my question: Your church might be social, but is your faith?
See I was one of those guys who was at church 3-4 nights a week. All of my close friends were Christians and we had a blast together.
But our friendships were totally built around church, not around faith. We attended church together, we talked about church together and we served side-by-side in church.
And we did it all without really talking about our personal faith much at all.
A social revolution
The reality is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful enough for all areas of our lives. It doesn't just have stuff to offer us in serious moments but has so much to speak into our lives during the every day.
And on top of that, I really believe our faith is meant to be expressed in community. Being a Christian just makes so much more sense when our faith is worked out through relationships with other people.
So next time you and your friends are sitting around with nothing to do, I challenge you to reach for your Bible, open up to a chapter of Scripture and ask your friends what they think it means.
It's not as hard or as awkward as you might think. And you might just discover a new favourite way to fill in your spare time!
save. grow. serve.
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Comments
I love this article! Watch out my friends... We are going to experiment with some culture change!