A Manifesto for the Christian Life?

I was listening this morning to the latest Accidental Creative Podcast, AC #149: Manifesto, and I was struck by how much the manifesto strikes me as a healthy Christian way of life. Todd Henry (the owner/creator of Accidental Creative) created A Manifesto For Accidental Creative. This is my “Christian” take on it.

  1. We witness and disciple everyday—no matter what we do, we are witnessing and discipling. It is just a matter of how well.
  2. No matter how good we are at what we do, what we do does not define us.
  3. Our vocation (messengers for Jesus)is bigger than what we do.
  4. Our life in Christ must be one of grown—the dead branches of the vine are trimmed.
  5. We must have a healthy life in Christ—it must be intentional, our choice, and it must be one of discipline.
  6. We must make decisions that value our faith, not that value culture, pride, money, etc. over it.
  7. We must always being looking at the evidence of the Lord’s hand, and taking joy in it.
  8. We are responsible for our spiritual health—while we can be bolstered, supported, and loved by others, ultimately our spiritual health is our responsibility.
  9. We are generous because we are free—we are to be generous in love, as Christ has set us free.
  10. We are committed to relationships—relationships are the key to a healthy church, a healthy body, and a healthy heart.

What do you think? Listen to the podcast, too.

2 comments

  1. hey! thanks for this.

    i would ask, with flawed people, is there really such a thing as a ‘healthy’ way of life? (perfectly speaking) and if there is, who gets to determine it since we’re all human? i like the networking on here. very cool!

  2. Yes, I believe it is possible. However, that does not mean that many have done it. In the Wesleyan/Holiness tradition, we believe it is possible to attain “Christian Perfection”, yet we don’t claim that anyone can, or even that many can (though there was a time during the mid-20th century that went that route). We just say that it is possible, but primarily not by our power, but our surrender to the Holy Spirit and the love of God.

    Yet, there is a rampant discussion in the theological circles about what exactly is “perfection”? John Wesley’s ideas of perfection are not the modern mind’s idea of perfection.

    I bring this up to say, what is “healthy”?

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