How Do We Make Disciples?
How does the Church go about making disciples?
Which practices actually make disciples?
posted by Dan Masshardt at 7:21 AM
CGGC in an Emerging World
The world is changing rapidly. Postmodern thinking is increasing in the west and the East is becoming part of the Global community. Many in the Churches of God General Conference are interested in what church will look like as fresh expressions in the 21st century. This blog has been encouraged by the CGGC but in no way reflects the official thinking of the denomination. It is a place for free flow of thought and conversation.
Friday, October 07, 2011
19 Comments:
Other good questions: How did Jesus make Disciples? How did Jesus instruct His Disciples in making Disciples? Is that how we should make Disciples? Is there a new way to make Disciples? Is the 'old way' irrelevent?
;)
I posted this a long, long time ago on this blog but it is still relevant.
http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2753
Tom - how has that article effected the way that you think about making disciples in your own life / church?
Have you changed any practices in light of it?
Thanks for sharing again. I remember reading the first time you posted it.
Prophet Grrrrrl - indeed, those are all excellent questions.
What are your thoughts about the answers to them as it relates to making disciples in the life of the church?
Dan,
I'm reposting some of my comments/questions from the last thread related to families and disciple-making. Perhaps this is a theme that can be re-engaged here:
Going a little different direction on the family comments...so often families completely turn over the spiritual training of their children to local churches. And so often it seems that local churches turn over the spiritual training of children (especially in regards to "making a decision for Christ") to church camps, mission trips and retreats.
Is there a way to honor Jesus commands about family while also following biblical teaching about the training of children? Where does scripture indicate that parents are to hand over their spiritual authority to the church? Yet, how many churches sincerely attempt to work with parents as opposed to in place of them?
Brent -
Of course, the Bible doesn't say that we should 'turn over' discipleship of children..."
The Old Testament talks a lot about teaching our children - telling the stories of God and God's people as a way of life.
I think that this does speak, at least in some way, of how we should be making disciples.
If disciples are to make disciples, then we don't 'hand over' responsibility to anyone. We partner together. We disciple are kids, as well as the whole community of faith discipling.
I think one thing the church needs to be thinking about is the fact that Jesus sent a bunch of people OUT- to stay wherever, accept lodging/food wherever, and to heal/do other miracles, etc. Didn't He also say "Go and make disciples," keyword being GO? I don't think the church makes disciples IN the church building. Rather, the church building is where folks who are already in the learning-process of becoming a true disciple are equipped, empassioned, encouraged, etc.
The worship service is not where disciples are made. The Wednesday night youth group study/lounge thing is not where disciples are made, at least I don't think so. Did Jesus' 12 become disciples the moment He said 'follow me' and they obeyed? Or was it a process of following Him and DOING the things He instructed them to do- sending them out, etc?
In any case, it is a process that requires action, particularly action in obedience to Christ. It is not about going to more Bible studies, attending another worship service during the week, switching the radio station to the Christian station...all good things, but not even the tip of discipleship. Jesus served, so I think discipleship, becoming a disciple is going to require a hefty amount of that- even before someone knows their Bible front-to-back, they should understand that disciples are in the business of being Christ-like, which is all about serving, taking up their cross, following Jesus and walking His walk.
If the church is too busy trying to suck people into their worship service, or their programming, (bigger numbers does not equal disciples made, but we all know that)or whatever, then disciple training has been thrown out the window, in my opinion. My tiny opinion. ;)
Prophet Grrrrrl,
Right on.
I think we have to uproot, tear down, destroy and overthrow the baggage of Christendom and to rebuild and replant the Jesus model of discipling.
One of the themes of the Gospels is the turning of those people into disciples by Jesus. The Gospels are discipleship manuals. I think we need to deprogram church-centered notions and open the Gospels with eyes as fresh as the Spirit can make them to see in Jesus how discipling is done.
You are correct that it begins with going, not with asking people to come. Jesus chose a very special word when He said aid, "Therefore, go and disciple all nations." The emphasis was on discipling as an act of going.
You are also correct that the art of discipling can not possibly be connected to a church building. There were no such things in the New Testament and, more to the point, the term 'church building' is an oxymoron. The word 'church' in the New Testament is merely a translation of the Hebrew word that means the assembly of the people of God. The Hebrew word is both a noun and a verb. A church can't possibly be a building. To equate building with the church or the making of disciples with a building must be an inherently corrupt thought. It has no place in the model Jesus gave us.
I am overpowered by the realization that when Jesus sent out the first apostles, He instructed them to enter a village and settle in a HOUSE, not to go to the synagogue and use it as their base of operation. This suggests to me that creating a special facility from which the making of disciples takes place is entirely foreign to Jesus' notion of how disciples are made.
Think about it! The center of Jewish culture was the synagogue. The most natural way for a follower of Jesus to encounter Jewish culture was the synagogue and Jesus specifically instructed his followers to tell people about the coming of the Kingdom of God from houses, not synagogues. This fact supports your observation that discipling has nothing to do with a 'church building' and it supports your assertion that discipling has nothing at all to do with a worship service. If discipling was to be connected to the coming together of people for so-called worship, Jesus certainly would have sent His people straight to the synagogue in every village. That He didn't do that is a magnificently important reality.
And, you are correct that being a disciple must have to do with serving, not attending Bible Studies or attending the Sunday morning show. "Even the Son of man did not come to be serve but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many." When Jesus called disciples, He said, "Follow me." He led those people on a journey TO people. He didn't didn't set up a headquarters so that seekers'd know where to find Him.
Well said, sis! And, Amen!
Dan,
Regarding affects of understanding what a disciple was.
Don't know where to start because the impact is huge but I'll just throw out some things.
We often like to say a disciple is a learner but that is a case of not giving a full definition. A disciple is one who follows his Rabbi. He does what the rabbi does, sees how the rabbi acts, and hears what the rabbi says. That would mean being with the rabbi when he is out working and seeing everything he does from how he reacts when he hits his thumb with a hammer, seeing how he responds to kids who taunt him, to how he deals with someone who is sick that crosses his path. The goal is to see this so that I can become like my rabbi and do even greater things than my rabbi.
So if Jesus is my Rabbi how do a follow him today? First it would seem that I would need to be consumed with scripture. But it isn't just reading scripture for facts it's to live life with Jesus. To see how he responds to the situations he faced so I can learn to become like him. We often read the Bible looking for advice on how to make life easier or to gain understanding about a doctrine that has little to do with becoming like Jesus. I'm not saying that it isn't important to gain understanding but the main focus needs to be Jesus. If you read the When I read the Gospels this way I often think about what the disciples were thinking and how the must have been processing what was happening. Actually, you can see this happening in several places because the disciples pull Jesus aside and ask him about what had just happened. They were learning from their rabbi.
It also tells me that I need to think about living life with the disciples I am making. I am not their rabbi but there is a place for the "follow me while I follow Christ" idea that Paul states. That means I need to be thoughtful about the informal times I spend with people. How do I respond when the umpire calls me out in the softball game when I am pretty sure I was safe? It is easy to dismiss those informal times but they are probably far more significant than the formal times we have together. It also means I have to be intentional about being together with people. That is hard for someone like me who would rather sit in an office and study.
Well, I think I have rambled enough since I am typing in this little box where I am supposed to leave my comment and have no idea how mixed up this probably is.
Tom - wonderful thoughts. Your examples of the 'everyday stuff' is important. Think of all the things that we don't have recorded in the Gospels from the everyday life of Jesus and the disciples over the 3 years they spend together.
The wonderful thing about discipleship as real life involving both mature disciples and new disciples is that we can learn and grow where we're at...
bill and ProphetGrrrrrl,
I agree that the paradigm shift away from a central gathering place being the center of ministry is necessary.
People are so locked into the idea that ministry happens only under that one roof. The challenge in this shift is monstrous, as you both know.
I disagree with both of you, however, on the idea that gathered worship has nothing to do with discipleship.
I still believe that gathered worship has a place in disciple making, even though it cannot be the primary place.
Jesus told the first disciples (and many others gathered there) to make disciples by teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
We can teach and learn in gathered worship. We can also obey some of what Jesus commands - namely as it relates to loving and serving fellow believers (a huge theme throughout the N.T). And we can encourage one another for another week of everyday discipleship.
Now all of that can certainly happen in a living room, or a park, or even a church building.
M,
I disagree with both of you, however, on the idea that gathered worship has nothing to do with discipleship.
I still believe that gathered worship has a place in disciple making, even though it cannot be the primary place.
The questions I have for you are:
1. What was 'gathered worship' for Jesus and those He was discipling?
2. How did Jesus use gathered worship as a discipling tool in Scripture?
3. What was gathered worship in the early church and how did it contribute to discipling?
4. Isn't Paul's definition of 'true and proper worship' merely the offering of one's body as a living sacrifice? (Rom. 12) How does the Sunday morning show empower worship as Paul describes it?
From what I can tell, what we call worship has nothing at all to do with anything Jesus or the first followers of the Way did and so I see no connection between it and how disciples were made in the Jesus and apostolic models. However, if you see connections I don't I'll be blessed if you point them out to me.
Gang,
It won't surprise you for me to say that I believe that the first step in making disciples is to throw away the baggage of Christendom. This is what Prophet Grrrrrl has been saying.
I'm not certain about all that is involved in jettisoning Christendom but I can think of two places to start:
1. Get rid of the clergy/laity distinction. No one will truly become a disciple of Jesus if s/he is constrained by the notion that, because s/he is a member of the laity, s/he is merely a common Christian. (Lay means common. It is derived from the Greek word laos.)
Clearly, there were people called to be leaders in the New Testament church but no one was called to be a member of a clergy class and no one is consigned to be laity among the first followers of the Way.
2. Use as a lauching point the teaching that the Christian Priesthood belongs to every follower of the Way. If people believe that they are priests of God's Kingdom, they will begin with the notion that they are empowered to do great things for Jesus and not only empowered but responsible to do great things in His Name.
Peter says to all of us, "You are...a royal priesthood." Revelation 1 says that Jesus has made us to be "...a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father..." We need to know that we are all priests.
Have you read David Platt's book Radical?
I'm working through it now and it seems to be relevant to this conversation.
Brent,
The ERC Commission on Discipleship provides a free book to everyone who attends Conference every year. This year's book was Radical. Most of our ERCers should, at least, have it.
I read part of it and stopped. What I read I thought was good but seemed to work awfully hard to convince me about what I already believe with all my heart. For me it was preaching to the choir.
I do intend to finish it one day.
I have the book, but haven't read it yet. Another one I've appreciated and shared with several people is Francis Chan's Crazy Love.
There are some prophetic voices calling us to be disciples.
And people - at least some - are responding.
I think 'gathered worship' can be a place for discipleship training, if the 'gathered worship' looks the same as it is supposed to in 1 Cor 14. If pastors are the only ones leading the discipleship training, then that is quite lopsided and will be ineffectual.
I think it is very important to note that Jesus instructed his followers to go to HOUSES, as Mr. Sloat has noted. That is a big deal. Jesus wants to be in houses, not seperated, not tucked into a different building where people have to go seek Him. He meets them where they are- and for most people, that isn't going to be a church building. We have strapped Jesus down inside our buildings (most built with millions of dollars, which, seriously- can we not find something better to do with that money??? Someone is starving down the street, but the carpet sure is plush in the new wing of that church...)
I tell you plainly, regardless of how awesome a modern worship gathering is, regardless of the amount of assistance you give someone in need, and regardless of how much a person is craving the Word and craving a relationship with the Savior, and regardless of how well they develop that relationship- they will never, ever step inside a church. Do those people never become disciples?
Grrrrrl and Dan M.,
I did overstate things when I suggested that there is no connection between a gathering of followers of the Way and discipleship.
Hebrews 10:24 says, "And let us consider how we may spur on to love and good deeds." The next verse says, "Let us not give up meeting together..." Clearly the two statements go together. The core of the life of a follower of the Way is following the Way. Meeting with others followers is criticial to living the life.
In Galatians 6, Paul commands, "Let us not become weary in doing good." We will grow weary without regular encouragement from other followers of Jesus. Meeting with other followers doesn't disciple them but it brings us into contact with other committed to the same way of life.
One and All,
For the past few years I've been batting around an idea that I can't kick and which seems very biblical to me. It is the conviction that the making of disciples is the of the tasks of apostles.
Jesus gave the command, "Go and disciple all nations..." to the remaining eleven apostles. He did not give that command to all of His followers. In fact, according to Matthew, He said it in a very private and restricted setting. From my real world experience, pastors AKA parish priests gifted (as many are) to be shepherds appear to be fish out of water when then attempt to make disciples. Nurturing comes to them organically. Discipling is inorganic to them. The Spirit does not seem to bless them in their attempts to disciple even though discipling is commanded of the church.
Speaking for myself as one who believes himself to be gifted as a prophet, I believe I am empowered to announce the call to discipleship. I believe I am called to implore the Body to repent of its truthless ways. I even believe that I have insight into what a disciple is. But, the making of disciples is not something that I accomplish. When discipling takes place in our setting, it seems to be the organic outflow of the things that Evelyn, my wife who is a Barnabas type apostle, does.
It could be that Alan Hirsch's greatest contribution to the church is to identify New Testament style following of Jesus as, "The Forgotten Ways." I believe that the 20th century Western church has absolutely forgotten every important thing about what a disciple is and how disciples are made.
And, I am convinced, from the Word, that you shepherds will never organically produce disciples. I am convinced that you should not try. I am convinced that as long as the Shepherd Mafia reigns our churches will continue to produce consumers of religious products and services and that disciples will not be made.
We need to repent of this unbiblical leadership model in which parish priests/pastors are tasked with discipling. The Lord is not blessing it. It produces lukewarm pew-sitters. It is not producing fruit. We need to foster the formation of a leadership community in which apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers are all empowered to live within their callings. We need to empower apostles as disciplers and we need to watch as the Spirit creates disciples through them.
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