![\"fist-on-table\"](\"http:\/\/192.185.166.32\/~davidfoster\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/fist-on-table.png\" "\\"fist-on-table\\"")
I don\u2019t know about you but I am really sick and tired of books and articles talking about how lazy, insecure, and undisciplined the American Christian is.<\/p>\nI don\u2019t know about you but I am really sick and tired of books and articles talking about how lazy, insecure, and undisciplined the American Christian is.<\/p>\n
Too many people are moaning about the lack of commitment and discipline as we respond to polls taken by various organizations. I don\u2019t put a lot of stock in polls. I try to listen to the people I am talking to and ministering to every day.<\/p>\n
So here is what I\u2019ve found. We whine and gripe way too much about what people won\u2019t do or haven\u2019t done, and fail to understand that most Christians in America who aren\u2019t on fire, who aren\u2019t what we would call fully-devoted followers of Jesus<\/em> don\u2019t have a problem with commitment. They have a problem with challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n Where is the challenge going to church week after week, hearing an irrelevant message and singing songs that have no connection emotionally or spiritually? Where is the challenge when they hear sermons berating them and their sins from people who are asking so much from them to the point that they feel demeaned and demoralized?<\/p>\n Here is my point. We ask way too little of people. But we demand way too much. <\/span> Here is the difference: a command, or to be demanding is to try to manipulate people into a response. It\u2019s telling people to do something without showing them the reason or the benefit. We ask way too little.<\/p>\n Asking someone to do something in a way that gets them to respond positively puts the burden back on me. It means I have to be inspiring. <\/span> I have to show the reason why this is important and why they should use their valuable time and give their money to support it. Basically it means I have to challenge them. And we know through surveys (if you like surveys) that people in American churches want to be challenged. <\/span> I talk to people every day who are going to churches where they are under-challenged and over-stimulated. We go to church week after week, and come away fired up, with little application for the real world.<\/p>\n So if you\u2019re a leader, stop demanding so much. You can\u2019t demand anything anyway. Try to demand it of your children and see what happens. Men, demand that your wife submit and see what happens to you. But asking, challenging, inspiring; that\u2019s where it really is. And that\u2019s what we want.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s stop demanding and let\u2019s start asking. Let\u2019s stop hanging people over the pits of hell if they don\u2019t come to church every week and tithe and serve. Let\u2019s challenge them. Let\u2019s show the benefit of tithing, of church attendance, and of serving. Let\u2019s inspire them, move them, and motivate them. Isn\u2019t it amazing? That\u2019s what Jesus did. Jesus told stories that got people excited. That\u2019s what we need to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don\u2019t know about you but I am really sick and tired of books and articles talking about how lazy, insecure, and undisciplined the American Christian is. Too many people are moaning about the lack of commitment and discipline as we respond to polls taken by various organizations. I don\u2019t put a lot of stock … Continue reading “Asking Too Little; Demanding Too Much”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,17],"tags":[],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}