In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the rising trend known as “quiet quitting,” and specifically how it relates to the Church. It's clear that a side effect of the pandemic was that it changed how we view our work-life balance. Proponents of quiet quitting see it as a positive way to keep priorities in order, while opponents put it in the category of laziness.
This idea for this conversation sparked from a recent blog post from Dr. White called “The ‘Quiet Quitting' Church,” which generated a lot of response. The big headline? The Church cannot have a lack of intensity when it comes to reaching people who don't have a relationship with Jesus. A lack of intensity can affect members of the church, allowing a spiritual narcissism to creep in. While written in the heart of the pandemic, the message of the blog “Our Spiritual Pandemic of Narcissism” is a sobering read. In this conversation, they also discussed how the pandemic affected pastors and church leaders. Dr. White wrote a blog titled “Add Pastors to the Great Resignation” taking a look at the high rate of pastor burnout caused by the past two years.
There are two recent podcast episodes that were also mentioned as a part of today's conversation. First is “CCP28: On Deconstructing,” as it's often claimed that the "deconstructing" of many Christ followers has been the cause for a lot of the quiet quitting happening in churches right now. And also mentioned was “CCP19: On Self Care” and the idea of putting care of self above all else, even the needs of those around us.
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