Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In a recent article on Churches and preaching John Ortberg quoted a biographer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who opposed the Nazi regime during WWII and ultimately died in the Flossenberg concentration camp for his faith in Jesus.

Many of his books and letters are still widely read today and of particular note are "The cost of Discipleship" and "Life together"

Bonhoeffer was not interested in creating weird sects of Christ followers that operated on the periphery of society, but rather a church of disciples who really lived as Jesus called us to live.

I thought it was worth re-quoting Ortberg's words for you:

Eric Metaxas's riveting biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is especially challenging in this regard. I found myself wondering, as I read through it—are our churches today producing people like Bonhoeffer? Am I becoming such a person? Am I being co-opted by the temptations of survival and success rather than sacrifice?

Bonhoeffer himself said that what was missing from the church in Nazi Germany was "the day to day reality of dying to self, of following Christ with every ounce of being in every moment, in every part of one's life."

He found that the groups which stressed a call to devotion and commitment tended to be fundamentalist/pietist groups that had pushed away from the best of education and culture in ways that left them in little ghetto-ized sectarian enclaves. But the mainline state church had been co-opted by a larger cultural captivity.

"The restoration of the church must surely depend on a new kind of monasticism, which has nothing in common with the old but a life of uncompromising discipleship, following Christ according to the Sermon on the Mount. I believe the time has come to gather people together to do this."

He devoted his life, then eventually sacrificed it, to help the church be the church. Do we ever lead people to a similar sacrifice?