Every now and then someone captures nicely some of what we’re trying to do in our ministry. Diana Gruver (https://www.dianagruver.com/) wrote a piece called “How Many Hours of Your Week Are Dedicated to God” when she was working with Vere Institute, now closed. You can see her whole article here.

She opens with a memory from her high school days when the leader put everyone on a guilt trip by having them add up the number of hours “dedicated to God” as opposed to sleeping, work/school, etc. For her, less than 5 hours per week in church and personal devotions. Today she understands…

…this exercise, and the guilt it sparked in me, reflected a faulty understanding of life as a disciple of Jesus.

She goes on to say:

But I also find this memory to be sobering because I know there are still faithful Jesus-followers, sitting in church pews each week who are laden with guilt that they aren’t doing more “church things.” They feel guilty for not feeling the call to drop everything and move to a foreign country. They feel less-than for not being able to wake up at 4 a.m. to devote extra hours to prayer. They, to be frank, feel like a second-class Christian for not devoting more time to explicitly “spiritual” endeavors.

These brothers and sisters have no vision for how day-to-day life can be fully dedicated to the Lord. How spending time in conversation with a coworker might be just as God-honoring as time in a Bible study. How doing good work as a health care worker or teacher or parent might be just as valued in the Kingdom of God as attending that extra prayer meeting. They have no imagination to see how God wants to permeate, fill, and transform every part, place, and relationship within their everyday life. – Diana Gruver

I couldn’t agree more. Several years ago I hosted a seminar with Neil Hudson of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC). When Diana wrote this piece, Vere Institute was the U.S. affiliate of the LICC. One of Neil’s key concepts matches Diana’s article. Neil asks church leaders: “How are you using the (at most) 10 weekly hours that your members spend in organized church activities to prepare them for the 110 waking hours weekly that they are living their lives in the world?” (Neil’s book, Imagine Church, is available on Amazon. I strongly recommend.)

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, NKJV)