Christian Ambition In An Age Of Mediocrity
Ambition: “a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work; desire and determination to achieve success.”
The Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): Mediocrity is not a Christian value.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the American church underwent a sort of transformation into what some scholars called the “emerging church” movement. Many of you have experienced it, even if you aren’t familiar with the label. At its root, the emerging church movement was a postmodern response to disillusionment with historic Christianity and its institutions in which concepts like “dialogue,” “conversation,” and “relationship,” began to take precedence over pre-packaged messages, doctrine, orthodoxy, and dogma.
Having some experience with this movement, I can personally attest to its emphasis on “missional living” over catechesis and discipleship. This perpetual call to “missional living” manifested itself as a deep concern for temporal, social issues, as opposed to simply “getting somebody saved.” The idea was to address the needs of the surrounding culture, and in doing so, lead the culture to God.
This quickly developed into a nearly universal call to go into major cities and “win the city for Christ.” It wasn’t unusual to hear people say that they were “in the city, for the city.” The goal was to “Christianize” and infiltrate the young, urban centers of culture through church plants, small groups, and other religious activities that would “meet people where they are,” and look, dress, and speak in a manner they would recognize and understand.
I do believe that many of these movements had pure intentions. But there was a trendy, cultural aspect of this movement that always struck me as odd and hard to stomach. Young people, usually fresh out of college with a liberal arts degree and a mountain of student loan debt, would completely uproot their lives, move into one of the most expensive cities on the planet, and work to plant a church in between two hundred other functioning churches in an attempt to “capture the city for Christ.”
But something odd jumped out at me during the decade when this was all the rage. It was always the city. And not just any city, but cool cities like Manhattan, Los Angeles, Nashville, Denver, and Austin. Aside from its theological issues, the aesthetic of the emerging church movement was identical to that of the young, wealthy, artsy, trendy professional sub-cultures which exist in every major metropolitan area in the United States.
Over time, the results became predictable. A group of these young people would move to the city determined to “capture it for Christ,” and within a year or two, the city would capture them. These “church plants” would either close down or devolve into feel-good TED Talks with amazing graphic designs but little spiritual power. Too often, what started as a desire to fulfill the Great Commission turned into a slightly spiritualized episode of Friends or New Girl rather than a serious discipleship movement.
I’ve thought deeply about why this movement largely failed. And I think it’s obvious that throwing untrained, undiscipled, and oftentimes unqualified young men and women to the wolves is generally a foolish move. The evidence speaks for itself; instead of “winning the city,” the city, almost without fail, wins them. Many come back with no faith at all, or a weird, kind of pseudo-Christianity which coincidentally aligns perfectly with every modern, progressive maxim. It’s like throwing a recruit who hasn’t even been to boot camp on the front lines and then acting surprised when he gets wounded.
After years of thinking about this (this happened to many of my friends; some are still trying to make it work!), I’ve come to the undeniable belief that for too long, the church has incentivized mediocrity among its young people, as if worldly incompetence is a fruit of the spirit.
Let me explain.
Between roughly 2000 and 2010, I knew more than a few people who decided to go “into the ministry.” Some were genuinely called to it, as confirmed by older, wiser men in the faith who recognized their gifts. But others simply fell into it, almost by default.
I’ve told this story before, but when I was a senior in college, I was part of a small group led by a high-powered lawyer and his wife who lived in Boulder and volunteered at the church. The group consisted of five guys, and we stayed together all four years of school. During one of our last meetings before graduation, our church announced that they were looking for a new youth intern for the following school year, a low-paying job that was really like an internship for someone hoping to enter the ministry.
Well, unsurprisingly, three of the five guys in my group (none of whom had jobs lined up for after graduation) decided that day that they were being “called to ministry.” This internship was God’s calling for their life! It’s a miracle!
Thankfully, we had a wise leader (the lawyer) who pulled no punches: “guys, there’s a time and place to sleep on people’s couches, make no money, and serve God. But it seems to me like many of you are just trying to put off the inevitable. Do you really want to be 30 years old sleeping in somebody’s basement, just so you can hang out with the college kids? At some point, you need to grow up and enter the real world.”
This was the hard truth we all needed (well I didn’t have a choice, I was commissioning in two weeks since the government paid for my school). It was timely, direct, and loving. He was right, and he said what almost every other leader and mentor in that church was unwilling to say; “MY BROTHER IN CHRIST, YOU ARE NOT CALLED TO BE A YOUTH INTERN. GO GET A JOB.”
Eric (the lawyer) was calling us higher, and perhaps unknowingly, back to the legacy of Christian greatness that runs through our country’s history.
All eight Ivy Leagues were founded by Christians to train pastors and promote religious education for God’s service. Harvard is named after John Harvard, a Puritan minister, Princeton was created by Presbyterians, Brown University, by Baptists.
Countless other hospitals, schools, and companies trace their history back to unapologetic Christians who lived as if Christ is Lord of all. Massively influential 19th-century firms like Standard Oil (Rockefeller) and Heinz were explicitly faith-driven; retail and manufacturing firms such as Brooks Brothers, Macy’s, Remington, and HarperCollins, all trace their roots to Christian founders with evangelistic principles.
Mediocrity is not a Christian value.
Put another way, there is nothing pious about being unable to compete in the secular world, as if we’re somehow “above it all.” Men were not made to spend all day sitting in a coffee shop talking about how this or that verse makes us feel. We were created to build, strive, fight, and win. The everyday business of the church, even as it is sustained by God alone, requires funding, strategy, business acumen, and connection. It is a good and glorious thing when a man enters the secular workspace and conquers. This is what we call plundering the Egyptians; we succeed in godless spaces in order that we might redeem secular resources to fund God’s work here on earth.
Those called to full-time ministry are worthy of honor, but it’s a small percentage of men. It’s not simply a holding area for those unqualified to do anything else, and it shouldn’t be treated as such. This will require a fundamental reallocation of priorities when it comes to discipling and training young people in the Christian community. They should know that being a Christian actually makes the standard higher, not lower.
There are two ways to think about “capturing the culture.” One says that we’ll send poor kids into cities that will eat them alive, and pray that they don’t deconstruct and apostatize. Another strategy is to capture it from within. Certainly, we must hold fast to our Christian principles without compromise; but who can more effectively influence the secular world? An unpaid intern at a megachurch in Manhattan, or a man who spends 30 years doing excellent work and eventually finds himself as a senior decision maker at a well-respected law firm, tech company, government entity, or even a company that he owns? I’m not arguing that the corporate life is for everybody, but that there are other tactics we can employ, ones that offer strategic victories through unconventional means.
There’s a common misconception that if a young man in the church is well-spoken, well-read, and theologically astute, then he needs to become a pastor. Yet 100 years ago, this was just considered being a normal man. The church desperately needs young, qualified men called to the ministry; but it also needs spiritually well-rounded Christians ready to be sent out into the far corners of the professional world to regain valuable territory.
The business world needs Christians, as does the blue-collar world, the non-profit world, and the public sector. That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when churches raise up competent, hardworking men of integrity who do excellent work and are prepared to hold the line against evil, no matter the cost.
No young man is inspired to greatness by low standards. Men need a positive vision in life, and older men in the church must set the example. Something happens in a boy’s heart when you tell him, “I bet you can’t do this…” This is the spirit we must recover. Maximum effort. Calculated risk. Faith that God will provide.
May it never be said of us that we are striving simply to produce mediocre men of God. We are called to maximum effort; not to earn God’s favor, but because we already have it, and this is our Father’s world.
Go forth and conquer.
T
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