This is Discipleship… – True Discipleship Part 2

As I started out on this discipleship journey of posts I thought it would be quick. God had a different idea and led me down a path that took a little more time. I have had the chance to listen to several great podcasts, read a couple of books on discipleship, and spent time with seasoned friends learning more about the importance of being a disciple. Several of my posts over the last few months touched on this topic, but this post is a continuation of True Discipleship – Part 1 .

How do we get from a church full of infants to having a church filled with people digging deep into the Word and discovering who Christ is and who they are? How do we become true disciples, someone becoming more like Christ? What does true discipleship even look like?

Three Options for Discipleship

In Larry Olson’s book Sticky Church he states that there are 3 kinds of discipleship models. There is a mentoring model, an education model, and an apprenticeship model. Mentoring is one on one and relational. It is best over time and is not effective in a fast paced changing environment. Education is long-term and requires a large commitment. It works best with linear goal-orientated personalities and is highly structured. Apprenticeship lets people do a task and be the leader is there to help them pick up the pieces. The nature and dynamics of life demands that we really need to use a combination of the three as they all have strong advantages but fall short in other areas. For example, I love going to school and loved learning about the history, traditions, and methods of the church. Yet when I started applying the things I learned they always needed tweaking to fit the ministry of where I was at. At this point the apprenticeship model kicked in and a seasoned leader was able to help guide me through the issues in a way that stayed true to biblical principles and was able to respond to the human factor of the situation. The mentoring model is also part of my life and it keeps me in check with my motives and my own issues. These three discipleship models when in sync with each other can propel us to grow deep and stretch us in growing wide.

Building a Church Culture of Discipleship

Discipleship requires commitment from both the disciple and from the mentor. This means we must be intentional and open about how we disciple. The C&MA has put together a few examples of different discipleship plans by its member churches called Discipleship Pathways. If we want to get out of the pastor-do culture that is prevalent in the North American church today we must present and implement an alternative culture. A culture that raises Christian adults, mature followers of Christ, true disciples. As Paul says in Hebrews 5.14 “Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” If we desire to grow deep we must allow ourselves to be held accountable and learn the difference between what is right and what is wrong.

Held Accountable

My wife and I love giving our kids gifts, but we also love watching them grow as they become caring, compassionate, and God centered. This is not developed by simple showering them with gifts, but also, when needed, to give correction and discipline. Too often in the church today we resist giving and receiving discipline. The Father loves giving good gifts (Matthew 7), but He also disciplines out of love so that we can grow and share in His holiness (Hebrews 12). In a blog post by Jared Wilson, he says “In discipling relationships, we are always disciplining one another, not chiefly or only in the fight against sin but largely in our encouragement of each other, edifying one another, teaching one another, and sharing one another’s burdens. In short, disciples know each other. And so Matthew 18:15 might be happening all the time, perhaps weekly within loving relationships where there is no imminent danger of somebody being kicked out of the church but rather a constant iron sharpening of iron” (5 Ways to Keep Church Discipline from Seeming Weird). To be discipled we must allow others to call us on our sin so we are held accountable for what we do, otherwise we will stay as infants and our paths will remain crooked and broken.

Why?

Discipleship gives us the tools and skills to take the Gospel out into the world. As we go we will be able to share His great name. Faith in Christ is not meant to be kept to ourselves, but shared with fellow believers and shared with non-believers as a testimony of God’s glory. Why do we attend church? Why do we go to small groups? Why do we serve the poor? Evangelism and discipleship are not the same thing however they do work intertwined with each other. “If you think your heart is growing in love for God, but your heart is not growing in love for lost people, you  are deceived.” (Chip Ingram- High Impact Church Law 8).

Are you being discipled?

Here are a few resources I found:

 How to Build a High Impact Church – Chip Ingram

 & the post 5 Ways to Keep Church Discipline from Seeming Weird

 C&MA Discipleship Pathways & Southview Alliance’s Aspen Strategy

Inside & Outside

Artist: Perugino
Year: c. 1481-1482
Type: Fresco
Dimensions: 330 cm × 550 cm (130 in × 220 in)
Location: Sistine Chapel, Rome

The Law of Liberation – Growing churches train their members to discover and deploy their spiritual gifts and passions both within and outside the church.

Chip Ingram – Law 4 in How To Grow A High Impact Church

In my attempt to write part 2 of my True Discipleship post I have started to come across some pretty great articles, books, & podcasts about what discipleship is and is not. One being the How To Grow A High Impact Church series by Chip Ingram.  We have been liberated from sins grasp so that we can fulfill our purpose to glorify God (Isaiah 60.21, Romans 11.36). “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”  (1 Corinthians 10.31). The role of the church is not to do the work, but to empower and release the workers within and outside, as they are driven by the grace that Christ has shown them.

Stay tuned part 2 will be posted soon.

Go Make Disciples not decisions (Quote of the Day)

What does Jesus say? Make disciples not make decisions. Disciples, what you can say is, here is a follower his life used to like this and this is what it is like now, his marriage used to be like this and this is what it is like now. Well how does that happen? You need to know your purpose is to make disciples. You need to have a plan of evangelism. Lost people come to Christ. Then a plan of discipleship, you assimilate that person now that they are a believer and are baptized not just with water but into the life of the body of the church where they are loved and cared for. And then we teach them all that he has taught us so that their lifestyle actually demonstrates the life of Christ.

Chip Ingram from How to Build a High Impact Church Session 1

Free download on the High Impact Network site

Check out his podcasts