Monks, Cheerleaders, and Activists

You are now probably expecting a crazy joke about these three types of people right?? Well, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I do not know any jokes about these three? Do you? Leave them in comments, I'd love to hear them!

Anyways, the reason I am talking about these three things is because I went to the Vetamorphus retreat thingo in the weekend as a part of the BMW course, and getting my Certificate 3 in Christian Ministry (Don't ask me what a Cert 3 is, I honestly don't know, some kind of Australian High School something).
Anyway, the guest speaker was this guy called Steve, and he was very good. And he was the one who originally spoke about Monks, Cheerleaders, and Activists.
You see, we were talking about Church and stuff, and what the minimal things required to make a church was. And then he told a story about talking to a bunch of ladies wondering what it was that he did. He was in fact (a pastor?) over a collection of house churches.
He knew, though, that if he said he was a pastor, or any of that Christianese stuff, that it would turn them off entirely. So he used this illustration:
Church as a collection of Monks, Cheerleaders and Activists.
Monks: In any religion Monks set themselves a part to search for a higher being that they are sure exists. They try to seek out what that being wants from us.
Cheerleaders: In their original sense, cheerleaders exist to cheer on the team for what they are doing. They also encourage one another to keep doing so even when the team is losing.
Activists: Activists realise that all the world is in turmoil. It's a big problem. But they believe that they can be active in putting the world back together by doing a small part that the higher being asks us to do.

I thought that this was such an amazing concept that I had to share it with you. It rings so true with me and with what we do. And gives others an idea about what Church and being a Christian is all about.