Discipleship is a bit of a buzzword right now, and that\u2019s a good thing. As the church, and as followers of Jesus, we should <\/i>be talking about discipleship. More than this, we should be doing <\/i>discipleship.<\/p>\n
But right there is the rub.<\/p>\n
Because discipling people is hard. It takes time. It takes investment. It takes energy. It takes sacrifice. It takes wisdom. And did I mention time?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a confession: I spent years as a full-time evangelist (that\u2019s not the confession part) bemoaning (here\u2019s the confession part) the failure of many local churches to really disciple and grow their newly-baptized members who had been won through the series I (or some other evangelist) had just held.<\/p>\n
The funny (and sad!) thing is that I\u2019ve heard pastor after pastor complain that, really, it\u2019s the evangelist\u2019s fault that newly-baptized people don\u2019t stick around. \u201cThey were baptized too soon.\u201d \u201cThey weren\u2019t adequately prepared.\u201d \u201cThey should\u2019ve been cleared more thoroughly.\u201d And on and on.<\/p>\n
So the evangelists blame the churches and pastors and the pastors blame the evangelists. I\u2019ve seen this sequence dozens of times and heard it repeated by others (on both sides) more times than I care to remember.<\/p>\n
It is impossible to fully disciple someone in four to six weeks.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And here\u2019s the truth: blaming is easy, but discipleship is hard. <\/i>My head elder is in the room as I\u2019m writing this, so I decided to read him what I\u2019d written so far. He listened, then gave it a moment of thought and said: \u201cIt\u2019s definitely the evangelist\u2019s fault.\u201d So, yeah, there you have it.<\/p>\n
It is impossible to fully disciple someone in four to six weeks. Not going to happen. Generally, modern evangelistic meetings last about that long. And, yes, all the doctrines may be covered more or less. And, yes, powerful and moving appeals have been made. But these do not constitute discipleship. They can get people on the path to being a disciple of Jesus, but these short-term successes can never take the place of the time, energy, and investment that genuine discipleship requires.<\/p>\n
Perhaps more than any other verses in the New Testament, Mark 3:14-15 speaks to the essence of discipleship: \u201cThen He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did you see it? If not, read it again. Read it until you get it, I\u2019ll wait…<\/p>\n
***Waiting***<\/p>\n
***Still waiting***<\/p>\n
So you saw it, right? Of course you did. Here it is: \u201cthat they might be with <\/i>Him.\u201d That\u2019s it right there! The secret to true discipleship, as Jesus both understood and modeled, is to be with <\/i>those you are endeavoring to disciple. At the risk of repeating myself: it takes time, investment, energy, sacrifice, and wisdom.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s hard. I think I mentioned that already.<\/p>\n
The secret to true discipleship…is to be with <\/i>those you are endeavoring to disciple.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Why is it so hard? The short version is that people are messy and complicated. Not all people, just 99% of them. It\u2019s one thing to say, \u201cHappy Sabbath\u201d while walking past someone in church, but it is an entirely different thing to really disciple and invest in another human being. And don\u2019t miss this: the pastor cannot single-handedly disciple a whole church. Even Jesus, who was God incarnate, limited Himself to 12 primary disciples.<\/p>\n
Presently, I find myself pastoring a church with between 400-500 on Sabbath morning. About 350 of those are members. Shortly after my arrival here two years ago, it became inescapably evident to me that, when it came to discipleship, I was in over my head. Way over.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s the solution? The answer, I believe, is to create a culture of discipleship <\/i>in the local church. For most churches, this will involve a complete reorientation of the church\u2019s status quo. It centers on small groups and social connections. It prioritizes relationships and time, not just inspiring Sabbath-morning sermons and fiery short-term evangelistic meetings.<\/p>\n
Here at Kingscliff, we\u2019ve not figured it all out yet. Probably your church hasn’t yet either. But we\u2019re trying, and I hope you and your church are trying too. This isn\u2019t the pastor\u2019s problem or the evangelist\u2019s problem. This is the church\u2019s opportunity and mission. It is your <\/i>opportunity and mission!<\/p>\n
And the essence of that mission is to spend time<\/i> with others. Time praying, time studying, time laughing, time playing, time teaching, time eating, time crying, time witnessing, time crying, and time growing.<\/p>\n
That is, time discipling.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Just like Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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