One of the many unintended social consequences of the Industrial Revolution was the loss of apprenticeship. Rather than learning a way of life by watching, learning from and living with a master craftsman, men have become tools themselves, producing widgets they don’t understand, for bosses they don’t know, to be used by consumers they’ll never meet and for whom they feel little responsibility.

For the pottage of mass-produced cheap goods, we’ve traded the birthright of work as a dimension of community, tradition, identity, art, fruitfulness and purpose. Unfortunately, this “mass production mentality” has invaded the church and the loss of apprenticeship with it.

Jesus focused most of his energy on just 12 ordinary men. He poured His life into them as a master craftsman teaching apprentices a way of life. He didn’t just impart a body of knowledge; He poured His life into them. They, in turn, poured their redeemed lives into others.

With no money, power or cultural approval, these apprentices built a kingdom that changed the world. Now, the modern church has boiled the Christian experience down to a thin soup of propositions and emotions set to music and distributed in just under an hour.

Jesus talked about a Way of life; we are producing widgets. That may slake our thirst for the cheap thrill, but it won’t give us abundant life. It’s time for a return to apprenticeship. If you’ve been taught well in the things of Christ, it is your duty to share it all with someone else. If you want the fullness of the Way, find those who are walking in it ahead of you and ask them to teach you everything they know.

 Dr. Eric Hankins, Ph.D., is pastor at First Baptist Church of Fairhope, 300 S. Section St., Fairhope, AL. For more information call 251-928-8685 or visit FirstFairhope.com.