CONSUMERS OR PRODUCERS

CONSUMERS or PRODUCERS

I recently read an article in a magazine we receive called Mission Frontiers by Mike Breen called "Obituary for the American Church". He used an expression that caught my attention "Disciples are not Consumers, they are Producers". You would need to read the article yourself to see what he really meant by this expression but I will try to explain a bit about how this pertains to us and the local churchs we attend. It is not difficult to realize that we all live in a "Consumer Culture" in North America. It seems everywhere we turn some advertisement is telling us about some new product that we must have. The fact is that most of us already have more "stuff" than we know what to do with, why would we need more? But that is what drives our society, the need to want more of the latest things available. We have all been affected to some extent simply by living in this culture, whether we are a follower of Jesus or not. We all live in a "fallen world" that has been separated from our Creator God because of sin, and we have an enemy who Jesus called the "father of lies" (John 8:44), who is constantly trying to deceive us. God has already dealt with this problem of sin, by allowing His Son Jesus to die on a cross to redeem us, but He leaves the decision up to us as individuals whether we will believe this truth and accept it or not!

 

One of the last commands Jesus gave to His followers before He ascended back to heaven is recorded in (Matt 28:18-20). The main point of this so-called "Great Commission" was "go and make disciples", baptize them and teach them everything He had taught them. In other words teach them to not only be disciples but to make disciples. From my vantage point of being involved in various churches of different denominations for many years, my observation would be that churches have not done this very well. The sad result is that we have churches full of members who are not real disciples themselves who have no idea how to make disciples. And we have come to be "Consumers" and not "Producers" as our brother Mike said. I assume what he meant by producers would be the making of disciples as Jesus commanded His disciples to do. So what can we do as followers of Jesus in this year 2012? Most of us are not church leaders, but if we attend a church we should discuss this matter with our spiritual leaders and gently bring this scripture to their attention. If they are truly followers of Jesus themselves they should see clearly that we have a problem. As a submissive member of the flock under their leadership he or she should appreciate your concern!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                             28/07/12