Laymen Do A Good Job Revolting...Trueblood

"Every great religious awaking has been a revolt against authority." -Henry T. Hodgkin

Agreed? I think getting down to it, this has summed up the Christian cause since the beginning. Not that we've gone to fighting each other like a real, fierce, family feud; but more like we have taken a stand for Christ against all odds. When the Sanhedrin took Peter and the apostle(Acts 5) and told them to not preach anymore, Peter stated, "We must obey God rather than men." Stories like this have filled our Christian history and we realize that this is how Christianity has spread...Persucution or desparate seeking. Martin Luther intentional or not, realized that he was not getting the whole story and sought to find it, only to realize he was turning from the religious group he was with, yet he knew what he had to do. In the book of Acts, we see that when persecution broke out the Christians scattered taking the good news with them.

"A religion that is not contagious is not genuine." -Elton Trueblood

In our generation today, I think we have lost this, desparate pursuit despite all odds. Clamming up, in silence seems like a better option. But should it be this way? No! Our generation has lost this and needs it back. But where does this lack of pursuit originate from? Lack of knowledge, love, or loyalty? Or maybe it is because many of us feel the need of the Gospel is a minister's job? Whatever it is, we need to walk away from that thinking. The spreading of the Gospel is an equal occupation, able to be easily done by proffessionals and laymen. "Whatever a person's oridinary vocation in the world is, ministry can be his other vocation and perhaps his truest vocation." Many times a laymen even has more opportunity, so use it. By understanding that this spreading of the Gospel is universal equal to all men and women of varies occupation, the more we can understand why we have a lack of growth and genuinity.

"Nearly all important work in any field is done by professionals and not by laymen and women. This assumption in the Christian movemnet is wrong. Unfortunatly, Apparently, people believe thatp praying is a highly professionalized job, with which the amateur cannot be trusted."

. This, stated by Elton Trueblood was from the 1900's yet I feel that many of us still feel this way about all kinds of things. Telling others about Christ, or teaching certain age groups. Let's get away from this mindset. When our lives are daily consumed with God and what He has for us, the more our "religion" isn't much of a religion as an relationship as it should be. A relationship filled with communication on both parties, we talking and God listening, God talking and us listening. The more open and genuine we allow our relationship to be, the easier it is to spread the gospel.

"The growth of the Early Christian church was so profound that it was able to carry on against so many different odds without the aid of an army and without the strategy of fear. We need to find the secret of the early Christians and to employ it again."

Great words by Elton Trueblood and so true. In the face of persecution are we strong enough in Christ to stand? If not, is it somehow linked to our lack of being genuine and lack of desparate pursuit?