Discipleship = Relationship

Ten years ago (2012) Andy Stanley in his book Deep & Wide shared some key questions that he and the original staff at North Point Community Church in Atlanta began wrestling with as they were exploring the mission and strategy statement of their newly formed church back in 1995.

They were: “What should our discipleship model look like? What is our goal for the people who choose to partner with us in ministry? What does a mature believer look like? What role does the church have in developing Christ followers?“

“More than anything,” He goes on to write they “wanted to create a model that would actually facilitate spiritual maturity.”

They as a team had come to the realisation that the driving force behind most churches was not ‘spiritual formation’ (discipleship). They knew “that if they were not intentional, spiritual formation would get lost in the plethora of activities that tend to gobble up valuable time and resources.“

They had also come to understand that a growing relationship with Jesus, and with others focussed on true discipleship, was essential and that that was intrinsically linked with a person’s ‘level’ of faith and the development of such faith. Thus concluding “that the best discipleship or spiritual formation model would be one designed around growing people’s faith – true discipleship.

This was counter to what most of the group and those that they knew within the church had experienced growing up which was predominantly focussed on increasing people’s knowledge.

Therefore, Discipleship = Relationship Especially within the confines of a true Christian and faithful relationship. 

Over the past week or so I have touched on The Importance of Discipleship and Effective Discipleship and today I want to draw our attention to this essential ingredient – Relationships. 

You see, as we continue to assimilate societal and business approaches within the church we have again further compartmentalised aspects of discipleship and the myriad of relationships – especially mentoring, coaching, spiritual directors, counsellors and guides, Christian leaders, elders, pastors, ministers, officers, peer supports etc. etc. 

“What makes Christianity unique among all other religions” according to Joey Bonifacio in his book The Lego Principle, is that “it teaches people how to grow in their relationship with God and with others.“

He goes on to write that “the goal of teaching is not merely to increase our knowledge of divine principles, rules, laws, and things to do but to grow in our relationship with God and one another.“

In referencing John 5:39-40 he continues “In today’s language it might have sounded like this, ‘You keep going to your Bible studies and meetings, thinking that by doing so you’re getting closer to Me. Yet you resist living a life in relationship with Me.‘ 

The idea behind all the teaching and learning is that the deepening of our understanding of God will result in a stronger and deeper relationship with Him and subsequently with others.

John Wesley warned about learning and not growing in relationship: “Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.” (The Letters of John Wesley: Letter to Joseph Benson November 7, 1768 – John Telford) 

Brandon Cox, a former pastor @ Saddleback and founding pastor of Grace Hills Church in northwest Arkansas, and author of Rewired: Sharing the life-changing story of God’s love through social media says that; “Discipleship happens as God’s people show love, share truth and live life with one another, making new disciples along the way“.

Mark Hall, pastor and lead singer of Casting Crowns in his book Thrive: Digging Deep, Reaching Out explains that there are four essential disciplines in the area of growing as a believer – the first three essentials; worship, prayer and the study of Scripture the Bible stress. They need to be embedded into our spiritual DNA.

The fourth discipline which is often overlooked, he goes on to explain is something that Jesus elevated to be among His top priorities. Sharing life with others! Doing life together in community.

Therefore the building of relationships, with both those within the church and those outside the church are absolutely essential for each and every one of us.

So how are you doing at doing life together with others?      

Within the context of the Salvation Army, Major Ivan Bezzant in his Leadership Jesus Way resource explores how to train and lead disciples, and challenges us that we need to take on a kingdom mentality instead of the prevailing club mentality which unfortunately persists in many churches.

This involves us as leaders within the church measuring discipleship by two things, determining how we are becoming more like Jesus, and doing life with the people we choose to associate with.

The above resource can be made available – if you’d like a copy email me @ perry.bray@salvationarmy.org.nz

You see, “Our relationship with Jesus Christ, should be grounded in prayer, Scripture, community and service, and this is central to everything else in our life. But our relationships with others are also important for our ongoing growth. Healthy, intentional relationships with other people can help you (and I) follow God”. (Purposeful Living)

As I’ve referenced previously there needs to be a reawakening for the need for effective discipleship ministries going forward and Alan & Debra Hirsch write that “to fail in discipleship and disciple making is therefore to fail in the primary mission (or ‘sent-ness’) of the church.“

As we have seen we also need to focus on our relationships and how we are going to build community with others, so that we can grow in our faith and speak into the lives of others. For discipleship = relationships.

So, as we return to a level of normality with restrictions being eased may we focus on one of the areas that needs a fair bit of work to establish effective discipleship for our people and build into the lives of others through our relationships.

Blessings ’til next time 🙂

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Effective Discipleship

Prior to the Covid pandemic impacting our world the way it has over the past 2 years or so, there was a huge variety of different discipleship approaches that were available for the church to use.

And I’m sure that each of us could point to an App, website, model or method that was sort of working in our setting.

Last week I touched on The Importance of Discipleship and how it is intrinsically linked to evangelism as Steve Murrell writes in his book WikiChurch; “discipleship is a call to “fish” for people“. Today I want to draw our attention to the need for Effective Discipleship.

You see, maybe it would be better to say that we thought our discipleship ministry or programmes and services were working – because in reality this may not have been true as the results (the fruits of our labours) were not necessarily bringing us what we had envisaged. The effectiveness of our discipleship was not being fully realised. We may have focused previously too heavily on one aspect of discipleship or another, and may have even gone so far as to separate the many aspects of discipleship and lost sight of their correlation.

Dare I say that this may be the case with many Western churches as we have compartmentalised discipleship and even created whole departments that don’t necessarily interact with others to remain committed to the ultimate vision of the Christian church to bring people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.     

The things is, some people may have been coming both to faith and then maybe coming to church, but as the affects of Covid on the church show in our days many people are not coming back. Admittedly that may just mean not yet – for we are forever hopeful.

But hearing from some trusted Officers within The Salvation Army, ministers and pastors from other denominations and the likes of this article entitled ‘They’re Not Coming Back‘ posted by James Emery White on Church & Culture, among others. We’ll most likely find that attendance levels and discipleship group numbers, and all the other metrics we use to gauge how well we have been doing in the church will remain low post Covid.     

There are multiple reasons for this, Covid obviously being one. But because our churches haven’t or won’t be fully returning to normal (as the people in our congregations would define it) or because they have simply moved on to other things – as church is not necessarily as higher importance as maybe it once was, many so called disciples, believers and Christians are not coming ‘back into the fold‘ so to speak.

They may still see themselves as Christians, although a word of caution is needed to be communicated in this space in a way that is as lovingly possible as we can to those that choose not to return, for Jesus may say to “them outright, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me – you didn’t follow God’s ways!’” Matthew 7:23 (Radiate New Testament) 

Now, that may seem a bit harsh for some – but the reality is God created the church, and He envisaged for it to bring Life and Hope to the world, and be His resource to impact the world in which we live for His glory. 

This is not a new issue! It is one that the church has been grappling with for eons, and Paul even touches on it when he writes to the church of Philippi according to Richard Lamb in ‘Following Jesus in the “Real World” – Discipleship for the Postcollege Years’;

Paul’s urgency in Philippians is rooted in his awareness of the very real possibility that people who begin as disciples may turn away from the path of discipleship.

Jesus himself also recognises this issue when in John 6 after speaking of himself as the Bread of Life the very people who were joining to be His disciples were offended by His teaching and “turned their backs on him and even refused to be associated with Him“. John 6:66 (The Passion Translation)

In 2010 Alan & Debra Hirsch in their book ‘Untamed: reactivating a missional form of discipleship’ write that they “sincerely believe discipleship has become a frontier issue for the people of God at this time in history.

And most commentators would agree that in sincerely seeking to appeal to the prevailing consumerist culture, the Western church has all but lost the art of discipleship.”

They go on to say that “rediscovering what it means to radically follow Jesus is an area of strategic, missional concern” and, that “to fail in discipleship and disciple making is therefore to fail in the primary mission (or ‘sent-ness’) of the church.“

So how effective have we been in our discipleship? I would hazard a guess to say that we as the church universally have not been very good at it for quite a while. Discipleship programmes although many and varied have not necessarily been as successful as we would like. Studies consistently show that the Biblical literacy in church is sadly lacking, over the past few decades involvement in frontline church ministry has been on the downward trajectory, and attendance levels in mainstream denominations has continued to decline. This is not all doom and gloom though – there is hope! God is not finished with us yet – for the church is the Hope of the world, and the Bride will get to stand with the Bridegroom.   

Now, in today’s world there is a plethora of information about churches facing a new change of pace due to the Covid pandemic and the state of our nations.

There are many conversations about attendance declines, discipleship issues, pastor weariness and the great resignation and Dan Reiland explores 5 Traits of Churches That Will Build Again post this season we have been in with Covid.

Thom Rainer and Kevin Ezell in a recent Church Answers Revitalise & Replant podcast also look at five consequences for churches in this season that don’t seem to get much attention which may just surprise you. The third point that they raise is that there is a reawakening of the need for effective discipleship ministries.

So, as we return to a level of normality with restrictions being eased may we focus on one of the areas that needs a fair bit of work to establish effective discipleship for our people.

Not just Bible Study groups and interest groups for the sake of gathering together with likeminded people to do stuff and learn, which remain absolutely essential, but ‘Life‘ groups that start to exhibit areas of ‘spiritual‘ growth in people.

God requires for us to go deeper and develop those people entrusted into our care so that they become Spirit-filled and exhibit what J. Oswald Sanders calls the Three Fundamental Principles that should guide us in our service; 

• The Continuance Principle – “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.‘” John 8:31-32 (Revised Standard Version) 
• The Love Principle which is found in John 13:35 “by this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” (New International Version)
• The Fruit Principle – “If you remain (continue) in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourself to be my disciples.” John 15:7-8 (New International Version)

All three of which need to manifest themselves in our lives.

Blessings ’til next time 🙂

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