“Does it work for a single parent mother of 3 young kids?”

Mark Lauterbach:

It is one thing to critique the endless parsing of Gospel application, as I have done in the previous post. It is another to advocate what is simple and good.

Many years ago I developed a test of all ministry principles and practices. It’s called the “Does it work for a single parent mother of 3 young kids?” test.

A single parent mother with three kids, whose life at home is bound and ruled by the ceaseless needs and demands of those little ones, must be considered. When I stand up before a church and advocate certain practices, or write a book and call people to a set of disciplines, it has to work for her.

Godliness, in Christ, is accessible to her. Godliness is not for the intellectual. It is not for the leisurely. Christ died and rose again so that young Mom can be conformed to the image of the Son, to make her holy ans blameless.

I try to remember that the NT was written to illiterate peasants as well as some educated folks. It was written to people who worked every waking hour just to survive, let alone prosper. The best example of that in my USA world is the single parent Mom, with 3 young kids.

Telling her that 2 hours of daily Bible reading and prayer is foundational just doesn’t float.

Read the rest.