Foundations: Called to be a Loser?
Douglas J. Brouwer
July 1, 1999
Had you been on a New York subway recently, you would have been doing what most other riders were doing, namely, avoiding eye contact and reading the ads on the walls. You would have noticed—right next to the Finlandia vodka ad—one with this large, in-your-face headline: BECOME A LOSER!
Then in smaller print: "If you're looking for the courage to give up the things in this world that keep you from being the best you can be, give us a call. We'll help you lose your life and build a new one. After all, Jesus Christ lost everything, and he gained the whole world."
You had to read the even finer print at the bottom to discover who dared to sponsor an ad like that. It was part of a $12,000-a-month campaign sponsored by the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan.
I give them credit. "Become a Loser" is a tough message to sell today. I don't know if it has ever been especially easy.
Not long ago I prepared a message for my congregation on this topic, and I found myself becoming uncomfortable. "What would it look like for me to become a loser?" I wondered. After all, my vocation is pastoral ministry, and much of my life is already about choosing the way of self-denial, about earning less—for example, than I could. And yet, the trajectory of my life certainly has not been one of losing. By most standards my life has been very successful.
After almost 20 years, I still clearly remember what a beloved seminary professor once said to a class full of eager, soon-to-be-graduating pastors.
Start out, he said, on the staff of a large church. "If you go to a small church, people will always think of you as a small church pastor." Once you get to the large church, "learn the ropes" from a mentor.
After a ...
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