An issue facing the American Church today is that Christians need hobbies other than Jesus. If we are to be able to relate to our neighbors and coworkers we should have things we like to do other than pray and go to potlucks (don't get me wrong, I love to pray). Instead of "in the world but not of the world" it is easy to become "not in the world but of the world."
Mark Batterson once expressed the idea that maybe sermons are often boring because the pastor's life is boring. And that applies to all of us as ambassadors of Christ, why would the world be interested in a faith that's tedious? I am not saying let's water down the message to be hip and relevant, but instead let us strive for excellence in devotion and excellence in relating and reaching out to other people.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Cor 9: 19-23 " I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some" and we should be creative in how to apply this principle to our lives. For example I think Christians should not just listen to Christian music. I have been the person who killed the conversation when asked "what kind of music do you listen to?" . . . "Christian . . ." (awkward silence). Similarly I love prayer meetings, but if I spend all my free time in prayer meetings I am not cultivating other talents and abilities that God has given me the opportunity of. How will we get to know non-Christians if the only thing we have to talk about is Jesus?
Having hobbies other than Jesus also benefits the existing Church and church members. From the many years I have lead small group bible studies I have found that one of the greatest difficulties is cultivating community within the group, to get the students to hang out with each other than once a week at bible study. I have also observed that often most of the people in any give study have only had Jesus in common. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful to see totally different people united in Christ, and how Jesus is not just for one particular group. But would it not help us individually, and the community at large, if we could progress from only a common interest in Jesus toward having more in common with one another. To be a group that values being interested in what others are interested in. How welcoming would that be?
The most convincing argument of this for me is Jesus himself. From what I can tell Jesus lived a really full life. He is not boring. He had character and He related to people. As a follower trying to reflect Christ to this world I should live similarly.
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