'Ordinary faithfulness'

Every generation of Christians is tempted by causes. Ours is no different. We long for something to rally around, whether it is a campaign or a crisis. Something that will lift us out of the mundane of ordinary obedience and give us the sense that we are finally "doing something big for God".

It explains why sometimes Christians can mobilise more quickly around political slogans than around the basic command to love our neighbour. Or why our churches get excited about national campaigns rather than meeting a fellow Christian for prayer over a cup of tea.

Back in Biblical times

This is nothing new, of course. The crowds who followed Jesus were often desperate for something exciting. They wanted a kingdom, but on their terms. Something dramatic, public, decisive, and victorious.

But Jesus did not come to fan their excitement, He came to carry a cross.

When the excitement faded and the daily cost of discipleship emerged, the crowd scattered. What seemed like zeal turned out to be a preference for the spectacular. Ordinary faithfulness, with all its costs, was not what they were seeking.

The 'ordinary'

The Bible consistently elevates ordinary acts of everyday faithfulness. Daily prayer, quiet generosity, persevering love, patient endurance. Jesus explains that greatness is found not in grand moments but in washing feet (John 13).

The Spirit produces fruit that rarely goes viral, but is found in love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness. These things do not lend themselves to hashtags or global campaigns, but without them, we as a church have nothing to offer the world.

The trouble is, ordinary faithfulness feels inadequate in our culture. When things "trend", when ideologies clash, when political tides shift, we feel the itch to do something BIG. But here is the paradox: the church is sustained not by big things but by small acts of faithfulness.

The kingdom of God is like a seed in the ground, as Jesus told us: slow, hidden, unglamorous, yet, most importantly, unstoppable.

Why the rallying cry appeals

Part of the problem is that rallying feels spiritual while requiring less of us.

To repost a slogan on social media, sign a petition, or march in a crowd gives the sense of courage without the cost of sustained discipleship.

By contrast, to get up tomorrow and open your Bible, to forgive the brother or sister who wounded you, to serve quietly in the nursery, to persist in prayer when no one sees, these things demand endurance, humility, and grace. They are harder, slower, and "less impressive".

We should not despise causes, campaigns, or public stands, of course. There are moments when Christians must rally - whether it is the abolition of slavery, the defence of the unborn, or the cry against injustice. But those moments are sustained only by the deep reservoir of ordinary discipleship. Without lives shaped by daily obedience, the rallies become hollow, a flash of zeal untethered from the weight of character.

A call to patient faithfulness

What the church most needs now is not another rallying cry but a recovery of patient, ordinary, long-term faithfulness.

Imagine if the energy poured into temporary causes was redirected into the daily disciplines of prayer, hospitality, witness, and love.

Imagine if churches measured success not by the noise they made but by the quiet fruit they bore.

The irony is that this "ordinary" life is the very thing God delights to use. When Christians persevere in hidden obedience, the watching world glimpses something extraordinary: a people whose hope is not in the latest cause but in a crucified and risen Lord. That is the rallying point we cannot afford to lose.