Small Groups are an Integral part of the Church

As mentioned in my previous post (Small Groups are Vital to the Health of the Church) throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and its associated lockdowns, church leaders around the world have identified Small Groups as one of the integral areas of the church that we need to remain focussed on as we return to larger scale in-person gatherings.

You see, small groups, cell groups, life groups, cell meetings, house churches – call them what you will, are one of the greatest tools for creating true Christian community within the church.

According to Tim Koster & John Wagenveld in their book ‘Take your Church’s Pulse’ “If we want the church to grow holistically, we need to recognise the missionary purpose of the Christian community… we can never underestimate its impact on the unbelieving world. In a world that suffers isolation, loneliness, separation, and violence, the church provides a community of love, reconciliation, grace, and forgiveness. These qualities, which are difficult to find in other places, contribute to the growth of the Church of the Lord.”

Building community is something that is at the heart of the Scriptures.

God has always been calling people out to be in relationship with Himself and with others.

They go on to say that “it is evident that the Christian faith should not be lived in solitude or isolated.”

Gareth Icenogle, author of Biblical Foundations for Small Group Ministry identifies that “The small group is a generic form of human community that is trans-cultural, trans-generational and even transcendant. The call to human gathering in groups is a God-created and God-directed ministry, birthed out of the very nature and purpose of God’s being… The natural and simple demonstration of God’s communal image for humanity is the gathering of the small group.” 

In Exodus 18 we see Jethro (Moses’ father-in-law) visiting Moses and during their get together he provides some valuable counsel to Moses around the importance of lightening the load and getting the people to gather in smaller groups.

“But select from all the people some capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as leaders over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten.” Exodus 18:21 (New Living Translation)

In this instance the Scriptures relate to sorting out issues that arose in the life of the larger community – But it is something that we can adopt within the church to not only lighten the load for our church leaders, it can also create a more meaningful community within smaller groups where people connect on a deeper level that they would not necessarily find in larger gatherings.       

You see, small groups allow for people to minister to one another, supporting and encouraging one another in the faith, using their spiritual gifts, and to be discipled in the teachings of Christ.

Andrew T Holm has written an article in which he outlines the 5 reasons why participating in a small group is vital for us today!

• Small groups create FRIENDSHIP within the body of believers.

• Small groups allow us to have FELLOWSHIP within the body of believers.

• Small groups provide an opportunity for DISCIPLESHIP.

• Small groups provide a COMMUNITY of growth.

• Small groups create a healthy atmosphere of ACCOUNTABILITY.

And according to Peter Block “Small groups are an essential building block to any future you want to create.”

Bill Donahue & Russ Robinson in their book ‘Building a Church of Small Groups‘ also write that “Small Groups offer Christians the rare opportunity of studying the Bible, then holding each other accountable to grow in Christ and the fruits of the Spirit.” 

Both aspects of group life, studying and growing are essential if we are to see holistic  transformational growth happening within those gathered.

The thing is, that when those that are part of these kinds of small groups adopt what they are learning and experiencing, they start to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit in their spheres of influence, and people recognise that there’s something different about them.

Therefore Small Groups can (and should) be also evangelistic in nature, as it is often a lot easier to invite someone to a small group of friends that are gathering than it is to church on Sunday, especially in this day and age.

Some larger churches have recognised this throughout the pandemic and have shifted their thinking from having “a church with small groups” to being “a church of small groups”.

That way if they are to experience any further lockdowns or restrictions of in-person gatherings going forward, they are able to continue growing in more ways than one and see people coming to the Lord. 

This train of thought is something that Graham Cooke & Gary Goodell also conclude in their book ‘Permission Granted to do Church Differently in the 21st Century‘; “The local church does not do small groups; the local church is a small group.”     

So, may we start to recognise not only how vital small groups are, but how they can be integral to the life of the church.

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Small Groups are Vital to the Health of the Church

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and its  associated lockdowns church leaders around the world have identified two key strategic areas that the church needs to focus on as pastors, ministers, officers lead out of this period of crisis that we have been living in;

One which we have been exploring over the past few weeks or so, the importance of discipleship.

The other is in the area of small groups, cell groups, life groups, cell meetings, house churches – call it what you will! Small groups are vital to the health of the church and I believe that Discipleship and Small Groups are intrinsically linked.

Steve Murrell in his book ‘WikiChurch’ writes that he is “convinced that the most efficient and effective way to make disciples is in small groups.” Obviously it is possible to make and grow disciples outside of small groups as we looked at last week 1:1 Discipleship is extremely important. It is one of a variety of ways in which we can start and be journeying with others in their faith and traverse life with them over a period of time. And maybe 1:1 Discipleship is pertinent to where some people are at in life, they can’t or won’t suit group settings, or they need some in-depth guidance and encouragement which is best suited to one-on-one direction. We need a ‘both and‘ approach to discipleship.

As Rick Warren espouses, we were designed for relationships, formed for fellowship, created for community and God intends for us to experience life with others together.

It is not God’s will that we would go through life by ourselves (or just with a select few) – we need others to journey with us.

We need to be in a small group where we can love and be loved, serve and be served, and share what we are learning and learn from others. We can’t do that in isolation and we can’t do that in a crowd, we need to be doing it in small groups.

The coming together of Christians in smaller (restricted sized) gatherings throughout the pandemic has been absolutely vital for the survival of many churches over the past couple of years. Many recognising that they had no other option than to reimagine what the meeting together in their homes referred to in Acts 2:42-47 meant for us in this day and age.

As Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho writes in his book ‘Successful Home Cell Groups’;

“when a home cell meeting is full of life, and when people are happy and sharing their faith and witnessing to what the Lord has done in their lives, other people are drawn to them. Unbelievers become curious. They want to know why this little group of Christians is so joyful when all around them there are so many troubles.“

Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho had identified in the 1960’s & 70’s that the traditional models of church growth and leadership simply did not work. But God has a method that does, and He wants every church to have it.

“Home cell groups give every church member an opportunity to participate in the ministry of their church and to bring revival to their neighbourhood.“

Maybe we, as the universal church, have to a certain extent been a bit slow on the uptake of this, especially in some settings, there are those for which small groups have worked extremely well. Or maybe the priority around small group development and the importance of it has over the years been squashed by the demands of the myriad of other areas of the church ministry, such as service and worship.

But the thing is during the pandemic that has swept our world and due to governmental restrictions of faith based gathering sizes, many church leaders had to grasp the reality that “this is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing. In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.“

Hebrews 10:25 (The Passion Version)

They recognised that they needed to revert to New Testament Church principles found in Acts and the Epistles, and develop ways in which the church could continue to meet and grow in smaller groups. Not being reliant on a form of church that had become predominantly attractional and dare I say it entertainment driven. But encouraging their congregants to be doing life together in small groups – for this is where meaningful community and transformation happens, this is where people can experience a closeness with their brothers and sisters in Christ that can’t be found attending a church service once a week.

I love how the Message puts the above verse; “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on…” Hebrews 10:22-25 (The Message)

You see, Small Groups are vitally important to the health of the church and we need to be inventive in the way that we approach them, ensuring that we don’t lose sight of the holistic aspects of what they should be about, especially going forward as we return to in-person services.

It is not enough to have a group regardless of size running that is solely about attracting others to be a part of it, or a group that solely meets a need in one way or another, they all need to be about Kingdom growth principles; pasturing, developing, training and utilising its people in God’s service. For according to General John Larsson in his book ‘How Your Corps can Grow: The Salvation Army and Church Growth‘ we each need to be;

• Growing UP – to maturity in Christ.
• Growing TOGETHER – in Christian fellowship.
• Growing OUT – in service and outreach.
• Growing MORE – seeking numerical growth.

So, as we return to in-person services we need to have and maintain an holistic approach to our small groups, and not lose sight of the importance that these have for His people.

Next week, we will touch on the importance of reorganizing our churches into a church of small groups, rather than being a church with small groups.

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1:1 Discipleship

If you’ve been following my blog over the past month or so you will have noticed that each week I’ve envisaged to raise the awareness (up the ante) on the critical area of discipleship, and the importance that discipleship has on many other areas of church ministry and service.

This is in part due to that fact that many Officers, pastors, church teachers and leaders around the world have become increasingly aware that Discipleship is one of the key aspects of the church that has sadly fallen by the wayside over the past few decades or so – even though there’s a plethora of material out there both online and in good Christian bookstores.

And it could be argued that this is something that has been identified as a key issue as we have had to adapt, morph, pivot and change aspects of our methodology due to the pandemic that has affected much of our world, especially worship ministry and service due to restrictions placed upon us as faith communities.  

But as I’ve noted this is not necessarily the case, as quite a number of Christian authors prior to Covid have raised concerns over the past decade or so and if we look at the history of our faith there are numerous instances from heroes of the faith over the past couple of centuries that have also pointed out the importance of discipleship.

In 2016 Matt Rogers wrote on the Gospel-Centered Discipleship site an article (9 Reasons to Prioritise One-on-One Discipleship) in which he outlines the importance and rationale why he believes that a return to the practice of one-on-one, life-on-life discipleship is one of the most critical needs for the church today.

He identified back then that the gap between the mission of disciple-making and the actual practice of most Christians had grown wider and wider – and that many Christians knew that they should be making disciples and wanted to do so, but they simply didn’t know how. 

Quite possibly this is a sad indictment of the health of many of our churches and Christianity at large, in that we have drifted quite some distance from the Great Commission (which can be found in Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:44-49, John 20:19-23, and again referred to in Acts 1:8) and compromised on one of the key aspects of our faith (teaching, journeying and discipling others) and our willingness to share our faith with others.                   

In the story of the two followers who were walking to the village of Emmaus (Luke 24:13-53) we see that not only did Jesus provide a way to broach the subject of who Jesus was and what He did with and for others, but also encourages us each to be witnesses of what God has done in our lives.

For many churches around the world the most effective and proven way to build healthy Christians is through one-on-one discipleship. And Matt Rogers in his article provides nine reasons why we need to prioritize 1:1 Discipleship.

One-on-One Discipleship allows for every member of the church to carry the weight of expectations around sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

One-on-One Discipleship allows for honest conversations.

One-on-One Discipleship allows for personalised application.

One-on-One Discipleship allows for evangelism and discipleship to unite.

One-on-One Discipleship allows for ongoing accountability.

One-on-One Discipleship allows for burden bearing relationships.

One-on-One Discipleship allows other ministries to thrive.

One-on-One Discipleship allows for mutual growth.

One-on-One Discipleship allows for healthy relationships.

The thing is, “One-on-One Discipleship relationships are not one of a host of options on the buffet line of spiritual formation alongside Sunday sermons, small groups, Sunday School, men’s or women’s ministry or a host of other good activities of the church.“

It is absolutely essential for each and every one of us that claims to believe in Christ to partake in. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer is quoted as saying; “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ”.

So who is your one? Who are you discipling and doing life with? Who are you journeying this thing called life with? Imagine the impact if every Christian had one person that they not only prayed for, but also shared the gospel with! The challenge of the Great Commission is yours to pick up and run with – are you up for the challenge?

Why not check out this resource which is available through The Salvation Army about 1:1 Discipleship.

I hope and pray that you have found these reminders on the Importance of Discipleship beneficial, that you will be enthused and inspired to step out in faith, and start developing discipleship relationships with those that will only know of Christ through your interactions with them.   

If you’d like to check out the other posts that I have written about the Importance of Discipleship check out the following links:

Discipleship: Multiply

Discipleship = Relationship

Effective Discipleship

The Importance of Discipleship

Next week we will start looking at the importance of Small Groups.

Blessings ’til next time 🙂

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Discipleship: Multiply

About the same time that Andy Stanley released his book Deep & Wide, which I touched upon last week, Francis Chan also released a book entitled Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples.

Within it he shares the importance of discipleship in light of the Great Commission, found in Matthew 28:19-20 and that we have all been invited to take part in the awesome privilege of inviting others into God’s story of redemption, and journeying with them on the pathway of life and faith.

David Platt in the foreword shares that; “From the start, God’s design has been for every single disciple of Jesus to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples until the gospel spreads to all peoples.” 

Throughout the book Francis goes on to explain what a disciple is, how to become one, what it means to be part of the church, before expanding on the importance of studying the Bible and understanding the Old and New Testaments.

He explains early on how the church has unfortunately moved so far away from Jesus’s command that “many Christians don’t have a frame of reference for what disciple making looks like.”

I would even go so far as to say that within many churches, and Christian organizations people don’t necessarily see and understand who we are, as Christians, Believers, Soldiers, Salvationists etc. let alone who God is; as they don’t necessarily see and hear how God is at work anymore in our lives, let alone the world. Unfortunately all too often we are merely providing a service, event, activity or programme and don’t acknowledge God’s part.  

Romans 10:14-17 (The Message) says; “But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That’s why Scripture exclaims,

A sight to take your breath away!

Grand processions of people
    telling all the good things of God!

But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: “Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?” The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.”

The thing is, discipleship is far more than a programme or ministry. It should be the driving mission of our lives. It should define us! Both as individuals and as faith communities.

We are all tasked with sharing the Good News of what God is doing in our lives and the lives of others – yet how often do we share it? Have we become ashamed of the Gospel? Is it what people see in us, or our churches, Corps, and mission stations?

Andy Stanley emphasises the need to create irresistible environments in his book Deep & Wide and says that “every ministry environment communicates something. There are no neutral environments. Environments are the messages before the message. The messages your environments communicate have the potential to trump your primary message.”

What do the people in our communities see? Do they see our primary message or something else entirely? Are we comfortable with what they see? 

We are according to Scripture the light of the world and are here to illuminate the God-colors in the world.

Matthew 5:16 (The Voice) emphasises the fact that we are to “Let our light shine everywhere we go, that we may illumine creation, so men and women everywhere may see our good actions, may see creation at its fullest, may see our devotion to Christ, and may turn and praise our Father in heaven because of it.“

In the foreword to Servants Together: Salvationist Perspectives on Ministry, General John Gowans opens with this “Salvationists pride themselves on being ‘doers of the word and not hearers only’, and the emphasis we place on rolling up our sleeves and getting on with it is one with which I heartily agree. But action without reflection soon becomes mindless routine; we must continually review what we are doing and why we do it.” 

The writers go on to share that; “William Booth clearly stated in 1879: ‘We are a salvation people – this is our speciality – getting saved and keeping saved, and then getting somebody else saved, and then getting saved ourselves more and more’ (William Booth, The Salvationist, January 1879).”

They go on to write; “We are called to mission. It is foundational to Christian discipleship to be in mission wherever we are. This is reflected very clearly in our task as Salvationists: we are ‘saved to save’.”

Have we watered this down when we proclaim that we as Salvationists are ‘saved to serve‘?

Afterall there are many service organisations in today’s word and it would appear that anyone can serve – people are employed to serve just about anything that we want, community food-banks popup all over the place serving the needs of their communities.

Now this theme of being ‘saved to save‘ is something that Lieut-Colonel Alan Burns picks up in his book Founding Vision for a Future Army – Spiritual Renewal and Mission in The Salvation Army, when he writes: “There should be nothing that matters more to Salvationists than to see God’s lost children found, reconciled to him and discipled for Christ. We need to be constantly focussed on this Kingdom priority. Any progress The Salvation Army makes that does not have soul-saving at the centre of it will not be progress at all. William Booth said he would prefer The Salvation Army to cease to exist if it lost its soul-saving passion. Unless we, as disciples, make disciples, who in turn make disciples, we will not fulfill our divine mandate.“

Are people in the community aware that we (as Christians, Believers, Soldiers, Salvationists) are in effect God’s people? Or do they look at us and recognise too much of the world? Has the Great Commission truly become the Great Omission?

The Gospel message is not something that we should be hiding from the world, often behind our service and actions – it should be front and centre on our lips and shown through our actions, every moment of every day.

In John 15:8 Jesus says that His “Father is glorified, that [we] bear much fruit and so prove to be [His] disciples.” (English Standard Version) 

You see, God wants the seed of faith that has been birthed within us to grow and develop, for it to mature into fruit that then replants and multiplies itself into the lives of others.

Our faith needs to multiply and grow – The evidence of our own discipleship journey should be that others are attracted to what we carry.    

Our service should be birthed out of a desire to serve God first and foremost and draw others to Him.

As we saw in the Discipleship = Relationships post, ‘God wants you and I to view the other Christians in our lives as partners in this important ministry. God has not called us to not remain in isolation – He has placed us in the context of a church community so that we can be encouraged and challenged by the people around us. And we are called to encourage and challenge them in return.’ (Adapted from Francis’ Book)

And he has also called us out – saved us to go and make fishers of men. To multiply our faith!

So, are you up for the challenge of a lifetime?

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Multiply is a 24-session discipleship experience designed for one-on-one and group settings. It is a simple resource that has been made widely available to view, read or listen to each of the sessions. You can even download the book.

Blessings ’til next time 🙂

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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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