Breaking the Sacred and Secular Divide
How do we break down the divide between the sacred and the secular in the church?Ok, so that's not something we can answer in a blog, or even in a book because the divide is a lot more than just surface deep.
That being said, there's one simple, subconscious thing I continue to see done in church services across the country that is easy to change.
We only "send out" full time ministry people through prayer in front of the church.
Don't get me wrong, I think think that praying for an individual, family or team before they go out is wonderful and an important step towards showing what we support. So, let's take it a step further... If we are truly committed to breaking down the divide between the sacred and the secular, then we should be praying for and sending out our teachers every August when they return back to school. We should be sending out our accountants to be a light for Christ when they hit the crunch of the spring deadlines. We should be praying for the CEO's and Entreprenuers of companies when they undertake new business venutres...
Until we start sending these people out in the very same way we do with people in full time ministry, our churches will continue to see the divide between the sacred and the secular. It must start here.
Labels: Editorials
2 Comments:
commented by 
John N., 3:00 PM
John N., 3:00 PM
Justin,
I agree with the suggestion that churches commission people into the business world just as they send people into paid church work. The practice you describe does indeed reinforce the sacred-secular divide.
I'd also like to add what is perhaps my favorite sacred-secular reinforcer: the term "full-time ministry" to describe the work of those employed by a church, parachurch ministry, or missions agency. (You even used the term in your post.) It suggests that the rest of us are not in full-time ministry because we're employed by a business. Like John noted in the first reply, it reinforces the view that the rest of us are at best in part-time ministry (e.g. when we're doing AWANA or Sunday school).
I agree with the suggestion that churches commission people into the business world just as they send people into paid church work. The practice you describe does indeed reinforce the sacred-secular divide.
I'd also like to add what is perhaps my favorite sacred-secular reinforcer: the term "full-time ministry" to describe the work of those employed by a church, parachurch ministry, or missions agency. (You even used the term in your post.) It suggests that the rest of us are not in full-time ministry because we're employed by a business. Like John noted in the first reply, it reinforces the view that the rest of us are at best in part-time ministry (e.g. when we're doing AWANA or Sunday school).
I belive that you are on to something here. If you were to ask the average person who goes to church "when do you do ministry" they would answer, Wed. night when I do AWANA or Sunday morning when I teach Sunday School or when I am in a small group etc.
But what about the 40+ hours that are spent every week at WORK. Does that have no place in the "ministry" category??
I agree with you that we should be praying for each of us as we set out each and everyday to work that we would be "salt and light in the midst of darkness" that we would be "Jesus to the people around us". That is truly ministry.