Free and Cheap

A couple of weeks ago my senior minister made a comment in her sermon about grace being free but not cheap. For those theology students out there, you may recall this is not a new idea and was popularized by Bonhoeffer.

It got me thinking some about the difference in free and cheap, which I open to the larger wiser community.

This is where I have been musing...

Cheap things are cheap on both sides of the relationship.  Things are cheap to make and thus become cheap to sell.  Something that is "cheaply made" is "cheaply sold" and has little value to both the producer and the consumer.  Cheap costs little for both parties.

Free things, however, cost a great deal to the provider and cost nothing to the recipient.  For instance, hospitality is free.  It costs a great deal for those who are providing the meal, the place, the entertainment, the conversation, the drink and on and on.  But it is free for those who receive this hospitality.  Make no mistake, hospitality is not cheap - but it is free.

Likewise, in the church we are called to share all things free.

But make no mistake free is not cheap.

Perhaps this is why the Church is in decline?  We have made what is free cheap and thus it costs little to everyone involved.

How can we as a Church reclaim the idea of a free that costs and discard the idea of cheap?

14 Things Older Leaders Should Know About Younger Leaders part 3

I did not write this, but I want to share it with not only the older leaders of the Church but also for the younger leaders of the church.  Also for anyone who has ever entered into Church.

I am going to pull a few of the points from the original post and add some comments.

13. Inspire us- cast vision for us. Motivate us through painting a picture of where we are headed. Lead us. But don’t manage us. Managing to you means something completely different than it does to us. You were schooled on the management theories of the '80s. Major generation gap here. And a source of lots of tension that is difficult to manage. Connect us too. we are drawn towards community and relational networks through which we can make an impact and affect change. Community is incredibly important to us, in any context. We want to climb the hill together, not by ourselves.

We live in a culture that truly thinks that it can change the world.  Just look at how often that phrase has become more popular in the books published.  We have tools at our disposal, but what we do not always have is inspiration and leadership.  This is where older and wiser generations come in.  
In case you are unsure what we mean by lead us - here is a classic definition.

14. Kick us out. Release us- literally, kick us out. Not only give us permission to leave, but actually encourage us to leave and pursue other things. Once it’s time for us to move on, we might need your encouragement to pursue what God might be stirring up in us. Especially during the last couple of years, when it was much easier to just hang on than to really let go and chase after our dreams. We’re not leaving because we’re “giving up” on your vision; we just want to make ours a reality.



This axiom is nothing short from greatness.  We are a generation who grew up on feedback and as such some of the best feedback is in the form of forcing us out and into the world.  Do not allow us to sink into our pews as the world needs us to be what we should be.  

14 Things Older Leaders Should Know About Younger Leaders part 2

I did not write this, but I want to share it with not only the older leaders of the Church but also for the younger leaders of the church.  Also for anyone who has ever entered into Church.

I am going to pull a few of the points from the original post and add some comments. 

6. Not willing to wait. Young leaders are ambitious and passionate about making a difference now. Not willing to wait their turn. They want to influence now. Evidence of this is the explosion of church planters in the last 4-5 years. Reality is you are never really “ready” for anything. Some say that you should wait until you are “mature” enough to pursue certain things in life. But we’re never really ready, are we? At 22, I didn’t think I was ready. At 25, I didn’t think I “knew” enough. As my friends from the UK would say…“Rubbish!”

In a post 9-11 world, many young people have a very strong understanding of how quickly life can be taken from us.  Which is why in many ways young church leaders are not willing to wait for a lot of things in life.  This is only re-enforced with the "instant" world we find ourselves in, but more that that it is a healthy understanding that life is fragile and to sit around and wait for things to happen when we could actually do things right now, even if they are not perfect, is something that really gets on young church leaders.  

7. See social justice as the norm. Leaders who care about the poor and lean into causes and see the social gospel as a key ingredient to following Christ are no longer seen as the exception. Young leaders see taking care of the poor and sharing the Gospel as BOTH crucial to the advancement of the Church and of God’s Kingdom. Twenty-somethings, I believe, are and will continue to become more balanced in their pursuit of both. They don’t have to be one or the other.

Micah 6:8 theology is not only deeply rooted in young church leaders, but it also connects to the idea that life is short. As such, we ought to be working, in the words of John Wesley, to "do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."  Mission is the new norm, even in worship.