sparked by some good conversations i had this weekend…
this is take two. i just deleted my first 200 words because i don’t think i was saying what i wanted to say. make sense? if not, hopefully the rest of this will.
i was blessed to have had some good conversations this weekend. i would say great conversations, but unfortunately they were cut short due to garage sale mayhem and the fact that kids don’t care about your grown-up conversation. ever notice that just about the time you’re really enjoying yourself, the kids start squawking?
anyways, both conversations were dealing with the same topic for the most part. “what was that topic”, you ask? church. i’m not sure why, but church seems to be a popular topic with me lately. i’d say 80% of the books i’ve been reading recently are dealing with ecclesiology in one way or another. whether it be small groups, discipleship, evangelism, or leadership development, my reading diet has definitely been a little on the starchy side. now while both conversations were dealing with church, they were both distinctly different. as such, i think i may try to get two posts out of this one topic.
my first conversation took place in the midst of the garage sale madness we had at our house on saturday. a good friend had texted me late the night before saying they were coming to town from portland to visit family and wanted to see us while in town. i invited them to come participate in the fun we were bound to have on saturday, so they did. thankfully, i was able to carve out about 15 minutes of uninterrupted conversation with my friend to catch up on life and ministry. he is involved in a college & young marrieds ministry in a foursquare church in portland. he shared some encouraging stories about what the Lord is accomplishing, but also shared some frustrations he is having currently. these frustrations seemed to center around the fact that discipleship was lacking in this particular ministry. people were coming to church, they were singing during worship, and they were sitting through bible study. but beyond that, there was not much happening in their life to stimulate spiritual growth. this launched us into a conversation about discipleship, and how that is best accomplished. does discipleship take place on a sunday morning? can discipleship take place on a sunday morning? can you be discipled in a crowd of hundreds, or does it need to be twelve or less (as with Jesus’ disciples)? what is the ideal setting for discipleship to take place? is discipleship even a responsibility of the church? what is involved in discipleship, and what does discipleship look like?
some of these questions may seem silly, but i believe they’re worth asking. i strongly believe that the focus of the church should be discipleship. unfortunately, i think it is oftentimes lacking, sometimes even absent from the church at large. we gather together so that we might grow together. following this growth, i believe evangelism will be a natural result. as we are discipled and grow in our understanding of God’s love for us, and the friendship of Jesus with us, the outcome will be God’s love pouring out of us and onto others around us. whether that be towards co-workers, schoolmates, friends, or family, evangelism will take place because our lives will be permeated with a daily walk with our Lord. those around us won’t be able to ignore it. but before any of that can take place, discipleship must first happen.
these are just a few of my thoughts regarding church and discipleship. it is not my aim here to answer all the questions, but to stimulate some thought on your part. having these thoughts stimulated, i hope you’ll take the time to post a comment regarding what you think regarding discipleship and the church. share a story about your discipleship experience. write your views on how the church can better accomplish discipleship. tell whether or not you think discipleship is even the aim of the church. your comments are welcomed.
I found you on twitter. Great blog! As a fairly new Christian, I have been frustrated at the lack of discipleship in the church as a whole especially for new believers. For some reason, there seems to be the belief in the church that American believers are uninterested in or unable to learn more about this faith to which we have been called.
The truth is that many of us new believers came to the Lord out of the “New Age” movement and we are tired of fluff. We are ready to learn to learn the weighty truths of Christianity in their wholeness.
On my own, the Lord has led me to learn about church history, historic church creeds, origins of the Bible and various other aspects of Bible study as well as prayer. I was blessed that the Lord led me to Bible-believing preachers online (such as Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, John Piper and others) who little by little, taught me in the ways of the faith.
I agree with you that the focus of the church should be on discipleship. How frustrated I would become as we visited churches and were admonished to evangelize without being given the knowledge, tools or guidance to do so!
My recommendation is that every church, no matter how large or how small, focus on making disciples as we are commanded in the Bible. Instead of just a new member’s class, perhaps a book, e-book, website or podcast with all the pertinent information needed to start the journey, including excellent references for further study, be offered to all in the church.
Church members, then, will have to prioritize our lives to make time for learning the faith. I believe that if we were told it were important to do so, more of us would be likely to make our faith the center of our lives instead of an afterthought.
I am sorry to have rambled on but this topic is very near and dear to me.
If you can actually stand any more of my opinion about the importance of studying the word of God, go to my blog at http://www.BibleMomsBlog.com.
Victoria – thanks for the comment. I like your statement about taking it beyond a new member’s class and offering more resources for further study. I know I have been blessed by resources such as http://blbi.org and an Inductive Bible Study correspondence course I took through http://icmbible.org/index.html/. The only problem I see with these resources is that they don’t do much in the way of fellowship, which I think is critical for discipleship to take place. I love Acts 2:42, where we see early believers continuing steadfastly in the Word, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer.
So what does a discipleship plan look like? Is it as simple as providing resources, or is it more hands-on?
Church, IMHO, is a time of fellowship, studying the Word, and lifting up other believers… Acts 2:42 lays it out pretty clear: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
I think… wait… I know that there are churches out there who don’t follow what God has given us for the churches to adhere to, and it makes me sick. I had the misfortune of going to an emergent church in So Cal. (At the time, I didn’t realize it.) All we did during youth group is play Halo. We never opened the Bible, and if we ever did, it would last about 5 minutes.
So, in a nutshell, my answer to the question is found in Acts 2:42.
Ben,
I think that we teach people information in many different ways and in different settings. But, information (education) is not the same as discipleship. I think that discipleship occurs in the midst of relationships that are centered on Jesus Christ. But, it has to be real relationship – time spent together learning from one another by example. Even if one is less mature and is primarily learning from the other who is more mature, the more mature one will learn and be discipled as well. The goal is not sharing of information but life transformation – helping one another grow in maturity toward Jesus Christ.
I realize that I did not give any specifics. But, the practicalities will be different based on the people involved and their stages and experiences of life. But, one thing that cannot be left out of the discipleship equation is real relationship – mutual relationship with God through Jesus Christ and relationship with one another.
-Alan
Alan – Great insights. I agree that relationship is hugely important for effective discipleship. Just think of Jesus and his disciples. They spent 3 years with him; participating in ministry with him, observing him interacting with others, listening to him, bouncing questions off of him, even being rebuked and corrected by him at various times. So what can the church (and by that I mean the assembling of believers) do to help nurture relationship that encourages the believer to further godliness?
Hey Ben,
A good question and one I have no answer to. Here in Europe, we’ve been encouraged to explore “church” in many different forms. It’s been a challenge for sure.
I think you are on the right track with the discipleship aspect. That to me seems to be the point of church. but what do i know? Rien