Amway Christianity

"Hi, are you building a home?" "No, actually we are remodeling one." "Really, we are too! Where do you live?"
This became a familiar conversation and experience years ago when we still had our farmhouse and were constantly doing DIY projects, spending a lot of time at Home Depot. The thing is, at first we thought we were meeting some really friendly people who wanted to be our friend! We soon discovered that they had an ulterior motive. After the first two times this conversation took place, and we were called by the nice man we had spoken to in the store and given part of his sales pitch for Amway, it was evident we weren't popular after all, we were potential investors....and they weren't after relationship, they were after our wallets. Sad. And honestly hurtful.

Time went on, and we became wise to the pitch. It was really shocking how many times we encountered the same scenario. But we were able to quickly recognize it for what it really was, and we learned to ask up front "Do you sell Amway?" It was kind of fun actually, to see their surprised faces as we called them out on their ruse. What we hated most about it was how suspicious we became. It was like anyone who tried to smile or talk to us in public was avoided like the plague because we had been used in this way and didn't want to be suckers again.
The sad thing is, I am beginning to experience a lot of this same marketing strategy within the body of Christ.

It seems that lately I have met people in the Christian community who at first seem to just be friendly and genuinely desiring relationship with me. When I am asked for my email address I innocently assume that they just want to be able to contact me and get to know each other. Soon I discover that there is more to it. I receive their first contact informing me of an upcoming mission trip, and their need for "support" followed up by many more emails asking for my presence at various fund raisers from pot lucks, desserts, car washes, and many other creative ways in which they solicit money for their spiritual endeavors.

My question is, has this Amway approach infiltrated the church and become our idea of the "I AM" way? Don't get me wrong, I certainly understand that God calls some to travel and be involved in different works across the world. And I know that we aren't all independently wealthy. That is where it gets sticky for me. Aren't we supposed to be "dependently wealthy"? I mean, aren't we supposed to trust that where God calls, He also provides? Do we have to use dishonest, or at the very least disingenuous tactics to fulfill God's call?

We have been moved to give to many different "missionaries" (for lack of a better word) over the years. I can tell you that we didn't give out of being "guilted" into it. (Well, actually maybe a few times we did.) But usually God would lay a need on our heart and He would instruct us as to how much to give. It has always amazed me, and been a tremendous testimony to His faithfulness. Also, it has been a demonstration of how Holy Spirit is able to get things done, if we only stay in tune with Him. And I have even gone on a mission trip or two. I remember sending letters to family members and close friends soliciting their support. Looking back, I am embarrassed that I used them in this way and I may even need to send out letters of apology. I am thankful they are still talking to me, and don't run the other way when they see me coming, assuming I am going to hit them up for another small investment.

I remember as my kids were growing up, we had a philosophy that if they wanted something "extra" they should have to work for it. We knew that it would make them appreciate and value it that much more if they had a hand in the process. To just hand them something seemed to cheapen the experience, and we found them to even be more careless with the new acquisition because it really held no value with them.
But if they sacrificed for it.....it was a much different outcome. They had a sense of ownership, and they really took care of the new bike or whatever it may have been, because they were involved in the process.

I know, "fundraising" is a lot of work and so you might say that someone who is having bake sales, making  phone calls and sending the emails to acquire support for their mission trips are working and part of the process. Yes, they are. But is it really God's way? Is it the way of His Kingdom? Are we really supposed to be reduced to the status of beggar? Does our Father truly own the cattle on a thousand hills? If He does, then why do we feel the need to manipulate and "befriend" people in order to get their contact information so that we can hopefully gain their financial support? Aren't we called to walk in truth in our innermost being? Am I walking in love if I begin to see others not as friends, but as potential investors? If God is all about relationship, is He OK with us using relationships for the sake of our mission?

Honestly, I don't know the answer to this dilemma. I know that mission trips can be good, and it is evident that some people need the financial support of others in order to go. I just wish we would step back for a moment and examine our tactics. In our zeal to go and spread the gospel, are we using manipulation and deceit to gain funding? Can this really be part of fulfilling our call to the great commission?

Scandalous Grace

If you know me at all, or if you read my blog posts, you might find me a little "unconventional" and I would say without apology, that's a good thing! I haven't been to any conventions, but they don't sound like much fun to me. The purpose of this blog is to think about things and whether you agree with me or not, to ponder them.

I think about God. A lot. We talk a lot too. Lately we have been talking about how scandalous His grace has been in my life. It's funny. It was the grace of God that saved me, yet afterward I think I sort of became afraid of grace. Not afraid of it for myself, but afraid to really test it. I mean, what if it went too far?
But I have found that grace is much more than just withholding judgments. The grace of God is truly scandalous. Read your New Testament and you will see it time and time again. Jesus was just too much! He kept healing people, touching unclean people, going to dinner with sinners, hanging out with prostitutes and thieves, I mean there were no limits to His scandalous grace!

scandalous: causing general public outrage by a perceived offense against morality or law.

Interesting that it causes outrage by a "perceived" offense against morality or law. So the scandal is a scandal depending on how it is perceived. And we all know that the religious order of the day perceived everything Jesus did as absolutely scandalous, to the point that they insisted on His death in order to stop it!
That is what the law does today, isn't it? It puts to death scandalous grace wherever it can find it. Which makes me wonder, which side are we on? Sadly, I often find myself on the side of the law, afraid that too much grace, too much scandalous grace will offend Jesus, the very Jesus Who offended the religious leaders of His day with all of His scandal!! How did I get here?

And yet, His grace chases me down continually. His grace is alive in me. His grace personified, in His Son, is alive and well and active on the earth.

grace:  the unmerited love and favor of God toward man. Divine influence acting in man to make him pure and morally strong.

So His grace continues to work in us and through us, to make us pure and morally strong. We can trust in this grace. We can trust it's work in us, but more importantly, we can trust the work of grace in others. Now, that is freeing isn't it? We don't have to police or remind others of the law, we can freely love as we were called to do, and trust that where sin abounds, grace is abounding even more. But do we? Do we really trust that is the case?

We talk about someone having "fallen from grace" and we are usually referring to someone who has, in our estimation, turned from God....turned back to their sin....and therefore have fallen from His grace. What kind of doctrine is that? In Galatians 5:4 the Bible clearly states: Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." OK wait....so that is saying that actually it is when we go back to the law, when we go back to trying to keep the law that we have fallen from grace. Another translation goes so far as to say: "You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace." Yikes. Herein lies the danger of judgment my friends. If we judge others by the law, then we ourselves come into judgment by that same law, and we fall from grace. I think we worry way too much about sin, and not enough about falling from grace.


I think the biggest hindrance to our operating in the scandalous grace we have been given is that we have become the prodigal's brother. Now that we are in the "in crowd" with Jesus, we don't want to see Him taken advantage of by someone else. So we stand on the side of the prodigal's brother saying "God, don't you see how awful he is? Fix him, Lord! If you don't then I will. I'll give him a piece of Your mind!" We can't bear the thought of God truly standing with open arms to welcome the prodigal son back into the family. He doesn't deserve such a welcome. Such love and grace is just too.....well, it is too scandalous. He is not only going to receive him, he's going to throw a party for him too? And he hasn't even repented properly! This is clearly going too far!
And isn't that what Jesus did? Everywhere He went, He went too far! In grace we are introduced into a realm that is beyond us. We are moved from this realm into the Kingdom realm, and into freedom!

But we withhold grace. We fear that too much grace will cause someone to go over the top in their sin. And mostly, well, they just aren't really deserving until they get their act together. Well, I have news for you.....NOBODY IS! That is what makes grace GRACE!!!! I am so very thankful that He loved us while we were yet sinners! The challenge is, can we do the same? Can we love with the same love we have been given? Can we extend the same scandalous grace that was extended to us? And continues to be extended to us? I rely on His grace daily, don't you?

I have never felt the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit more than when I am operating in God's grace....when His scandalous grace is moving through me. Funny, I don't remember ever really experiencing His presence when I was quoting the law, or standing on the side of judgment. I wonder if the people who are yelling their protests and carrying signs feel the loving presence of God in that moment?

"Oh God, may I be a vessel of Your grace. Everywhere I go, may grace abound! Your grace is bound up in the Person of Your Son Jesus! Before He came, before scandalous grace came to us, all we had were the rules and the law. But now, now we have a Person to relate to, to listen to....in Whom we live and move and have our being! He died a scandalous death, the death of an outlaw! And He lives in us! May this grace we have been given create a scandal wherever we go! So outrageous is Your love for us!"

"If I were to preach a compromised version of the Good News, then the scandal of the cross would come to an end." Galatians 5:11