God’s rule and reign in every area of life
2000. God’s perspective must filter into every area of your life, says Barbara Thomas member of the Strategic Life Training board.
“God’s principles apply to every area of life. It’s not just for Sunday’s or church meetings or that you deal with any area of your life differently,” she says.
Strategic Life Training (SLT) believes the Kingdom of God is God’s rule and reign in every area of life. It is about taking this perspective into a person’s wholistic life and areas of involvement – whether it be work, leisure or family – to potentially become leaders in these areas.
Barbara says the separation of “sacred” and “secular” occupations has traditionally been a problem but states that as the true message of the Kingdom gets out more people are seeing that you cannot separate the two and be effective Christians in the world.
SLT originated in the United States and started in Upper Hutt (in New Zealand) seven years ago under the leadership of the Upper Hutt’s Bruce and Vanessa Billington. Although there is a two-year correspondence course, designed for students to think in this mould, SLT sees the training in view of lifetime learning. They offer graduate programmes but also encourage people to plot and stay faithful to their own personal training paths.
The two-year programme starts with a weeklong national school in Upper Hutt. During this time, a platform is developed for the year’s study, but also helps people pick up the spirit of SLT. From there they go back to their locality where the interns are accountable to a mentor on a fortnightly basis. Barbara thinks they offer a quality product that is well presented, and people are inspired and challenged by it.
SLT has broadened interns’ perspectives on their own Christian walk and where they fit in society and their jobs and Barbara explains that seeing God’s bigger picture has been very liberating for them.
“Christians have believed that to serve God successfully they must serve God in a Church which is impossible because there is such a tiny percentage of work available in churches. So, there has been a lot of frustrated people who have been called by God to work in the marketplace or to work in education, or in the home. There has been a sense of a second-class citizen whereas this is the thing that God has called them to do. That’s where they need to be that’s where they will be most successful in their ministry.”
By Peter Veugelaers
Published 2000, Challenge Weekly
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