Podcast Download: Episode 13 - The Forgotten Ways - Chapter 4

Download: Podcast Episode 13 - The Forgotten Ways Chapter 4

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Chapter Four Quotes – Disciple Making

“The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief.” – T. S. Eliot – p 101

For instance, far from being “seeker-friendly,” by AD 170 the underground Christian movement had developed what they called the catechisms. These were not merely the doctrinal confessions they later became; they involved rigorous personal examinations that required the catechumen to demonstrate why he or she was worthy of entry into the confessing community. Not only could proposed converts lose their life, because of the persecution of the time, but they had to prove why they believed they should be allowed to become part of the Christian community in the first place! Many were turned away because they were found unworthy. This is contrary to the “seeker-sensitive” practice so prevalent in our day. And it was this element of vigorous discipleship that characterized the early Christian movement that was blighted by the deluge of worldliness that flooded the post-Constantinian church when the bar was lowered for membership and the culture was “Christianized.” – p 104

Apart from the very simple strategy to multiply organic, reproducing churches, Neil Cole of Church Multiplication Associates suggests that the key to their remarkable growth to 500 churches in a few short years essentially revolved around their resolute commitment to discipleship. he says of the early period “We started articulating this profound goal for CMA: ‘We want to lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple.” – p 104

Steve Addison, a researcher of movements, discerns five phases in the transmission of ideas through missionary movements. In simple terms, these consist of;

White Hot Faith: By this he means a direct and personal encounter with the living God, followed by social renewal. …

Commitment to the Cause: The people who are touched in such a way by God give their lives to the cause as articulated by the movement. …

Contagious Relationships: Ideas travel like a virus. Powerful ideas like the gospel are passed on from on person to another. …

Rapid Mobilization: There needs to be an apostolic type of leadership and organization that develops to be able to coordinate and msximize the efforts of the adherents of the movement.

Dynamic Methods: It is significant that movements tend to use new, innovative methods and techniques to communicate their message. – p 105-106

I have come to the conclusion that for we who live in the Western world, the major challenge to the viability of Christianity is not Buddhism, … nor is it Islam, …. It is not the New Age…; in fact because there is a genuine search going on in new religious movements, it can actually be an asset to we who are willing to share the faith amidst the search. All these are challenges to us, no doubt, but I have come to believe that the major threat to the viability of our faith is that of consumerism. This is a far more heinous and insidious challenge to the gospel, because in so many ways it infects each and every one of us. – p 106-107

For all its failings, the church, up till the time of the Enlightenment, played the overwhelmingly dominant role in the mediation of identity, meaning purpose, and community for at least the preceding eleven centuries in the West. Its demise, or rather its forced removal, came about when two or three other major forces were on the rise. These were

The rise of capitalism and of the free market as mediator of value.

The rise of the nation-state as the mediator of protection and provision.

The rise of science as the mediator of truth and understanding. – p 108

…the church is forced into the role being little more than a vendor of religious goods and services. And the end-users of the church’s services (namely, us) easily slip into the role of discerning individualistic consumers, devouring the religious goods and services offered by the latest and best vendor. Worship, rather being entertaining through creatively engaging the hearts and minds of the hearers, now becomes mere entertainment that aims at giving the participants transcendent emotional highs… - p 110

Mark Sayers, a friend of mine, has noted that one of the most alluring religious appeals of consumerism is that it offers us a new immediacy, a living alternative to what heaven has always stood for in the Judeo-Christian tradition – the fulfillment of all our longings. We have at our fingertips experiences and offerings available only to kings in previous eras. – p 111

It seems then that we have two basic options before us: (1) We try to redeem the rhythms and structures of consumerism… (2) Alternatively, we must initiate a thoroughly prophetic challenge to consumerism’s overarching control on our lives. These two alternatives become our missional challenge and are each real live options. However my warning is that if we are going to sup with devil, we had better have a very long spoon… - p 112

One such group, called the Rutba House, have developed twelve practices, or marks, for a new monasticism to challenge the worldliness of the church. These are:

1. Relocation to abandoned places of the city
2. Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and with the needy
3. Hospitality to the stranger
4. Lament for racial divisions in church and society, combined with active pursuit of a just reconciliation
5. Humble submission to Christ’s Body, the Church
6. Intentional formation in the Way of Christ and the Rule of Community
7. Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and their children
8. Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life
9. Care for God’s earth and supporting local economies
10. Peacemaking in the midst of violence – p 112

The question must take us back to the real significance and meaning of discipleship. If the heart of discipleship is to become like Jesus, then it seems to me that a missional reading of this text requires that we see that Jesus’ strategy is to get a whole lot of little versions of himself in and through his people in every place throughout the world. – p 113

But to be a follower of Christ does not mean to imitate him literally by mimicking him but to express him through the medium of one’s own life. – p 114

…the quality of the church’s leadership is directly proportional to the quality of discipleships. – p 119

The assumption in Hellenistic thinking is that if people get the right ideas, they will simply change their behavior. The Hellenistic approach therefore can be characterized as an attempt to try to think our way into a new way of acting. Both experience and history show the fallacy of such thinking. And it certainly does not make disciples. All we do is change the way a person thinks; the problem is that his or her behaviors remain largely unaffected. – p 122