“Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Making Disciples
The only command given by Jesus in Matthew 28 (the Great Commission) is to make disciples. We do this by obeying what Jesus commanded and teaching others to do the same. We in the Western world need to focus on a few mindset shifts in our churches among staff, elders, deacons, and members: we need, from the top down, a biblical model of how we think of ourselves. We are not consumers of religious goods and services—we are missionaries, called and sent by the Triune God to be His ambassadors.
We are placed, in God’s sovereignty, in the places He’s put us—our families, jobs, friendships, our (literal!) neighbors and neighborhoods, etc. We are to be disciples and disciple-makers in all these places. We are Spirit-filled and empowered missionaries, and we need to understand our identity in Christ and see ourselves that way. Imagine if older members were equipped to disciple the younger, if parents were equipped to disciple their children, if everyone was equipped to have their neighbors and co-workers to their homes for meals and spiritual conversations: the Lord would use us mightily!
The Attractional Church Model
In the “attractional” church model (which became popular in the West in the 80s and 90s with the rise of mega-churches), the church staff designs programs and events for church members to get them to come to church. What this does is make the church staff very busy—leaving pastors less time for the ministries of prayer and the Word, and all staff less time to be with (shepherd) and make disciples of the congregation—this means the staff doesn’t have much time to devote to discipleship. Further, it causes members to become dependent on church staff for spiritual nourishment.
This is a holdover from the seeker-sensitive, attractional church model—come and see—and it causes us to view the Christian faith as going to church, giving tithes and offerings, and being consumers of religious goods and services.
This has crippled the Church in the West, as it has divorced discipleship from conversion.
“Knowledge coupled with obedience creates disciples and draws them closer to God…the Church today is preaching to produce conversion; then teaching to increase knowledge; then giving periodic attention, usually in sermons, to encourage converts to obey what they have learned. Jesus’ strategy was different.” [1]
The Biblical Church Model
In the model we see in Scripture, the pastors and elders equip church members to be and to make disciples. This way, the lay-members see themselves as Spirit-empowered missionaries whose task is to fulfill the Great Commission. Imagine if our churches functioned in this way—if each of us saw ourselves as ministers, following and obeying Jesus’ commands and always, constantly making disciples who make more disciples. Rather than wanting the church service to meet our felt needs, what if we viewed it as something meant to energize us? For me personally, Ephesians 4 is one of the callings God has put on my life as a pastor—to equip my fellow Christians so that they can do the work of ministry in their daily lives.
The Older and the Younger
We want to be about the Kingdom work of making disciples. What if the older men in your church each invited a younger dad/husband (or single guy) to their house once/month on a Saturday morning for breakfast and fellowship/discipleship? Or, what if the older and younger guys all gathered together once/month for this purpose? We need to be training our older members to understand that events for them, designed for their encouragement, are great and we’ll keep doing them. But God’s priority is for them to be discipling the younger people in the church (Titus 2:1-5) and that needs to be the focus.
Older members in Jesus’ Church need to understand that they have a crucial role to play: the discipleship of the younger members and the practice of Gospel-centered hospitality. Our focus cannot and should not be to design comfortable events and programs for members. This is not why Jesus created the Church.
Programs and Activities
Church programs and activities are, quite honestly, kind of boring. And I think that’s why we have to keep coming up with new ones. And that’s unfortunate. Jesus, during His incarnate ministry, did not create programs—He did life with His disciples. What if we did this in the Church? What if we lived as faithful disciples of Jesus (obeying His commands), trained and equipped our people to do the same, and then they went out and did this? That would probably eliminate the majority of church programs, as members would be too busy making disciples!
I wonder if our flurry of activity and program-driven ministries are sometimes ways we mask our disobedience to Jesus and His commands, and serve as a salve for our convicted consciences?
A More Compelling Vision
What if we offered people a grand vision of God’s Kingdom and of what awaits us in eternity? What if that was what we set before our people and that by which we inspired them? I think a lot of us are bored, because the Christian life in much of the West has been reduced to going to church, paying tithes, and passively watching the church staff “do” the work of ministry on Sunday mornings. But that’s not a very compelling vision, and it causes people to only focus their perspective on eternity—biding time until we’re Home.
But just waiting in boredom for Heaven is not what Jesus has called us to—He has called us to make disciples and be ambassadors for His Kingdom. What does this mean? It means we join Him in His mission of the renewal of all things. We make disciples, pursue shalom and justice, and do all we can to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. We order our families and priorities around the Missio Dei (the Mission of God) and have a renewed perspective on our jobs. We view ourselves as Spirit-empowered missionaries.
I believe this is a much more compelling vision for what the Christian life is from day to day. Ultimately, the most satisfying thing is growing our relationship with God each day and then living the life of a faithful disciple in this world.
I write this post neither as a criticism nor a complaint…rather, as a full-time pastor, I desire to be a more faithful disciple of Jesus and to encourage and equip my fellow Christians to be the same. I’m so thankful to be part of a church that has a missional, disciple-making focus! We’re about to launch Alpha, an 11-week course structured around meals and conversation, meant to introduce Jesus to those in our communities who don’t yet know Him. All that we do has discipleship and Mission in mind as the end goals.
I love and believe in the Church, and have given my life to serve her. My prayer is that these brief thoughts of mine will spark conversation and encourage you, the reader, into deeper discipleship to Jesus.
[1] Jerry Trousdale, Miraculous Movements (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2012), 100-101.