About three years ago my family made a big move from an affluent neighborhood in the suburbs to a neighborhood in the inner city where the average family income is $18,000 per year. At the time of the move, my wife and I had never lived in a city before let alone a place where the average daily experience of my neighbors seemed to be defined by the struggles of poverty. My family walked away from the traditional comforts of the upwardly mobile American Dream in order to pursue to calling that God gave our family to become downwardly mobile. We have experienced more joy in life and closeness to God over the past few years than ever before. As I reflect on the past three years, I have learned that it is important to share about my family's journey because many people are curious about our lifestyle. The American Dream seems promising with all of its promises of comfort, safety, and security, but, as with all narratives that the world offers up, the American Dream ends up leading to struggles and emptiness. That is because I believe that most aspects of the American Dream are unbiblical and far removed from what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Don't get me wrong... I love America and I love being an American. I am thankful to be living in a country where I am free, and I know that freedom has come with a great cost. As as pastor, however, I spend a lot of time helping people unpack what goes wrong when the full embrace of the American Dream narrative leads to destruction. Americans are more depressed than any other people group in the world. We have, by far, the highest incarceration rate of any country. More importantly, the pillars of the American Dream actually keep us from possibly living out the lifestyle that Jesus set forth for us. The following are some examples of the staples of the American Dream that I believe keep many American Christians from experiencing the full joys of following Jesus:
Bigger homes: Three years ago I bought a home in Homewood where the average home value is $22,000. My wife and I joyfully invested our life savings into a neighborhood that may never experience any property value growth during our lifetime. It was a scandalous investment. It made no sense by any upwardly mobile standards. Yet, it was the best investment we've ever made because it was a kingdom of God investment. It was an eternal investment with our life savings. We are blessed to be living in Homewood. We have neighbors who stop by our house all the time. Our home has become a refuge for some of the most vulnerable people in our city. We've welcomed homeless people into our home to feed them and offer them shelter. The goal of the American Dream is to start out by buying a starter home, and then over the course of our lifetimes continue to buy bigger and bigger houses in more affluent neighborhoods so that we can be sitting on a bunch of home equity when we're older. One major flaw with that philosophy is that living in big homes in affluent neighborhoods separates us from the poor. When we intentionally distance ourselves from the poor, we miss out on the joys of being in relationships with people in need as a natural part of our lives. Also, us humans are always trying to get back to the garden of Eden. We try to build paradise for ourselves during our short lifetimes, but I don't think that God wants us to build paradise with our homes. A huge home in an affluent neighborhood may seem like a good goal, but in the end that goal may actually distance us from the mission that God has for all of us Christians to advance the kingdom of God and eternal purposes.
Financial Security: The goal of the American Dream seems to be to save up as much money for ourselves as we can, but only after we've bought as much as we possibly can to make ourselves look better, feel better, and be safer. Americans seem to be obsessed with safety, security, and comfort. The gospel of Jesus Christ runs counter to the concepts of spending a bunch of money on ourselves or saving up a bunch of money for ourselves. The gospel of Jesus Christ is scandalous. Jesus was crucified. Ten of his closest followers, his disciples, lived in poverty and died violently simply for following the downwardly mobile ways of Jesus. Followers of Jesus during the first few centuries after Jesus' life experienced extreme persecution and many were martyred, yet Christianity grew faster than at any other time since then. When we put our focus on ourselves and our comforts, then we lose sight of what life is all about... God's mission to redeem the world. God wants to work through us, and that means that we sacrifice all. We should give time and money away to other Christians and to our neighbors freely, whenever God prompts us to do so. The gospel of Jesus runs counter to the world. I am constantly wrestling through this concept with Julie. Our goal is to give away more money to God's mission. Even the concept of retirement, or saving up a bunch of money to live on later in life, is unbiblical. The goal of life is not to live a comfortable lifestyle. The goal is to be obedient to Christ, and Christ may call us to give everything away... even our lives if we are called to do so. My goal in life is not to leave a bunch of money for my children to spend after I die and after I have lived comfortably in my golden years. For the rest of my life, no matter how old I am, I hope to be right out on the front lines advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ in dangerous places. I experience profound community and meaning in life when I live and minister in places of poverty. Modeling for my children about how to really live out the gospel in a world that desperately needs Christians to be authentic and credible is much, much more important to me than leaving money to my children when I die. This is all about making an eternal investment, not an earthly investment. I think God is big enough to figure out how to take care of my family members after I die, so there's no sense in me losing any sleep over something like that.
Prosperity Christianity: Prosperity doctrine is heresy. The self help gospel is heresy. These movements have no place in the church. American Christians are desperately trying to integrate the gospel message of Jesus Christ with affluence and power, and that is simply not possible. God often calls me to enter into other people's pain and suffering in order to bring about his purposes. Sometimes God calls me to go pray with people after a shooting happens in my neighborhood. That is holy ground. Sometimes God calls me to sit with homeless people or struggling, single moms in order to share the good news of Christ. Just like everyone else I could lose my life at any time, so I don't want to waste any time trying to get rich or trying to make myself feel better about myself. I am confident enough in who I am through Christ. I don't need marketers of the American Dream to tell me who I am. I don't need a self help guru to tell me who I am. I am a son of the Most High God, a co-heir of the kingdom of God because of what Jesus did for me. As a result, I've given up trying to be prosperous in this short life in exchange for being obedient to God's ways. I have experienced profound joy through being made uncomfortable in my calling from God.
The great mystery here is that tremendous joy is found in the downward mobility of the cross of Jesus Christ. Around the world, Christianity is experiencing explosive growth amongst people groups living in poverty. Christianity is rapidly declining in areas of the world like Europe and America where well-intentioned people are trying to integrate Christianity with health, wealth, and success. 100 years ago 80 percent of the world's Christians lived in the West. Today, we represent only 20 percent of the world's Christians even though the percentage of overall Christians in the world has stayed about the same (around 34 percent). I believe that God can bring about revival in America, and that we can once again experience a profound movement of God throughout the country. For that to happen, I really believe that we will need to let go of the comforts of this world being offered up by the American Dream in order to embrace the radical, countercultural, and downwardly mobile lifestyle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
