Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 6
Kyle’s first way of rejecting heritage is “indulgent indifference,” including enjoying conservative strengths like hard work, money, and “beautiful things,” while forgetting “mutual sharing… cross-bearing… self-denial”; where would an outsider most likely see indulgent indifference in your church’s normal lifestyle—and what practices would have to change for your heritage to stop being merely “enjoyed” and start being carried?
Another way to ask: Where would a visitor most notice your church enjoying comfort (work, money, nice things) but forgetting sharing, self-denial, and carrying the cross? What real lifestyle changes would show you’re carrying your heritage, not just enjoying it?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on the transcript, an outsider would likely see indulgent indifference where a church enjoys the social and economic benefits of its tradition—hard work, money, comfort, good friendships—without living out the heritage’s costly call to sharing and cross-bearing. Change would mean moving from “sliding along” to deliberate practices of mutual sharing, self-denial, and constructive commitment.
- Kyle defines the first rejection as “indulgent indifference”: we “enjoy the good things… for our own sake.”
- He gives examples: enjoying “ability… to work hard to make money,” and to “surround ourselves with beautiful things and accumulate them endlessly.”
- He says this rejects a heritage that includes “mutual sharing… within the community… but also outside.”
- He says it also rejects “cross-bearing… self-denial and selfless love,” reminding: “those who save their lives will lose them.”
- Steve summarizes it as “skating along and nobody notices,” and Kyle agrees: not “investing… in a real meaningful way or continuing it.”