Missional Metrics V
Number of Christians that are actively confronting their consumerism and making adjustments at the life level.
Let me throw a statistic out to you...many polls suggest that 8 out of 10 Americans claim to be Christians. 80%! A huge, overwhelming number that, if taken at face value, suggests that the church has been wildly successful at preaching the Gospel. Now...raise your hand if you actually believe it. Exactly. How can this possibly true in light of all the problems we face as a nation? I mean, do we really believe that 80% of all Americans are authentically seeking to follow Jesus Christ or has the term "Christian" become so watered down that it is no longer recognizable? I would argue the latter. And I think one of the clearest examples of this lies in our obsession with materialism and consumerism.
It is sobering and depressing to read through the statistics on the spending habits of Americans. (And make no mistake, according to a leading Christian research organization, emptytomb.org, Christians are just as much a part of the problem as non-Christians.) We spend 25 billion on lawncare, 72 billion dollars on carbonated drinks, and 13.7 billion on Valentine's Day cards. The average wedding now costs close to thirty thousand dollars. The average American home has increased in size to about 2500 square feet, even as the average size of the American family has decreased. But apparently our larger homes are not big enough to house all our stuff as evidenced by the 15 billion dollar a year storage industry! We spend twenty-two billion on toys, which represents 40% of what the world produces, even though we only have four percent of the world's children. Are you getting the picture?
Now, its usually right about here that folks will start attacking me or any other preacher who has the temerity to suggest that Gospel confronts our consumeristic habits by pointing out the inconsistencies in our own lives. So let me freely confess, I too need to make adjustments at the "life level." I am not pure in this area nor are you. I have gone to www.globalrichlist.com, punched in my salary, and have seen that I am in the top one percent of the world's richest people. So I know that this is an issue for me as well. The difference is that my wife and I are actively pursuing ways of living more simply. We are engaged in active resistance to the dominant materialistic, consumeristic culture. We have engaged accountability partners, tried to be transparent about our spending habits, and are becoming more and more self-aware as time goes on. We don't have it all figured out but we are growing. We are changing. We are transforming. And that's what the missional life is all about.
This metric is not about perfection. It is about active resistance to the ways our culture tempts and entices us to become more self-centered, consumeristic people. The church should stand as a bulwark against such temptation, strengthening, empowering, encouraging, and holding accountable those who would seek to faithfully follow Christ. We should encourage giving patterns that go beyond the "tithe" to true sacrificial giving. We should be engaged in communal spiritual practices that result in lives marked by radical generosity and sacrifice.
Let me be crystal clear about what I think this metric calls for...Primarily, it means we will have to "go public" with how we spend. We will have to enter into accountability relationships regarding our spending habits. We will have to become more transparent and open in this area of our lives. No more holding back. No more skating by on claims that this area is "private" and therefore not open to confrontation by the Holy Spirit. No more protests that how I spend is between "me and God." The practice of confronting consumerism is a communal discipline. It must involve our brothers and sisters in Christ if we are to experience any kind of victory.
It is sobering and depressing to read through the statistics on the spending habits of Americans. (And make no mistake, according to a leading Christian research organization, emptytomb.org, Christians are just as much a part of the problem as non-Christians.) We spend 25 billion on lawncare, 72 billion dollars on carbonated drinks, and 13.7 billion on Valentine's Day cards. The average wedding now costs close to thirty thousand dollars. The average American home has increased in size to about 2500 square feet, even as the average size of the American family has decreased. But apparently our larger homes are not big enough to house all our stuff as evidenced by the 15 billion dollar a year storage industry! We spend twenty-two billion on toys, which represents 40% of what the world produces, even though we only have four percent of the world's children. Are you getting the picture?
Now, its usually right about here that folks will start attacking me or any other preacher who has the temerity to suggest that Gospel confronts our consumeristic habits by pointing out the inconsistencies in our own lives. So let me freely confess, I too need to make adjustments at the "life level." I am not pure in this area nor are you. I have gone to www.globalrichlist.com, punched in my salary, and have seen that I am in the top one percent of the world's richest people. So I know that this is an issue for me as well. The difference is that my wife and I are actively pursuing ways of living more simply. We are engaged in active resistance to the dominant materialistic, consumeristic culture. We have engaged accountability partners, tried to be transparent about our spending habits, and are becoming more and more self-aware as time goes on. We don't have it all figured out but we are growing. We are changing. We are transforming. And that's what the missional life is all about.
This metric is not about perfection. It is about active resistance to the ways our culture tempts and entices us to become more self-centered, consumeristic people. The church should stand as a bulwark against such temptation, strengthening, empowering, encouraging, and holding accountable those who would seek to faithfully follow Christ. We should encourage giving patterns that go beyond the "tithe" to true sacrificial giving. We should be engaged in communal spiritual practices that result in lives marked by radical generosity and sacrifice.
Let me be crystal clear about what I think this metric calls for...Primarily, it means we will have to "go public" with how we spend. We will have to enter into accountability relationships regarding our spending habits. We will have to become more transparent and open in this area of our lives. No more holding back. No more skating by on claims that this area is "private" and therefore not open to confrontation by the Holy Spirit. No more protests that how I spend is between "me and God." The practice of confronting consumerism is a communal discipline. It must involve our brothers and sisters in Christ if we are to experience any kind of victory.
I think this is where the early church had it right. Its not just transparency in our finances, but I think that its a communalism in how we live together as Christians.
Its the model that we see in some of the "new monastics" where funds are held communally and a group lives communally in what they purchase, what they make, etc.
Posted by: Revdarth | August 18, 2008 at 07:26 AM
Wow. This one hits it on the head. Why do we want to believe that our finances are 'private' and beyond scrutiny? Are we ashamed of what we make (high or low) compared to our peers in the community? Are we ashamed of how we actually spend our cash? ...'our cash'? ... now there's the root of the issue right there! It's not 'our cash', it's God's resources to us. We need to realize that we have been chosen as a vessel through which he wants to use his resources to bless others. ... 'our cash' indeed! /shaking head/
Posted by: Pete | November 25, 2008 at 01:54 PM
Good word, Pete!
Posted by: Doug Resler | November 25, 2008 at 07:50 PM