For Christians to influence the world with the truth of God's Word requires the recovery of the great Reformation doctrine of vocation. Christians are called to God's service not only in church professions but also in every secular calling. The task of restoring truth to the culture depends largely on our laypeople. To bring back truth, on a practical level, the church must encourage Christians to be not merely consumers of culture but makers of culture. The church needs to cultivate Christian artists, musicians, novelists, filmmakers, journalists, attorneys, teachers, scientists, business executives, and the like, teaching its laypeople the sense in which every secular vocation-including, above all, the callings of husband, wife, and parent--is a sphere of Christian ministry, a way of serving God and neighbor that is grounded in God's truth. Christian laypeople must be encouraged to be leaders in their fields, rather than eager-to-please followers, working from the assumptions of their biblical worldview, not the vapid clichés of pop culture. J. Gresham Machen
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The great Reformation doctrine of vocation is probably best understood as a call to Christian discipleship. The call to Christian discipleship is the means by which the gospel transforms culture. But at the heart of this transformational work, as Luther pointed out in his treatise on the vocation of a Christian, is the sphere of culture itself, which can be seen as a kind of "uncreated" creation that is open to transformation by the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ.

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