James Blake got out of his seat and instructed Rosa Parks to move to the black section of the bus so that a white man could have her seat. She refused. This sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This obviously changed the city of Montgomery, Alabama. One person can change a city.
There was a young man involved with the Montgomery bus boycott named Martin Luther King, Jr. I don’t need to tell you the rest of the story. One person can change the nation.
Yet, as Christians we are not called to change a city, nor are we called to change a country. Our calling is far greater than this. We’re called to reach a generation.
you mixed up singular and plural at the end there…
What?
you mentioned two great individuals, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., but then at the end you talk about Christians as a whole. you say “our” and “we”, like a collection, not the individuals themselves. you mixed up the individual with the collective. it ruined the original message of the blog..
Oh. I see what you mean Andrew, but I think you’re missing the original message of the blog post. My main point here is about Christians changing a generation, I used Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. as two opening examples of people who made an impact. But this blog post is not about them, its about Christians (the collective).
i’m with you here, andrew!
Somehow, when I originally read this post, it just didn’t sit right with me. I agreed, and still do, with the premise, but something wasn’t quite right.
Now, I know what it is. The collective is made up of individuals. If I am really going to change my generation, I must be really to risk criticism not only from my generation, but also from the collective of Christians around me.
Rosa Parks and Dr. King were both a part of a larger collective, but they had to take a major risk of making things worse for their collective, namely the black minority, in order to effect a change for the better of that collective. In all likelihood, they received plenty of criticism from some of their peers over some of their decisions.
I can now put my finger on what didn’t sit well with me: In order to effect change, we can’t challenge the collective directly…we must challenge those individuals within the collective that are willing to take the risk.
You see, if “I” am called, then I have a personal responsibility to make these changes, but if “we” are called, then I can very easily pass my responsibility off onto someone else.