Discipleship in America is FLAWED!
Because I have now live on both sides of this issue, maybe I have a tiny bit of credibility. For some, maybe not! We'll have to wait and see. :)
What does FLAWED discipleship look like?
*Just get em to pray a prayer and the church-ize them.
*By Church-ize I mean; attend church, bring your tithes, invite others to church, find your spiritual gifts and then serve in an approved ministry of the church (mostly inside but sometime outside).
*Never insist that Christ followers live incarnational disciple multiplying lives on the outside.
*Make discipleship training a class with a pre-designed curriculim.
*Push for doctrinal teaching ahead of the teachings of Jesus. Some of the orthodoxies we argue over are not even worth discussing, in my humble opinion.
*Instead of sending them out we insist that they must be prepared by taking a discipleship class as long as short as six weeks and as long as six months. By that time the fire and passion has died down and they have learned to be good church members instead of authentic Christ following disciple multipliers they sit with the finest. We call that living in the world while showing the world who Jesus is.
How to DE-FLAW DISCIPLE-MAKING
*Don't push to soon for a sinners prayer. Disciple them to Jesus and help them understand the cost of following Jesus.
*Walk one on one for as long as it takes and every believer should walk with someone one on one.
*As your disciple others you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you and you teach them what Jesus taught. The goal is to make better disciples not better church members.
*Insist that every new Christ follower reproduce their life into another life within six months or sooner. Here's where people will disagree. But since we never try- how will we know if it can happen? I'm seeing it happen with amazement. They want to do it and they do it well along with being discipled themselves.
*Don't get the new blood tied up serving in the church, but rather, release them to serve as Jesus leads them as incarnational believers in the world.
*Insist that being the church is more important than gathering as the Church although both are important and valuable.
*Keep them out of a churchianity class while keeping them with the discipler who led them to Jesus.
*Don't show them all the stuff they don't know - this will intimidate and cause them to fear they will mess things up.
When Jesus told us that He will be with us as we make disciples, baptize them, teach them to obey -we can be assured with confidence that the Holy Spirit will be guiding us, working through us, telling us what to say or do.
When we de-Church-ize the discipleship process it is much easier and simple than we could ever dream. When we de-program-ize the discipleship process it is simplified to the point anyone can do this. When we stop trying to make them good members and instead teach them to become incarnational disciples it is so much easier than we ever dreamed.
Meet the person where they are on their turf, let God lead you as you/they share, when they become a Christ follower keep walking with them, teach them all that Jesus taught like the Sermon on the Mount, the one anothers, the Great Commission and Great Commandment, the Beatitudes, the parables as well as the commands of Christ to name a few. Pastor Terry at www.sunministries.blogspot.com has put together a simple piece that identifies those things Jesus taught that all followers of Christ should know. We must make "being fruitful and multiplying" ourselves as the main thing. Of course we gather together as the body of Christ, of course we have communion etc.
As you do the above - you teach your disciple -what you teach your disciple is passed by them to their disciple and down the line. You hang with your first disciple as long as it takes but usually when the string gets to the fourth generation they are ready to move out on their own with periodic check-ups.
All disciples have spiritual gifts and they "multiply disciples" while using those gifts. Every person has a personality temperament mix and they meet people as they live out that mix. Every disciple will remain excited and passionate as they see God use them to see a life transformed.
So I speak from the old and out of the new and what I am seeing in the new is incredibly effective and tranformational.
posted by Bob Carder @ 1:55 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I love this...
"When we de-Church-ize the discipleship process it is much easier and simple than we could ever dream. When we de-program-ize the discipleship process it is simplified to the point anyone can do this. When we stop trying to make them good members and instead teach them to become incarnational disciples it is so much easier than we ever dreamed."
Thanks for that, brother. It's encouraging.
One thing I would say:
I don't know if I agree that all the "classes" and "progams" and such are bad. That is to say, I am not sure if reacting 180 degrees away from those things are the right thing to do.
To be fair, I know what you are saying, I understand the consumerist nature of these things and the inherent nature for them to not be relational.
But that isn't to say that they can't be relational.
Case in point: The small Church that I am at which is now just under 2 years old, has adapted a class structure from Gateway in Austin called "The way of Christ". in this class, in a very informal setting with very low relational pressure, we funnel people into small groups...then into one on one relationships and then enable them to form their own one on one relationships with others whom they seek to disciple.
I just seek your approach and tenor to this whole thing as a desire to go from 0-100 in 3 seconds, and doesn't give some degree of flexibility to meet people on their terms.
It's funny, because I am one of those guys who needs to have some space from you first, before I will listen to you and or relate to you. If someone early on in my faith had been overly involved with me, seeking to "be" with me or anything else like that...I would have killed them and went to jail becuase I like my space. And the people I saw in my "American" Church respected that and let me belong to them...without being with them.
Spam, you and I in a face to face dialogue would do fine. Men like you appreciate honest and sometimes in your/my face dialogue. Are you a melancholic (well ordered and detailed) temperament or (a fun loving life of the party)sanguine or are you (a driven, leader of the pack) choleric temperament?
I'm with you on the class thing. Some are needed. But when we have classes to disciple people the desired orthopraxy (action part) of discipleship is often missed esp. the going out and making disciples or being Jesus in the world for people to see.
In my experience - the longer we keep new disciples in a class the more like the church they become and in time their fire diminishes and they lose the passion to share their story with courage. Also the more they learn in that six week class the more insecure they become in sharing their faith.
As for 0-100 in 3 seconds I do believe when someone comes to Christ they should be immediately released to disciple others to Jesus as they share their story and as someone walks along side of them.
Of course we are flexible and do what needs to be done.
I love "the way of Christ" and I hope the desired result is to go and walk the way Jesus did. So many know it but don't walk in His footsteps.
Great comment/post. Really great!
Hey Bob,
The 0-100 comment was meant to reflect the whole process (coming to Christ, growing in Christ, counting yourself as a disciple, and then leading out in a GC kind of way). In other words it seems to me like you are communicating a process that moves through all levels really quickly, and at times at the expense of the person.
It took me 12 years to get past growing in Christ before I ever held myself as a Disciple. Once I got there, of course my next step was leading out in a GC kinda way.
I see myself as more of a Deja Vu, Alzheimers kinda guy...I keep remembering things that never happened to me all over again ;)
Hope that tells you what kinda person I am.
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