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Based on the results of the study, we were able to identify eight “attributes of discipleship” that consistently show up in the life of a maturing Christian: Bible engagement, obeying God and denying self, serving God and others, sharing Christ, exercising faith, seeking God, building relationships, and unashamed transparency.
Until disciple-making becomes the ministry of the church and not a ministry in the church, we will never see our discipleship efforts impact the world the way that Jesus envisioned.
This generation, as with every generation, has a fresh opportunity to reclaim this ancient pattern of ministry. Today’s church leaders are not like the generations immediately preceding them. Church in a box is outdated like Cavaricci jeans (you only know about these if you’re older than thirty), canned sermons are frowned upon, and more leaders understand their need for a comprehensive disciple-making strategy — the crux of the Great Commission. What is missing from the equation, unfortunately, is a measurable method for tracking effectiveness.
When God determines the maturity of a church, he doesn’t count the Christians — he weighs them, and the weight is measured by how deeply his teaching has penetrated into a person’s life. Depth is more important than width; the transformation of a single person can have a greater impact than hundreds of shallow commitments.
His plan for reaching the world was not through massive evangelism conferences, though they have their place, but by investing in people who would then invest themselves in discipling others.
Many church leaders today easily fall into the trap of gauging success in the church by the ABCs of growth: Attendance, Buildings, and Cash. However, there is a serious problem with this scorecard, namely, that Jesus never gauged effectiveness by these criteria.
What if we shifted the focus from running out and grabbing as many people from outside of the community to bringing them in and spending more time discipling the people whom God has already entrusted to us? What if we decided to invest in those already attending week after week?
Believers who were at one time uncomfortable sharing their faith with lost friends before entering a discipling relationship were transformed into people living, breathing, and sharing the gospel. Their workplaces turned into a mission field for reaching the lost. Marriages were restored. Lives were changed. During the first year of ministry, we saw more people make decisions for Christ than were attending when I arrived. People regularly commented, “I feel like we are living the book of Acts.” I felt the same way. By adopting a new scorecard for effectiveness in our church, the members
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Was it that we implemented something new? No. We rediscovered something old, as old as the church itself: discipleship. This rediscovery of discipleship has changed my own life as well.
How many marriages were restored last year? How many people are striving for holiness? How many men and women are holding each other accountable? How many addicts are experiencing victories over drugs, pornography, or alcohol? How many groups are reproducing themselves exponentially? How many fellow men and women are you investing in now?
It involved a literal kind of following, in which disciples often traveled with, lived with, and imitated their rabbis, learning not only from what they said, but from what they did — from their reactions to everyday life as well as the manner in which they lived. The task of the disciple was to become as much like the rabbi as possible.14
Zig Ziglar, my role model during those years of dabbling in a pyramid business, said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Second, Jesus understood better than anyone that replicating himself was the key to successfully expanding the scope of his ministry.
The Hebraic way of thinking is more comfortable holding these concepts in tension because Jews tend to prefer word pictures, stories, poetry, imagery, and symbolism to the “Western” or “Greek” preference for words, ideas, definitions, outlines, lists, and bullet points.
Jewish historian Shmuel Safrai writes, Torah study was a remarkable feature in Jewish life at the time of the Second Temple and during the period following it. It was not restricted to the formal setting of schools and synagogue, nor to sages only, but became an integral part of ordinary Jewish life. The Torah was studied at all possible times, even if only a little at a time. . . . The sound of Torah learning issuing from houses at night was a common phenomenon. When people assembled for a joyous occasion such as a circumcision or a wedding, a group might withdraw to engage in study of the
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Let’s put on our Hebraic glasses for a moment and visualize the truth conveyed in Psalm 1. The English Standard Version sketches the first verses for us clearly: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night (vv. 1 – 2 ESV). As we have seen, Hebrew language communicates with word pictures. Here the psalmist begins by conjuring up some very specific images for the people who would be singing or listening to this psalm. The goal
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Even the city into which Jesus was born spoke of bread. Bethlehem is made up of two Hebrew words: bet and lechem. Bet is the Hebrew word for house, and lechem is the word for bread. Jesus was born in the house of bread or a bread factory.
Jesus plainly explained in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life. No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again.”
But see, he did come out and say it — except as a Hebrew, not as a Westerner.7 He painted a picture instead of listing a sheet of facts, and pictures are worth thousands of words.
And this kind of cultural influence is still happening today! Some worship sports teams at the expense of God. Their lives are ruled by athletics, whether in the form of travel ball, high school football games, or rigorous collegiate training schedules. Nighttime television is littered with choice words and sexual innuendos. PG – 13 movies used to be suitable for thirteen-year-olds, but no longer. News outlets have hijacked the dissemination of information and spin an event into an opportunity to push an agenda. Discerning truths from lies is increasingly difficult. Our kids are being taught
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But this is not something we can do by ourselves. In this book we will see how to keep close to the heart of Christ, and in chapter 13 you will learn an extremely practical method for judging its effectiveness.
Now, if a man walked up to the majority of Christians today and asked, “What do I need to do to inherit eternal life?” what would their response be? They might respond as I did to my Jewish roommate by walking the person through the Romans Road. Or maybe they would explain the ABCs of salvation: Admit, Believe, and Confess. They might encourage the hearer to repeat a prayer asking Jesus to be the Lord of their life. At one time or another, I have utilized every one of these practices.
The Scriptures teach that God does the work and raises the repentant believer from baptism to newness of life and forgiveness of sins (Rom 6:4; Col 2:12-13).
Is Jesus suggesting that salvation is by works? No. He is saying that to experience the power and the presence of God we must live in obedience to his commands.
If we want to be disciples, those who live under the rule of the King, we need to know him personally, live in his power, and look forward to the day when the kingdom of God on earth is as it is in heaven.
If you were to ask a rabbi why he answers a question with a question, he is likely to answer you by asking, “Why not?”
This is similar to the model practiced by Jesus: (1) lead while the disciples watch, (2) lead while the disciples assist, (3) assist while the disciples lead, and (4) watch while the disciples lead.
The common understanding of the church changed from being a people to a place, from a body to a building. The ministry was seen as something done exclusively by the clergy, while the laity sat idle and took on a more passive role. Institutionalized ministry replaced individualized ministry.
In the 1500s a monk named Martin Luther championed a reform movement in the Catholic Church, protesting against certain abuses and practices in the church. Luther became a proponent of the view that anyone could be equipped to read, study, and teach the Word of God, and he eventually translated the Bible into the German language for the common people. Luther argued that any believer could read and understand the Bible through the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
In 1526, Tyndale was the first to translate the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts into English. Much of Tyndale’s work found its way into the King James Version less than a century later. Yet, instead of receiving praise for his diligent efforts, Tyndale was persecuted and arrested in 1535 and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for over a year. Later, he was tried for heresy and burned at the stake, all because he believed in offering the Bible in the vernacular of the common man.
King Henry was seeking to find biblical grounds to justify his divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, so he could marry his newfound love, Anne Boleyn. Cranmer was summoned by King Henry to write a letter to the papacy in favor of granting an annulment of King Henry’s marriage. Rome denied the request, but this act earned Cranmer King Henry’s respect, and he was appointed an ambassador of Europe. When the archbishop of Canterbury died three years later, Henry appointed Cranmer to assume the position of head of the Church of England.
Additionally, he affirmed the seven sacraments, the original source of his repudiation against the church. Even though this denial contradicted everything he believed, it wasn’t enough to save him from being sentenced to the stake. The government ordered his death, but only after one more confession, this time in public, in support of the Catholic Church. Weight of what he had done overwhelmed him immediately; it was too late to be saved from the flames. His own signature would be used to humiliate him throughout the region.
EVEN CASUAL CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER pastors inevitably turn to the increasingly crucial topic of discipleship. I recall a conversation with a fellow pastor of a well-known megachurch who shared how he was personally discipling a group of men in his church, though he admitted that beyond that group, disciple-making was virtually nonexistent. His executive pastor was with us, and he added his own understanding of how to go about making disciples: “Discipleship should be organic and not intentional. It should not be planned or prepared.”
In July 1735, Dr. John Burton, Trustee of the Georgia Colony in the United States and patron of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, invited Wesley to transfer the Holy Club to Georgia to help local missionaries reach the Indians.
There is no real chance of victory in a campaign if ninety percent of the soldiers are untrained and uninvolved, but that is exactly where we stand now.
Fifty-four of England’s foremost Bible scholars (although only forty-seven are mentioned by name in the printed copy) were divided into six panels — two at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two at Westminster. The translation was to be a revision of the Bishops’ Bible. Words that were omitted by William Tyndale were reintroduced: “church” in place of “congregation,” and “charity” instead of “love.” After the translation was complete, a committee of twelve convened, comprised of two scholars from each of the six panels.
The 1611 lasted for over a hundred years until author Hugh Ross called for a revision of the 1611 KJV in 1727. John Wesley introduced his own revision of the KJV in 1755, making more than 12,000 changes. Benjamin Blayney’s 1769 Oxford Standard Edition of the KJV is essentially the version that is still printed today. Blayney’s edition is estimated to differ from the original 1611 version in at least 75,000 details.
Perhaps one of the reasons why we haven’t seen an emphasis on discipleship at the forefront of our ministries is that many have gone to the nations simply to “teach” — not to disciple. Now, I know that some of you are objecting at this point: “Isn’t teaching really synonymous with making disciples?” Well, yes and no. Teaching is a part of discipleship, but discipleship involves far more than teaching.
“Disciple” is a dynamic term for a “learner” or “student” who actively learns, through hearing and practice, the teaching of his or her teacher. A disciple is one who “is intentionally equipped with the Word of God through accountable relationships that are empowered by the Holy Spirit in order to produce Christ-likeness.”6 At the core, a disciple is not one who is in a static state of being, but one who continually grows and develops.
Paul, writing to a predominately Roman and Greek audience, chose to simplify the concept by using a metaphor these non-Jews understood. He chose the familial relationship of a parent to a child. This paternalistic relationship of maturity, formation, and development is seen in almost every book of the New Testament. Children grow through both instruction from and imitation of their parents. In the same way, a disciple is expected to not only listen and implement what is heard, but to apply what is modeled in front of them.
Notice how many times Paul speaks to his disciples as “true sons” in the faith (Titus 1:4; 1 Timothy 1:2; and 2 Timothy 1:2). He consistently refers to believers in a paternalistic sense in his letters (1 Corinthians 4:14; Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 5:8; and 1 Thessalonians 5:5). John also calls believers “little children” in his epistles (1 John 2:1, 12, 13, 18, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; and 5:21). The clearest example is seen in 3 John 4: “I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children [or disciples] are walking in the truth.”
Every believer should be able to answer two questions: “Who am I discipling?” and “Who is discipling me?”
Can the author answer these questions?
And every church should be able to answer two questions as well: “Do we have a comprehensive plan for making disciples?” and “Is our plan for disciple-making working?”
Carrie Fisher fairly summed up our societal values when she observed, “Instant gratification takes too long.”
The mass-production mindset of McChristianity is adversarial to discipleship and spiritual growth. Why? Because you can’t microwave disciples. Discipleship is a Crock-Pot recipe.
God is not in a rush to do his work. It took eleven years before Joseph was elevated to the right hand of the Pharaoh. Think about that. Eleven years. Without knowing the full story of Joseph’s life from beginning to end, it would be natural to question the wisdom of God’s timing in this situation. But God had work to do, work that took time. God had to press Joseph, mold him, and shape him for eleven years before he was ready to stand before Pharaoh.
“Would you be interested in meeting once a week to study the Bible, memorize Scripture, and pray together?”
I immediately set out to duplicate with someone else everything I was learning from our meetings. I shared the gospel with a guy named Casey, a personal trainer at the gym where I trained, and he accepted, to my surprise, the invitation to place his trust in Christ. He was radically saved.
In their book Transformational Groups they provide evidence to support the indispensability of meeting in a smaller context. The findings revealed that people in a group read the Bible more attentively, pray more regularly, confess sins more frequently, share the gospel more freely, give more generously, and serve more faithfully than those by themselves.
Discipleship must be the ministry of the church and not a ministry of the church for a world-changing movement to emerge.
New Testament Professor Scot McKnight explains the danger of failing to define what you mean: If one understands discipleship as “daily routine,” then one will produce those who have daily routines. If one understands discipleship as “evangelistic ministry,” then one will produce evangelists. If one understands discipleship as “Bible study,” then one will produce biblical scholars. If one understands discipleship as “effective operations,” then one will produce administrative geniuses.
