"The Innovative Marketplace Christian - Blog Hosted by Rick Hubbell"

Main Post of the Week # 1 (Week of May 4-10)

Key #7 : An Integrated Life

This may permanently change your thinking. Read at your own risk.

It’s time for Christians to pay closer attention to what it means to lead a life of integrity and heed the saying “Wherever you go, there you are” -like right now.

Unfortunately, too many messages in churches and Christian literature subtly reinforce the idea that there are spiritual leaders behind the pulpit and on the mission field - and then there’s the rest of us. Everyone else is a second class citizen in the Kingdom of God.

We don’t say that exactly, but it’s what comes across. Essentially, if you are fortunate enough to be called into ‘full-time ministry’, you become part of a more spiritual elite. The rest of us help the more spiritual ones with their more spiritual stuff. Hooey.

This mindset is highly prevalent in the US - and I have seen it firsthand working with church and business leaders all over the nation and several other countries too. (If you would like to know more about my background as both Pastor and business man, now Kingdom guy, click here.) Before you rush to start finger-pointing at your Pastor or some other particular source, realize that what I’m tangling with today is a major prevailing mindset across the body of Christ to which there have been many contributors over the years. Singling out one individual is pointless.

Christian Leaders Generally Don’t Share This…

No, most Christian leaders wouldn’t tell it to you like this, but it’s time someone does.

This mindset creates many problems, but we are going to focus on a highly sensitive aspect of the topic- because this particular point affects the entire Kingdom of God.

The belief system we are discussing leaves many Christians (including Pastors) with the belief that what happens in the physical building called church is always more spiritual than what happens in the rest of people’s lives.

As things become more comparatively spiritual in church, if we are not very careful, the less spiritual everything else becomes - even though the accepted idea is that as we grow more in church that this growth continues to spill over into the rest of our lives. (But somehow, practically speaking, those rewards become bittersweet when accompanied by ever-increasing emphasis on the importance of, and - always higher levels of expectation concerning - church centric activities.)

Yes there are many people I highly respect out there who don’t agree with the preceding statement at all - Please feel free to share your opinion in the comments below. But if you do, I’m asking you to not come with the same rhetoric of pat answers that those called to the marketplace have been listening to for years. And don’t think for a minute that I am not a person with very high moral standards who serves and believes in strong local churches and in leading by example. I most certainly do.

No big deal right? That’s just how it is.

Very big deal - and I’ll tell you exactly why…

Dastardly Dualism

This mindset limits Christian lives with what theologians like to call ‘dualism’, a idea of the sacred and the secular, two realms; plain glass and stained glass; an idea which is an arch enemy of the Kingdom-hearted believer. Suddenly we are left to be more and less ’spiritual’ at different times as a lifestyle, as we come and go from ‘church’ or certain activities. The not so funny part of what some might call “Sunday Christianity” or being a “hypocrite”, or ‘having different compartments to our lives’, is that I am convinced that much of it is perpetuated by Christian leaders with ‘accidental’ dualist thinking.

Here’s an example of what it can look like when dualism is at work. There is a lingering idea that every meeting that goes on within the four walls of church is considered more important than everything going on outside the four walls.

Net result: arbitrary, spoken or unspoken pressure to be at all kinds of meetings, no matter what is happening in people’s lives beyond them. In addition, most meetings with church leaders take place inside church and often deal with church matters as opposed to meeting outside church emphasizing the community and the marketplace where most believers are actually called to be thriving and releasing a demonstration of the Kingdom.

Burnout City

Accompanying this philosophy is usually a smaller core of folks that will swear they are being energized by this lifestyle and frowning on all who don’t carry themselves with the same priorities. The sad truth is that quite often these folks end up unnecessarily burnt out at some season of their life and have to do something drastic to recuperate. I’ve seen it time and again. Yes, there are those genuinely called to higher levels of involvement, but it is incorrect and inappropriate to force everyone to place heightened emphasis on every activity of the local church by definition as compared to everything going on elsewhere in the world always. Yet that is the unspoken understanding at many churches. This philosophy has an appearance of wisdom and spirituality, yet actually hinders the advance of the Kingdom of God.

I Love God’s People Which is Why I Can’t Stand to Be Silent Any Longer

You see, I love God’s people like any Christian leader. In fact, I will tell you that I am every bit as much as interested in their well being as when I had the title ‘Pastor’, actually more. I want believers to walk in freedom, empowered by the Spirit, fulfilling the calling truly on their life from God, reaching the lost, righting injustice, leading relevant lives, solving societal problems and releasing a demonstration of God’s preeminence all over the earth.

I abhor seeing great people loaded with potential sidetracked in their destiny by religion. Some things we are doing as believers to supposedly accomplish the great commission may look cool and hip but are highly UN-strategic and we need to change them.

It is a Fact: Many Churches Are Shrinking

It doesn’t happen right away - but after a while - even good people who love God get tired of running on the treadmill.

A study conducted over the past 16 years including more than 200,000 churches shows that while the American population has added 52M during that time, the total number of people in church basically has not changed during that same period. -David T. Olson, director of the American Church Research Project

Today, Pastors have all kinds of reasons why such studies say that overall, churches are declining, trend-wise or in actual numbers, in both attendance and growth in the US. Most of the explanations cite other factors beyond their control. That’s interesting in itself but for another day.

The problem is, if you give religion an inch; it takes a mile. What begins as a love relationship with Christ and vibrant fellowship with one another, can become something else as one thing after another gets piled on in the name of Christianity. That’s religion friends, not the Kingdom.

Breaking the Mold to Lead an Integrated Life

Most Christians define the word ‘integrity’ improperly. We tend to think of a person of integrity as an honest person who ’seeks to do the right thing’. But the word means means more - much more. It means to lead an integrated life.

Be as spiritual when you are worshiping at home with your kids as anywhere else. Be as aware of the calling of God on your life when you are at work and with your family as when you are talking about it in a church small group. Be as aware of sharing the Gospel in the grocery store as when you are on a mission trip. Be as aware of the presence of God at the neighbor’s party as when you are at the altar.

Integrity means living a fully integrated life where you are the same person no matter what. You start to clarify what you believe in and stand for - everywhere - rather than just when it’s convenient or seemingly spiritual. An integrated life carries far more impact.

An integrated life is crucial if you are going to rise up and fulfill your destiny in the Kingdom and break the mold before it breaks you.

To the advance of God’s Kingdom and well being of His people,

Rick for Ti-MC

PS There are now thousands reading this blog. If you’d like to share your thoughts - we’d love to hear from you. That’s all for this series. Hope you grew from it.