The Myth of a Christian Religion

by Gregory A. Boyd

  Process this chapter. Alone and with friends, prayerfully reflect on how this chapter impacted you. Did any of it make you feel hopeful and excited? Were there parts that surprised or offended you? Did this chapter challenge any assumptions you’ve had about social classes and the call of the Kingdom to abolish them? Together with your small group, reflect on the extent to which your view of people is polluted by your social conditioning to class-ify people.

  Live out the Jubilee Kingdom. Talk to God and your Kingdom community about how you can live free from class judgment and manifest the classless Jubilee Kingdom. Here are some suggestions:

  • Pray regularly for those oppressed by society’s way of classifying them.

  • Read and discuss with your small group books on the role class plays in America and in the Church. (For suggested readings, see www.gregboyd.org.)

  • As you cultivate the practice of blessing others, pay special attention to those whom society tends to ignore—the average-looking woman trying to haul a suitcase up some stairs, for example. Following Jesus’ example, when you see a need, act on it. You’ll discover opportunities to serve “the least of these” all around you.

  • Jesus said that when you host a feast, invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (Luke 14:12 – 13). These were the beggars, misfits, and outcasts of first-century Jewish culture. Think about hosting a party and inviting people our society (and likely the church) tends to deem lower class, misfits, and outcasts—people who may not have been invited to anyone’s party for a long time. More broadly, discuss with your Kingdom community ways you can invite “outcasts” into your lives by developing meaningful relationships with them.

  • If you live in a homogenous suburb, honestly reflect on why you do so and discuss this with your Kingdom community. Has God placed you there for Kingdom service? Or, perhaps influenced by a typical American mindset, do you live there simply because you prefer it and can afford it? If you suspect the latter, seek God’s will for a clear Kingdom vision on where and how you’re supposed to live.

  • If you are called to live in a homogenous suburb, consider ways you can alter your lifestyle to encounter and befriend people who are not “in your class.” Make adjustments in where you shop, go for coffee, get your car fixed, go for entertainment, and so on. Doing this will help you experience a life enriched by freedom from class myopia.

  • Continually submit your time, money, and resources to the Lord as well as your small group to discern whether the amount you spend to support your lifestyle versus the amount you invest in the Kingdom is in accordance with his will.

  • Engage in ministries that cross class lines. Together with friends, visit and befriend elderly people. Join a prison ministry. Participate in inner-city youth ministries. Volunteer in soup kitchens or homeless shelters. Commit to volunteering at an inner-city church.

  • If you are able to, go on regular short-term mission trips to serve impoverished neighborhoods or countries.

  Help your church become a Jubilee Tribe. Talk to God and others about what your church can do to more faithfully and consistently revolt against the classism of your culture and the Powers that fuel it. Here are some suggestions:

  • Once you’ve studied the role that class plays in America and the Church, and have embarked on the journey of living free from classism, offer to lead a book study or film-centered discussion on the issue. (A good film to launch a discussion with is People Like Us. For suggested readings, see www.gregboyd.org.)

  • If your church is not currently embracing and utilizing people with disabilities, help start a ministry that both encourages and disciples people with disabilities and provides opportunities for them to use their gifts. For assistance and resources, see faithaliveresources.org, friendship.org, and joniandfriends .org

  • If your church is not currently engaged in a prison ministry, help start one or encourage the leadership to partner with other churches that already are. For help, check out Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship at prisonfellowship.org.

  • If you’re in a suburban church, encourage your leadership to enter into mutually beneficial relationships with churches that represent a different socioeconomic level. If you’re in a suburban church and already regularly volunteer at an inner-city church, offer to make this opportunity available to others in your congregation.

  • If your church has no ministry to the elderly, start one. For help in ministering to people in nursing homes, check out faithfulfriends.org/manuel.html.

  • If your church does not allow women to minister in certain areas where they may be gifted (such as preaching, teaching, or pastoring), encourage the leadership of your church to reopen this issue by carefully studying the matter. (See www. gregboyd.org.) If the leadership of your church is dogmatically opposed to this, I encourage you to prayerfully consider with your small group whether in fact this is the larger church body God is calling you to align with. (Think about it. Would you align yourself with a church body that, say, continued to condone slavery as it was practiced in the first century or that forbade a person to exercise their spiritual gifts on the basis of their race?)

  CHAPTER 10: THE REVOLT AGAINST RACISM

  Return to the Source. Like everything else the Kingdom revolts against, racism is a form of idolatry. We cannot hope to revolt against it and manifest the “one new humanity” unless we are getting our Life from a source greater than our race. While it is healthy to feel good about our ethnicity and culture, as a Kingdom people, our identity, worth, significance, and security must come only from what God thinks about us, as evidenced on Calvary.

  Set aside special times to allow the Spirit to bring you into a vivid, concrete, imaginative encounter with the living Lord. See him, hear him, and sense him lavishing his unsurpassable love, joy, and peace on you. Experience him telling you he’s made you his own child and that his own joy is made complete in you (John 1:12; 15:11). Envision him delighting over you as he reminds you he’s given you an eternal and infinitely rich inheritance and is conforming you to his likeness (Zephaniah 3:17; Ephesians 1:11, 18). Throughout each day remind yourself of these truths and give thanks that your identity is found in Christ and nothing else. Have regular times of worshiping with the small group of disciples you share life with in which, together, you experience the abundant Life that flows from God.

  Process this chapter. Reflect on and discuss with friends what impacted you most in this chapter. Were there sections that made you feel hopeful and excited? Were there sections that made you feel angry, guilty, offended, scared, confused, or hopeless? Did this chapter challenge assumptions you’ve had about race or about racial reconciliation?

  Cultivate cross-cultural relationships. If you do not have meaningful relationships with people whose ethnicity is different from your own, talk to God and your friends about what you can do to begin to cultivate such relationships. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Go out of your way to cultivate friendships with people in your neighborhood who are ethnically different from yourself.

  • If you live in a homogenous neighborhood, go to more diverse neighborhoods to shop, get coffee, have your hair cut, get your car fixed, and so on.

  • If you’re white and live in a mostly white suburb, prayerfully reflect on whether you live there because it suits your personal preference or whether you believe God wants you to live there. (I’m not trying to hint that living in white suburbs is against God’s will. I’m simply suggesting we all need to seek God’s will on where and how we live.)

  Revolt against racism. Prayerfully dialogue with those you fellowship with about what you can do together to revolt against racism and better manifest the “one new humanity” of the Kingdom. Here are some suggestions for you and your small group to consider:

  • Pray for people who are oppressed by racism in America and around the globe.

  • Educate yourself. Read up on the realities of ongoing racism. (For suggested readings, see www.gregbo
yd.org.) Participate in seminars and workshops on racial reconciliation.

  • Volunteer at a church whose ethnic and racial makeup is significantly different from your own.

  • If you’re in a position to do so, consider serving as a foster parent for children whose ethnicity is different from your own.

  • Volunteer and/or contribute to a ministry dedicated to racial justice, ethnic diversity, and reconciliation.

  • Learn about other cultures in your area. Go out of your way to learn about other cultures’ distinct food, music, and arts by frequenting their restaurants, art shows, and concerts. Continually revolt against our fallen tribal tendency to live monoculturally.

  • If you’re in a position to do so, host foreign-exchange students in your home or invite some over for a holiday dinner.

  • If you’re white and choose to participate in the political process, speak to people of other ethnicities about the concerns that weigh on their hearts and what they think should be done about them.

  Help your church manifest the “one new humanity.” Talk to God and others about what your church can do to better revolt against racism and manifest the “one new humanity” created in Christ. Here are some suggestions:

  • If your church does not emphasize racial reconciliation the way it emphasizes other aspects of what Jesus lived and died for, encourage the leadership to begin studying the issue.

  • Encourage the leadership to consider hiring a racial-reconciliation consultant. The congregation I pastor was greatly helped by the relationships we developed with the wonderful people at Salter McNeil and Associates ( saltermcneil.com).

  • Offer to lead a book study and discussion group on the topic of racial reconciliation at your church or offer to sponsor a racial-reconciliation film viewing and discussion group. (A great one to start with is The Color of Fear, put out by Stir Fry Productions.)

  • Encourage the leadership of your church to prayerfully consider moving toward more ethnically diverse forms of worship. If there are people from different ethnic groups in the neighborhood of your church, encourage your leaders to take particular care to incorporate their cultural music into some of your worship.

  • If there are people from different ethnic groups in your church’s neighborhood, ask them how your church could welcome and serve them. If there are some for whom English is a second language, encourage the leadership to consider making signs inside and outside your church bilingual. If the need is present in your community, consider helping your church develop an ESL (English as a Second Language) program.

  • Encourage the leadership of your church to enter into mutually beneficial relationships with churches whose ethnic makeup is different from your own. If you have been regularly volunteering at a church that is racially different from your own, offer to help make this opportunity available to others in the congregation.

  • Finally if the leadership of your congregation refuses to move forward on these issues, prayerfully consider the possibility that God would lead you to join a congregation that is passionate about them. (Think about it. Would you attend a church that refused to preach that Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins? Jesus died to reconcile the races within his Kingdom community as well.)

  CHAPTER 11: THE REVOLT AGAINST POVERTY AND GREED

  Return to the Source. We hoard resources when we view them as a source of Life. We cannot manifest the beauty of God’s outrageous generosity and revolt against greed as long as we’re entrapped by this idolatry. So again, return to the true source of Life and get your worth, significance, and security from what God thinks about you, as evidenced by Calvary. Set aside times in which you bask in God’s love for you. Imaginatively see, hear, and sense Jesus reminding you that you are filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19) and that you have an infinitely rich inheritance awaiting you (Ephesians 1). Remind yourself of these truths throughout the day and enjoy the freedom from things that this experience and ongoing awareness of God’s love gives you.

  Process this chapter. Together with your small group reflect on how this chapter impacted you. Did it convict, surprise, encourage, or discourage you? Reflect on your life in light of what you’ve learned. Do you feel you are following God’s will in how you steward his resources? Are you reflecting his heart for the poor in how you spend your time and money? In what ways have you been influenced by the consumer culture of greed and the Powers that fuel it? If you and your Kingdom community were not disciples of Jesus, how would you spend your time and money differently than you now do?

  Live out the generous Kingdom. Talk to God and those you’re in community with about what steps you can take to more perfectly manifest the beauty of God’s generous Kingdom and his heart for the poor. Here are a few suggestions for you and your community of fellow disciples to consider:

  Pray for the poor, especially those geographically closest to you. As you do this, repeatedly surrender all your possessions and money over to God. Let God reign over everything in your life, including your wallet and your possessions.

  • Budget! A high percentage of Americans don’t really know where their money goes. Remember that “your” money is really God’s money—and you’re his steward! Tally how much you spend on yourself versus how much you use to further the Kingdom and help the poor. Then enter into a dialogue with your Kingdom community and seek their help in discerning if the way you spend time and money is in accordance with God’s will.

  • If you live in a wealthy neighborhood, prayerful reflect on and discuss with others why you do so. Perhaps God has placed you there for Kingdom service, but perhaps you are living there simply because you like it and can afford it. That is normal for non-Kingdom people, but not for followers of Jesus. Seek God’s will about where and how you’re supposed to live.

  • Wherever God has called you to live, seek his wisdom about how you can live more frugally and simply. It’s okay to enjoy nonessential things God has blessed you with, but when we acquire or cling to things on the basis of our own preferences, they inhibit our capacity to manifest the beauty of the outrageously generous Kingdom. Seek the wisdom of your Kingdom community as you honestly ask yourself whether you’re supposed to be “enjoying” that boat, cottage, or extra car. Are you supposed to have all those shoes and clothes? Many people testify that they’ve discovered a much greater depth of love, joy, and peace by dumping many of the “extras” and by living more simply.

  • Whenever you consider purchasing an unnecessary item, ask yourself, “Who might need this money more than I need this item?” If a person or a cause comes to mind, consider the possibility that God might be calling you to forgo the unnecessary item for the sake of that person or cause. If you are called to live in a wealthy neighborhood, consider ways you can alter your lifestyle so as to enter into meaningful relationships with the poor.

  • If you’re a westerner—and especially if you’re an American—you live in a consumer culture that brainwashes people into believing they need to consume things to be happy and fulfilled. Learn about this consumer culture and seek out ways you can break free from it. A good place to start is watching a short video called The Story of Stuff at storyofstuff.com.

  • Read up on poverty in your own country and around the world and process what you can learn with Kingdom people you share life with. (For suggested readings, see www.gregboyd.org.)

  • Learn about various poverty and relief organizations. Find one or two to sacrificially give to, pray for, and perhaps volunteer in.

  • As in the previous chapter, join with your small group and/ or your church to host a party in which you invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (Luke 14:12 – 13). If you’re part of a faith community that is relatively isolated from poverty, consider partnering with a faith community located in a poorer neighborhood.

  • Go on short term mission trips to serve impoverished neighborhoods or in Third World countries. This is especially important for people who live i
n isolated wealthy communities since one can’t be adequately impacted by poverty from lectures, books, or movies. One has to smell it, taste it, touch it, and breathe it.

  • Volunteer regularly at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. Go through your wardrobe and take out everything you haven’t worn in the last twelve months and donate it to Goodwill, the Salvation Army, or another recycling clothing outlet that offers affordable or free clothes to the poor.

  • If you can afford to do so, consider adopting an orphan from a Third World country.

  • Whenever possible, purchase Fair Trade products. These are imported products for which a portion of the profit is reinvested in the economy of the impoverished community that helped produce the product.

  • Unless specifically led by God to do so, I discourage people from giving to panhandlers. True, Jesus told us to give to everyone who asks (Luke 6:30), but this doesn’t mean we have to give them precisely what they ask for. Statistically, it’s likely you’re helping support habits and activities that are helping to keep these people in poverty. Instead, I recommend taking strangers who approach you out to eat or to a grocery store. (One has to be wise about safety issues, of course.) Or consider carrying gift certificates to local eating establishments that you can offer people when they approach you for money.