As we grow in spiritual maturity, we’re called to live out our faith in action. Hear from Pastor Jay Strother from Brentwood Baptist Church on this topic.
Think back to a time when you experienced significant growth in your spiritual life. Many times this happens to us as we dig deeply into the Word, seeking truth about God and His character.
But that’s not the only way we mature as disciples of Jesus.
We must absolutely have a strong foundation of God’s truth in our lives, but that should be the beginning point of our faith journey – not the end. Often, we experience the richest spiritual growth when we take what we’ve learned about the Lord and His will for our lives and begin to live it out. This is discipleship in action.
We see growth when we step out of our comfort zones, unsure of the plan but trusting that God’s ways are best.
We see growth when we continue to obey in the midst of our grief, doubts and hard questions.
We see growth when we wait patiently on the Lord to provide.
This is the difference between gnosis – an intellectual knowledge refined through education – and epignosis – an experiential knowledge refined through action.
For a pastor, it’s important to lead one’s congregation in both an intellectual and an action-oriented discipleship. Shepherding a church involves teaching them to understand Scriptural truths and walking with them as they put their faith into practice.
In a recent interview between Jason Johnson, Director of the Pure Religion Project at CAFO, and Pastor Jay Strother of Brentwood Baptist Church, they discussed the idea of discipleship in action, seen through Brentwood’s engagement with foster care and adoption.
Jason Johnson: How have you seen the “holy & helpful” dynamic of pure religion play out in the culture of your church?
Jay Strother: The idea of “pure religion” comes from James chapter one. I think it’s not by accident that the big point James is making is to not just be hearers of the word, but doers. Then almost immediately he says that pure religion looks like this: to help orphans & widows in their distress.
So, as a church I think it’s helped purify us, helped make us more holy, to focus in this area, because it’s deepened our understanding of the gospel.
You know, when you think about adoption, it’s often called the “visible gospel” because it’s a picture of what God did for us.
And so every time we see a child brought into our church family through adoption & foster care, it’s a reminder that God didn’t only save us and justify us, but He actually welcomed us into His family as sons and daughters. So, even our understanding of the gospel gets deeper and richer every time we remember the lengths that God went to in order to welcome us into His family.
On the helpful side of things, it’s an example of how – specifically in the book of James – we’re taught to keep our faith real. There isn’t a disconnect between the ministry and the message. In Jesus’ ministry, both of those things went together all the time. So, the message of the gospel is played out when we care for those who are vulnerable, when we care for those who don’t have hope in this world, as it says in the book of Ephesians. And so the opportunity for our people to be able to bridge that gap between what we believe and how we behave is so important because it challenges us to put our “yes” on the line when it comes to our faith in every possible way.
JJ: How has engaging in foster care and adoption taken your church into spaces in which it otherwise wouldn’t have found itself?
JS: Our church is in one of the wealthiest suburbs in the United States. It’s full of people who love the Lord and seek to do good. However, as you know in those communities, we’re often buffered from where some of the greatest amount of need is. So our foster and adoption ministry has introduced us to that need. It’s no longer just a category of people; instead, these children and folks now have names and faces. And so for our people it’s been a great opportunity for us to bridge the gap, to understand the cycles and the patterns that cause children to be vulnerable and at risk. And so, for our people to be able to have the chance to be able to be hands-on in a fresh way has been important.
For example, there’s a ministry designed to link people with resources with those families that need resources. What’s beautiful about that is that it’s torn down that wall. As those needs get posted, our people are then able to meet those needs.
But what’s even better is they often have the opportunity – as the washer and dryer are delivered or as the new bed is placed in a home – to go make the placement personally. In doing so they get to put their arms around the person, and know them by name, and connect with them as a person and hear their story. That’s been so invaluable for our people.
We often say the word compassion in Scripture means love in action. And the foster and adoption ministry has given us a lane to be able to put that love into action.
JJ: Can you speak to the pastor who says, “I want my church to be a safe place, but I also want us to do hard things and make an impact in the community. Those feel mutually exclusive at times; how do I reconcile that?”
JS: Foster and adoption is a challenging space to be in; we live it out in our own home with two adopted children. We know the impact that trauma has on kids and young lives, and that can be disruptive and challenging.
So on one hand, as a pastor you want your church to be a safe place; on the other hand you recognize that ministry is messy and hard. So learning to live in that tension is so important.
One of the things that we’ve had to teach our people, and that we’ve had to learn personally ourselves in our own home, is that the key is faithfulness. The outcomes are always up to God; our job is to be faithful and consistent and to trust Him.
Now, in a ministry sense what that means is that we have to equip our people to let go of certain expectations that they might have, and to embrace the messy and to embrace the hard.
For instance, when you bring a large number of adoptive families and foster families into your church, you have to think about how that impacts the youth retreat, the Sunday school class, even disruptions that might happen during your worship gathering on a Sunday morning.
So, one of the elements and tools that we’ve used is the equipping of our leaders to be trauma-informed, so that they’re aware of how to respond in those situations – out of grace and mercy, instead of out of frustration or discouragement.
It’s a constant tension and a battle, but everything that’s worth doing in the Kingdom is a constant tension and a battle.
I remind people often that the two conduits for the gospel are the church and the home. It’s why the enemy brings every tactic he has against both. And so, many churches begin down this road, recognizing that bringing these kids into loving homes and loving churches is going to be difficult and hard. The enemy wants to discourage and disrupt that any way that he can. But that’s why we have to be prayerful, we have to be trauma-informed and we have to be intentional each step of the way.
As you reflect on this idea of discipleship in action, ask yourself these questions:
- In what areas might God be calling me to learn more about His character and His heart, and to build a deeper relationship with Him?
- In what areas might God be calling me to put my faith into action and to step into the hard places?
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To help your church learn more about God’s heart for vulnerable children – and to help them then take action in caring for them – consider hosting Pure Religion Sunday this November 10 (or whenever fits into your church’s schedule)! Learn more and register for Pure Religion Sunday today.
