What Does it Mean to Live a Christian Life?

This is an article written by Clay Ford while he was an elder at the First Baptist Church of Chula Vista in August of 1974. Clay is presently serving as Pastor of La Jolla Christian Fellowship (old La Jolla First Baptist Church). He brings up an important issue; what does it really mean to separate ourselves from "this crooked generation?" How much should we be involved in our culture? Put another way, How different should church culture be from our surrounding culture?


Back in the '70s, I thought I knew the answer. For me (and Clay -- along with 150 or so people at First Baptist Chula Vista), the answer was to live in community. We lived in communal households with around 10-20 others. We shared everything in common. We ate together. We prayed together. We attended church together. We had no TV. We usually had around $5 per week to spend anyway that we wanted to. We were different; some said we were weird. But, we loved God and just wanted to live in a way that would bring glory to Him. Our intentions were pure.


Am I suggesting that we all move into communal households? No, that was a different time. I do think that we need to grapple with the questions raised earlier about how much of our culture can and should we participate in. Just because a thing is moral, legal and socially acceptable doesn't necessarily mean that it brings glory to God. I am not going to answer these questions for you. I am going to be rethinking them for myself, and, as we begin 2010, I urge each of you to rethink them for yourselves.