When Cristóbal Krusen became a Christian, he thought he needed to become a Pastor to be a real Christian. As he tried to live his Christian faith outside of the work of the church, it made him wonder how other Christians had done it. How has Christianity affected those who believed it? Did it make an impact? He thought it must have because “[i]n truth, if God exists, then one should expect to find those who love him in every field of human endeavor” (This and all citations hereafter are from his book They Were Christians, 12). His book They Were Christians is the result of his search to find examples of people who put their Christian faith into action in the world. People like Florence Nightingale, John D. Rockefeller, and Frederick Douglas made a big impact on the world, and their story is well-known. However, Krusen wanted to tell the rest of the story. These people were Christians, and this made a big impact on what they did and why. That is less well-known.
I am a Pastor. I work for the institutional church. However, the majority of people in my congregation do not. One of my jobs is to help them think through how they can take the faith they hear about on Sunday and apply it to their lives. I can give them principles, but I have realized through the years that I also need examples and stories. So, I began to look at collections of Christian biographies. Most of the people in the collections were Pastors. Their examples were helpful but what about Christians who didn’t become pastors? That’s what I needed to inspire my people to live out their faith outside the church. When I saw Krusen’s book, I was intrigued. But I still wondered how much it would really help. Continue reading “How to Live the Christian Faith Outside the Church: A Review of Cristóbal Krusen’s They Were Christians“