How to Watch Your Language Regarding the Sacred-Secular Divide

This week, DML is hosting its annual summit.  In even-numbered years, we gather in person, and in odd-numbered years, we gather virtually.  This year's retreat will be virtual, with every team gathering in their own country for a week-long retreat. We will meet together daily for four hours via Zoom.  

In total, we will have 220 people gathering from 25 countries.  We covet your prayers.

Our theme is "Whole Life Disciples," where we seek to make "whole-life missionary disciples, who are learning to live the way of Jesus in their context, at this moment."

Part of learning how to make whole-life disciples means learning to watch our language.  

Specifically, we have to learn to watch our language regarding the sacred-secular divide.

It's remarkable how often we use language that emphasizes a church vision rather than a Kingdom vision, subtly reminding the majority of believers that they are second-class Christians because they are not in "full-time" ministry.

So we work hard as a team to watch our language.  Here are some specific things that we pay attention to and seek to help our church leaders pay attention to:

(Table taken from BAM Global's BAM and the Church paper.)

When someone says:	What it might imply (not biblical):	Better words or concepts to use:
Called	Only some Christians are called, which sounds mysterious.	All Christians have a calling to serve in God’s kingdom and be salt and light in their daily lives.
Full-time ministry	Ministry is within a certain time rather than a lifestyle	Use an adjective prior to 'ministry.’ For example, ‘pastoral
Clergy/laity	Some individuals have a more important role than others.	‘Pulpit pastor’ and ‘marketplace minister’. We are a kingdom of priests.
Go to church	The church building is the primary place to worship God.	‘Church gathered’ (when in the church building), 'church scattered’ or ‘church sent out’ (when not in the building, but being the church every day).
Missionary	Special people, while other Christians are exempt from God’s mission.	We are all on a mission, though some are “Cross-cultural gospel workers.” Others go to their own workplace locally.
Worship	Often refers only to the songs we sing during the service when the church is gathered.	Worship is to be all of life. We do work as an act of worship, raising children as an act of worship, doing chores as an act of worship, etc.
‘The ministry’	Only one, and it is only within the church building.	Living a life on mission, ministry is a natural part of everyday life.
Evangelism	It is an event with a program.	Life-on-life evangelism in every place and space.
Discipleship	A program about doctrine for new Christians.	Lifetime learning to apply God’s work and be obedient to Him.
Money as the root of evil	Implies that money itself is evil, but money is actually neutral.	We can worship God through how we use our money. Wealth creation is part of the covenant.
Commissioning	Sending out a few people who are selected to work for God.	All Christians are sent by God to be on mission every day.
‘I’m not gifted in evangelism.’	Used as an excuse to not share Christ with others.	All Christians are called to share Christ with others, but we need to understand that there are different ways to do this.

As you enter this week, may you remember that when God created the world, He declared that all of it, in beautiful synergy, was very good.  When we participate in God's creation and do it for His glory, there is no distinction between sacred and secular.  So together, let's break it down - watch our language as we speak!