Authentic Servant: What I Learned from the Life of David Brainerd (Part 1 of 5)

If there will be an earthquake that will raze Metro Manila to the ground, there are two books that I would like to be in my go-bag: the Bible and The Life and Diary of David Brainerd. I want to keep the biography of David Brainerd because it reminds me of how God can mightily use imperfect men to advance His Kingdom.

You see, I spent my youth and my early 20s in the seeker-centered movement. There were (are) many loving Christians with good intentions in seeker-friendly churches. I learned a lot from them, especially the importance of contextualizing Biblical messages to the local culture and the necessity of personal excellence as one’s testimony. But that movement ended up being destructive. 

Discouragement and Insecurities

The problem with seeker-centered churches is that they strive to learn more about what the seeker wants rather than what God commands. Hence, our ideas of “contextualization” and “excellence” were hijacked by what churchgoers claimed to need and what we thought they wanted. Instead of trusting in the Scriptures alone to guide us, we conformed ourselves to a lot of pragmatic man-made ideas of what a good Christian should be. Those ideas constantly shifted based on whatever men’s whims or emotions were.

I witnessed firsthand how damaging this was. For those who could not keep up with the moving goalposts, it produced discouragement, even despair, in spiritual matters which eventually spilled into one’s secular life. I certainly experienced that! There was a rather long period in college when I gave up doing my best in my studies because I could never live up to the expectation of being number one in class to be a “good testimony for Jesus”. I resorted to soothing my ego by hiding behind ministry activities and pining for the attention of the opposite sex. These only resulted in failing grades, not to mention even more insecurities. 

Modern-Day Pharisees

On the other hand, a lot of Evangelicals could actually check off those seeker-centered boxes. They were deluded into thinking that their credentials and their cool, non-threatening approach would persuade people to commit their lives to Jesus. Convinced of their superiority, they accused other Christians of being divisive and unloving for not complying with their narrow, extrabiblical criteria of expected behavior. But they remained silent in the face of abuse and corruption, not wanting to lose their seats at the cool table. 

I was also one of these modern-day Pharisees. While I tried to put on a mask of humility, I thought deep inside that God was going to use me more than the other Christians because I went to UP Manila. Ridiculous, I know. But that’s what I really thought! I also wasted time applying all sorts of ministry strategies that would supposedly give my faith cutting-edge packaging. People only ignored the Gospel because of my antics. I also got sidetracked from areas of service that are more aligned with my giftings, to the point that I almost got disqualified from them.

United in Love

Good credentials, charisma, and contextualized ministries can be great blessings. We must faithfully cultivate these gifts because God will use them to fulfill His purpose. Moreover, striving for excellence opens opportunities for us to serve others. However, these things are not the measure of one’s spiritual maturity. The lack of them will also not constrain God from using you mightily. In fact, if He can use your strengths, all the more will He use your weaknesses for His glory! 

That is what the life of David Brainerd is all about. We will discover in the next four blog articles how God mightily used a university dropout with physical illnesses and mental health struggles to save a people who did not know Him. Because God’s strength became perfect in weakness, Brainerd changed the American cultural landscape and inspired a missions movement that strengthens the fellowship of Christ’s followers all over the world to this day. We may have different personalities, skills, struggles, and ethnicities across denominations. But His tender mercies have united us all in love. 

What a great legacy. What a great God!