full life

i have been trying to think through john 10:10 the past few months.  i am constantly attempting to answer the question, “what does it mean to have live and have it to the full?”  i believe that full life is the greatest “marketing” asset the church has to offer creation, possibly as enticing as salvation (though, i find them to be extremely intertwined with one another).  i believe this full life to be a call to return to a way of life we were originally intended to live.

(note:when i first typed the paragraph above i wrote “has to offer people.”  i believe that to be lacking the holistic purpose of having full life.  i believe full life includes the rest of creation.)

i have erroneously or immaturely believed for many years of my youth that the church’s primary responsibility was to “save people.”  we were to deliver and offer the gift of salvation and eternal life provided to humanity through the person of Jesus Christ.  the gift was given from the Father and it’s giving and the methods which we chose to deliver that gift were guided by the Holy Spirit.  as a youth worker i believe this to be a major purpose of my ministry.  however, i believe my ministry ceases to effectively move persons beyond a salvation experience into the “full life” we promise they’ll experience post-salvation.  doug fields, in his book purpose driven youth ministry, hints at this same idea in the first few chapters of his book (i’ll find the quote later).

recently, though, i have discovered that my understanding of post-salvation experience life or what i would call discipleship is very narrow.  it consists of reading your bible, prayer, telling people about your following of Jesus, and like activities.  our youth program is in the process of creating opportunities to help “disciple” kids by getting them reading the scriptures, praying, and practicing other spiritual disciplines.  but when i read genesis 1 i recognize how narrow my potential  methods of discipleship are.  

salvation provides us the opportunity to reunite with God’s intended purpose.  discipleship is becoming like  Jesus Christ, in that we are reclaiming the purpose for which we were created as, both as individuals and a collection of individuals.  the intended purpose, as stated in genesis 1, is to “fill the earth,” “subdue it (earth),” and “rule over…every living creature.”  

i think a handful of results flowing out of this filling, subduing, and ruling of earth are the creation of cities, farming, education,  soccer (that’s not a joke), solar energy, sewage systems, and ipods.  to paint with a broader brush, creating culture and living in healthy community are aspects of our job description God gives us in genesis 1.  

if the ministry i am apart of continues to function as an entity of the body that simply provides students the salvific experience that is the foundation of full life we are cheating our students.  the question i have been asking myself lately is “how do we not cheat our students out of full life that Jesus came to give?”  how do we invite them into a lifestyle that fills, subdues, and rules the earth in a manner that glorifies God?  how do we help kids discover that the Christian life (that full life Jesus was talking about) isn’t JUST about prayer and reading the bible (though that’s a critical element of it)?  how do we invite them into reclaiming their intended purpose?  how do we assist them in discovering how they are apart of this filling, subduing, and ruling over the earth?  how do we teach them that the engineer, doctor, and trash man are all equally involved with filling, subduing, and ruling the earth?  how can a discipleship program introduce students to a more holistic understanding of full life?  how do we move students beyond salvation and into full life?

this blog is messy, i know.  but most of my thoughts are.