The Navigators Church Ministries (NCM) staff has put a lot of work developing our mission and vision statement. They are helpful for all our staff to work towards that right things together. There is energy when the statements come together as our leadership team did this past August. There is even more joy when we see it come to reality.
This past December I had my thrill. Pastor Bill wrote about his experience of our disciplemaking process. I knew he and his team had taken strong steps to build a culture of disciplemaking, yet he integrated the best principles we had worked on.
Below is the unedited comments he wrote.
Things I’ve Learned About Discipleship (aka My Disciple Making Manifesto)
Introduction
We started out on this journey because of a perceived problem in our church. That problem was – we were doing good job of filling the seats and attracting people to church, but we didn’t feel we were doing nearly as good a job at attracting people to Christ and building disciples. We perceived a congregation that was, to a large extent, shallow in their personal levels of discipleship.
When we implemented a church-wide survey, the RENOVO survey, 3 years ago, we received confirmation of our concerns. As a whole, we were not getting very deep into the area of making disciples for Christ. Our mission statement said it was our raison d’etre – our mission was (and is) to Go, make disciples, do it everywhere, and do it until Jesus comes. But we weren’t very good at it, nor were we doing a very good job of it.
So, we came to know Dane and the Navigators
So we’ve been at this now for 3 years as a team, and have been thinking and praying and planning now for over 5 years.
Where We’ve Been
(And things I’ve learned)
We’ve discovered some things during those years that have been helpful. Some things we didn’t know and learned fresh. Some things we probably already knew, and were reminded. Here are a few that came to mind as I thought about what to say tonight. No particular order – just a brain dump:
1. Discipleship is not a program.
We started this process by looking at a variety of different approaches to disciple making. Most of them centered around a particular curriculum, with the implication being that if one simply completed that curriculum, they were “disciples.”
Of course, that’s not the case most of the time, for most of us have been down that road in various contexts, and found it lacking. The elders tried a few of these curriculums and even subjected our wives to some of it (much to their dismay I fear). It may work for some, but it is not the method Jesus used, and not the method that we’ve been learning.
We ARE making use of a couple different curriculums (going forward we’ll continue to use “The Invitation”, the 2:7 Plan, and “The Ways of the Alongsider”), and there is an aspect of our pathway to discipleship that could be considered a program (some might call our Pathway to Discipleship such), but the program is not the center, nor is it meant to be. Rather:
2. Discipleship is almost entirely a set of relationships.
The curriculum and the program we’ve defined over the last 3 years is only useful within the context of relationships. The relationships come first, and the tools are just that – tools.
The relationship with God is an obvious one. We’re trying to help one another develop a closer walk with the Lord. No real magic there.
And the relationship with Jesus Christ is of course key. All of discipleship seems to me to be summed up in the word “FOLLOW.” Over and over Jesus called upon people to FOLLOW Him.
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew 4:19 KJV)
And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. (Matthew 9:9 KJV)
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matthew 16:24 KJV)
Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. (Matthew 19:21 KJV)
I’ve heard it stated a variety of ways over the past few years:
Jay Kim, in his book, “Analog Church” wrote, “This is what the Bible means when it talks about discipleship—the life of apprenticeship under Jesus, learning and living his ways, being shaped and reshaped into his likeness alongside others.” (Jay Y. Kim, “Analog Church”)
Dallas Willard, in “The Great Omission” wrote, “A disciple is a student, an apprentice, a practitioner, of Jesus Christ.” (a paraphrase of Dallas Willard in “The Great Omission”)
Both of those quotes used the concept of apprenticeship, which is at its core, following somebody around and learning from and emulating them. This is discipleship – following Jesus, learning from Him so that we also live like Him.
J. Oswald Sanders said, “The word disciple means “a learner,” but Jesus infused into that simple word a wealth of profound meaning. As used by Him and by Paul, it means “a learner or pupil who accepts the teaching of Christ, not only in belief but also in lifestyle.” This involves acceptance of the views and practice of the Teacher. In other words, it means learning with the purpose to obey what is learned. It involves a deliberate choice, a definite denial, and a determined obedience.” (J. Oswald Sanders, “Spiritual Discipleship”)
Spurgeon put it succinctly when he said, “The chief business of a Christian is to follow Christ.”
We took all that and formulated our picture… our definition… of a disciple – “A disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ, learning from and living like Him, and leading others into the same relationship.”
A lot of that seems obvious, but one thing that’s been pretty revolutionary to me (or at least a very very good reminder of known truth), is the importance of developing not only these relationships between us and God and / or Christ, but also the relationship between discipler and disciple. THAT relationship has been well hammered into our heads, from the initial discussions where we learned that disciples “walk across the street, befriend a neighbor, serve him or her, and start faith conversations” (Mowry, “The Ways of the Alongsider”) to the most recent discussions where we really dug deep into how to start and hold those faith conversations.
Developing, maintaining, and deepening relationships with PEOPLE who need the Lord, and who we hope to disciple, is a KEY TAKE AWAY from these last 3 years.
3. Discipleship requires disciplers.
While there are some who attend their church regularly and grow into deep and dedicated followers of Jesus through that medium alone, most don’t grow very deep apart from the effort of one or more men or women coming alongside and helping them.
I’m reminded of the Ethiopian Eunuch, who, when Philip saw him reading the Bible and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading” replied, “How can I, unless some man guides me?”
I’ve grown convinced… increasingly so… over the past 5 years, that the role of discipler is not optional nor insignificant. Rather it is vital and irreplacable. We need men and women like you guys to accomplish this vital work. So vital is it that I question whether there are any more important roles to fill in this church than that of disciplers.
Don’t let Satan lead you into thinking that what you are doing in your triads is only a little important. Kick him in the teeth and remind him (and yourself) that those triads… yea all the effort you’ve poured into discipling others, is kingdom work… BEYOND important… ETERNALLY significant.
4. Discipleship requires commitment.
I think it might have been Alistair Begg who said, “We should not be under any illusions: the call to discipleship is not easy, and it requires costly loyalty.” (TruthforLife.org)
C.S. Lewis put it like this, “If you’re thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you’re embarking on something which will take the whole of you.” (C.S. Lewis)
And Billy Graham said, “Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.” (Billy Graham)
None of this has been easy. It has come with both encouragements and discouragements, but one thing that has risen to the top as far as importance is COMMITMENT. We can’t give up just because others might. We can’t quit just because it gets hard sometimes. We can’t let Satan remind us only of those who DON’T go far with discipleship, when there are those few who DO go far with it and advance in their walk with Christ.
I’ve seen my level of commitment to this program ebb and flo over the last few years, and when my commitment level was high, things went well. When my commitment level waned, so too did everything else.
We must remain committed to this thing, Brothers and Sisters, because:
5. Discipleship requires patience.
With some people that may mean they stay in our group for a long time and don’t move on to the next step we’d like for them. For some people that may mean they don’t continue, but drop out before the end. We’ve seen some of that in our groups.
“Discipleship is sticking with people until they get it.” (John Ed Robinson)
6. Discipleship requires grace and forbearance.
We cannot forget that we are working with people… sinners… frail… broken… prone to wandering. We must be optimistic and press on with grace and forbearance.
I love this quote from a pastor friend of mine – “The disciples didn’t quit following Jesus because of Judas.” (Rob Weigel)
We cannot and must not give up on people, or on the process of discipleship, even though there will be disappointments and discouragements along the way. Some we pour our lives into will fall away. We need to disciple on, with grace and forbearance.
7. Discipleship takes time.
Again, this may be a bit redundant with the earlier point about commitment, but let’s remind ourselves that TIME is the major part of that commitment. We can call ourselves committed to this thing, but if TIME is not the primary thing we are committing, then we don’t quite get it.
By now, we’re pretty aware of the amount of time that is required to be part of a discipleship ministry. Hopefully, we’ve figured out how to best work it into our schedule so that it remains a priority and doesn’t fall to the bottom of our to- do lists and calendars.
It takes time, and I have to be willing to invest the time. Notice I didn’t say “spend” or “give” the time, because it is indeed an INVESTMENT and pays dividends not only in the lives of those we’re discipling, but in our own lives as well.
8. Discipleship revolves around quiet time.
I’ve learned a lot of things in the last 3 years, but this one really stands out for me. When I look at the changes in you, our leadership team, and when I consider the changes I’ve seen in those who’ve participated in your triads, I see more change coming into lives as a result of consistently practicing quiet times than anything else.
Of course, this is a (perhaps THE) key discipline we’ve tried to instill in ourselves and our disciples, but it’s amazing how key it really is! I knew it was important. We all did. But to actually SEE the results of disciplined implementation of quiet times, first through The Invitation and then on into the 2:7 studies, has been enlightening for me.
If we accomplish nothing else in our triads, the ones we have now, and those we host in the future, let us keep this central discipline central, for I’ve seen and so have you, that everything else flows from this.
9. Discipleship of others is a learned skill.
I have watched in joy as some of you, and some of your triads, have gone from taking the very first steps with their personal quiet times, to looking forward with anticipation to hosting their own triads.
I’ve been thrilled to see it demonstrated that when we follow our Lord Jesus Christ, and learn from Him, and live like Him, we can indeed learn to lead others into the same level of discipleship.