Hey, Let's Try This Out

Imagine a world where young people could learn skills from others with more experience and wisdom. I know its a revolutionary idea, but I think I might call it an internship. You see, this is something that I want to put into practice with my business or craft when I get older. Wisdom and experience, to me, just seem like untapped resources that could be used to better the world and conserve resources.

I know this is on the cutting edge, but take for instance, a plumber. We'll call him Joe the plumber because that seems to be a popular name right now for a plumber. So Joe spends years plumbing; he's pretty good at it by now. With all this experience, he takes on a helper. This young helper is ready to transition his life into adulthood and simply wants to become skilled in a trade. So Joe teaches the young man everything he knows. Soon enough, the young man is skilled and ready to take on his share of the work. Joe no longer does his work alone, but can expand his business as he now has two quality plumbers to share the responsibilities. The men begin to work as equals and soon each takes on a younger man that desires to learn this skill.

This would be a remarkable system. Think about it, what if businessmen and tradesmen took on what I like to call "interns"? Blacksmiths, craftsmen, athletes, and even politicians would take on younger, inexperienced men in order to train them for future service. This system could greatly improve our quality of life. The world would become more productive, more effective, and more efficient. People would begin to better understand their position, learn to respect their elders, and grow in humility.

Now, consider this: what if the church took on these "interns"?

This isn't a new idea, everyone does it... everyone but the church. What happened to the missio dei (mission of God) that the church was/is called to fulfill? How could it fail to train a whole generation of "Christians"? Today, being Christian means attending church on Sunday and getting ahead the rest of the week with a smile. While we may believe that this is a new problem, Paul addressed the same issue in his second letter to Timothy. He warns Timothy, in verses 3 and 4, of the coming time when men with "itching ears" would seek teachers according to their own desires to lead them away from truth.

Discipleship is a fundamental necessity for the Christian faith. The church needs older men to follow the example set out in Titus 2 to teach younger men. The Great Commission itself is founded upon the command to make disciples of all nations. This is the missio dei and its time that we rediscover our purpose as the body of Christ.