Street Grace
Do you know any sign flippers? You know the dudes that stand on busy street corners with giant signs advertising the local cellphone or subway sandwich shop? They usually dance, yell, and flip the sign in order bring in customers. I know the sign flipper on El Cajon and College Ave. His name is Joe. He is new to the job and new to our community. He has a girlfriend from the Ukraine named Arena. He flips a good sign. Not so flashy and flamboyant that you feel awkward at the stop light but also not sleeping on the job. Joe is one of the most encouraging dudes I have met. He loves a good sermon and always lets his pastor know it. The other day at a community baby shower Joe won the, “who can chug root beer out of a baby bottle the fastest contest.” He is a legend around these parts now.
Street Signs
How did I meet Joe? Well the first time was at basketball game at the park right - after he'd drunk a 40. Lately, Joe has been hanging with Doug. Doug is almost 50 and has a big heart for our whole community. Doug is well known for having a pretty sweet ride. He owns a used but fashionable baby stroller that has a bungee corded garbage can connected to it - Big time! The garbage can is filled with empty cans and bottles he recycles. Sometimes it is also loaded with not so empty beer cans too. One week he parked his ride in front of our Sunday gathering, and it was packed.
Welcome to church. Would you like a cold one?
I have spent most of my life believing the lie that the Doug’s and Joe’s of the world aren’t worth my time. And I have been missing out on following my God into an abundant life of service and new friendships.
As a Christian I worship a God that went out of his way to serve those that society had deemed outcast. His band of followers were hated tax collectors, lowly fishermen and prostitutes. He didn’t avoid outcasts. He sought them out and washed their feet. This is the life of Jesus, this is our radical God.
Consider the weight of grace in our everyday life. Jesus says that the last on earth will be the first in the Kingdom of heaven. He even goes as far to say that how we treat the least of these is how we are treating him. Jesus went out of his way to love, cherish, heal and transform the lives of the very least in his city. Grace defines the life Christ lived on earth and the life he calls his disciples to follow him into.
Christ sees beyond our cultural stigmas and stereotypes and instead sees the people he has created to love and be loved, a people that he created to image him. Where the world sees losers and outcast our God sees Kingdom celebrities! Jesus didn’t just start programs for the outcast in his city (not that these are bad) but instead he shared life with them. Today, he invites all of his followers to share life with some of His Kingdom’s most famous people. I don’t want to miss out on this!
Scared by Grace?
From the outside, taking grace to the streets looks scary and lame, but Christ promises that he came to give life abundant. Jesus is not just talking about having a free meal or a program. Instead, Christ invites us to share his grace with even the most disenfranchised. To share grace with some of His Kingdom’s most famous people!
Our church doesn’t have any programs for feeding the homeless and/or impoverished. We have grown in knowing the Kingdom celebrities in our community by sharing our lives with them. We simply hang out where they hang out and invite them to hang out with us. We play basketball, board games, laugh, share meals, watch movies and help each other out. That’s right, we help each other out!
Even the most downtrodden folks have some mad skills, and if you get to know them you will find many are often eager to help and serve. My deck was just re-stained while I was on vacation by a good friend who without Christ I would have missed out on even knowing.
Keeping it Real
I don’t want to paint an unrealistic picture, loving and living out grace to Kingdom celebrities can be messy, heartbreaking, exhausting and expensive. But last I checked, Christ endured much more to love me and he did it for the joy set before him. Loving and following Jesus into the nooks and crannies of your city will cost you everything, but it will gain you much more.
Jesus says that how we treat the least of these is how we are treating him. He identifies with the hurting and broken to the point of dying a torturous death on a filthy Roman cross. He died the death that was created to publicly humiliate the very worst people in all of society. And he chose this death for the joy set before him. The joy of seeing lives be restored and stories be redeemed.
The gospel reminds us that we are the least of these. Identifying with the messy and broken should be easy for a group of people that believe they are so messy and broken God had to shed his blood to restore them.
The first step to loving the poor and disenfranchised in your city is realizing you are the least of these. From the CEO of the multi-million dollar company to the cashier at the taco stand, we all are equally poor and broken without Christ. And we all have the potential to be eternally rich with Christ!
We serve the broken because we are broken and he serves us. We love the unlovable because we are unlovable and he loves us.
These truths take the pressure off. We can love those different than us by living normal life together. Learn each others stories, hang out, share a meal, play a game and help each other out. That’s right, help each other out! You will be surprised who can serve, help and encourage you when you realize you are just another broken human in need of Jesus.
So who do you name drop? Do you know the people in your neighborhood that Jesus considers famous? Do you treat the CEO differently than the sign-flipper? Are you more patient with the rich and famous than the down and out?
I know the sign flipper on El Cajon and College Ave. His name is Joe.
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Jake Chambers: A member of Jesus’ bride - the church, husband to his beautiful bride Lindsey, and a daddy to his boy Ezra. Jake is passionate about seeing the gospel both transform lives and create communities that love Jesus, the city, and the lost. He currently serves Red Door Church through leading, preaching, equipping, and pastoring. You can read more of his writing at reddoorlife.tv.
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For a more in-depth discussion of authentically living out the mission of the gospel, check out Jonathan Dodson's Unbelievable Gospel.
For free articles on blending gospel-centered mission and community in the your everyday life, read: Lindsay Fooshee's The Unqualified Disciple, Winfield Bevins' How Jesus Made Disciples, and Jeff Vanderstelt's Gospel Hospitality.
The Gospel Grid
When in the midst of counseling, focused discipleship, sermon prep, or a weighty time of confession with another follower of Christ – if you are anything like me – a moment rises to the surface and you think, "What do I say?" or "What do they need to hear?" or “How do I bring this to the gospel?"
In comes the Gospel Grid. The grid covers four M's:
- Message
- Motivation
- Model
- Means
Working through the grid helps keep the ball rolling by providing a track for your words. And it helps the conversation come back to particular truths and encouragements from the gospel again and again.
Start with:
1. Gospel Message -- What needs to be heard?
The gospel is a word with many words. It's a message, a proclamation of truth. Here we ask ourselves the question, "What do they need to hear?" Volumes could be said, but what will be particularly helpful to this situation and to their heart?
Gospel Identity
In Message, we are appealing to the earth shattering, veil-tearing truths of our gospel identity. Remind people that they are:
- New creations (2 Corinthians 5:17)
- Freed from sin (Galatians 5:1)
- Adopted (Romans 8:15)
- Forgiven (1 John 2:12)
- Loved (Romans 5:8)
Before cooking up a slab of good advice, put the good news on the grill and watch the aroma of Christ fill the room. If we are diligent to remind the saints that the Son of God suffered in their place, not begrudgingly, but with joy, to forgive them of this sin – joy is not far away. Gospel focus will harp on belief before behavior. Good news before good advice. Beholding before behaving.
Jesus' Identity
Remind people of Jesus' identity. It is vital to think rightly of Jesus. Without him, we can’t think rightly of ourselves.
Jesus is our friend and our Lord. He is the Cosmic King, and he’s closer than our skin. We ought to fear him, but should never be afraid of him. The gospel is meant to humble us. And part of the gospel is the glory due Jesus. The glory of Christ needs to take hearts and minds hostage. Jesus is to be exalted over all things in our lives. We have not been given names at which every knee will bow (Philippians 2:9-11).
Gospel-centered discipleship should always resound with the person and work of Jesus. No one can hear too often that Jesus is our great God and Savior, he has made us his people, and he is purifying us for his glory and our good (Titus 2:13-14).
I’ll never forget hearing another pastor confess pain and heart ache to Ray Ortlund. Ray looked into his eyes and began with, “Brother, Jesus loves you.” Powerful.
2) Gospel Motivation -- What needs to be done and why?
Message focuses on right thinking. Motivation hones in on right doing for the right reasons. Here we are asking the question, "What needs to be done?” in accordance with a gospel-driven motive.
Kill Sin
Do they need to go ask someone for forgiveness? Do they need to forgive? The gospel compels us to seek and grant forgiveness with one another as God in Christ forgave us (Ephesians 4:32). Confession and repentance is essential in all discipleship, but especially if we want to be gospel-centered.
What sin(s) need to be brought the chopping block of mortification? The gospel reveals to us that we are no longer our own, but that we belong to Jesus. And now we make it our aim to honor and please him (1 Corinthians 6:20; 2 Corinthians 5:9). Encourage them to flee sin, not simply to avoid getting in trouble, but to enjoy God and glorify Jesus.
I’ve heard Christians say, “I’m waiting to be freed/released/saved from ______.” The satanic forces conjured up that formula. Christians are not waiting to be freed sin. Here’s why – a man from Galilee once screamed, “It is finished.”
Paul writes:
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:6-14)
So why should we flee sin? We’ve been brought from death the life. Why won’t sin bully us any longer? We’re under grace. The chains don’t need re-breaking. We need renewed minds (Romans 12:1-2).
Cultivate Good Works
In discipleship, it is common to focus on the things we shouldn’t do – but gospel soaked discipleship also explains what we should do.
Encourage disciples to flee sin – yes and amen! – and invite them to the good works that Jesus has prepared (Ephesians 2:10). What was Jesus’ motivation in his life and ministry? “Hallowed be your name…” Ours? “Hallowed be your name.” And through their serving “God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:10-11)
Ask the disciple if there is someone to serve as they have been served? Is there someone to go and encourage? Are they living on mission with a passion to see others worship Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).
Gospel motivation seeks to mortify sin and cultivate good works with a constant gaze on the person and work of Jesus, “to let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel Christ” (Philippians 1:27).
3) Gospel Model -- How should it be done?
Here we focus on attitudes, tones, postures, and the heart. The gospel gives the reason (motivation) and the rhythm (model).
How should a husband and wife relate? In accordance with the model God provides in the gospel – Jesus and his Church (Ephesians 5:22-33).
Is the disciple pursuing community with the people that God obtained with his blood (Acts 20:28)? Jesus didn’t only buy people; he bought a people, a body, The Church.
Are they practicing humility in all corners of life? Jesus is the definition of humility. Philippians 2:1-11 extols the striking humility of Jesus; and that Christians should “have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus [emphasis added] (v.5).”
All Christian virtue is modeled and made known to us by the person and work of Jesus. If we want to be more loving, humble, and selfless – there is nowhere better to look than the cross (John 15:13).
The Proverbs are a wonderful, but often abused, section of Holy Scripture. They are more than quick-and-witty tips to living right. The Proverbs are details into the life of Jesus, who is our Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30), that we can now live because of Jesus.
4) Gospel Means -- How will it be done?
Up to this point everything sounds all fine and dandy, but a question looms. The disciple will wonder it – you’ve thought it too. “How am I going to change and do all this? I fail often. I struggle. I want to change and grow but my goodness – this seems beyond me.”
Assure them, “You are right. This is beyond you – way beyond you. But not Jesus.”
We cannot forget our gospel means. Without this truth, our discipleship will be nothing more than mega-ton yokes.
Gospel-centered discipleship clutches to the words, “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Remind the disciple that Jesus is alive in them. The same power that rose Jesus from the dead – a.k.a. God – has setup shop in their body. He is tinkering, sanctifying, and empowering them to live anew. Whatever God demands he also supplies.
The means, muscle, capacity, and know-how of the Christian life are not in us; but in Jesus. And if we are in Christ and Christ in us, the power for the Christian life is now in us. The Holy Spirit of God is rumbling through our lives – and he will bear fruit. Christians work in concert with the Spirit of Christ (Philippians 2:12-13).
In gospel means we are moving the disciples eyes away from sola bootstrapa and towards solus christus – Christ Alone. Do they believe that apart from him they can’t do a single thing (John 15:5)? Gospel-centered disciples admit total reliance upon Jesus. And it leads to a plea, a prayer for help.
“Jesus, apart from you I cannot do _______. I cannot be ________. I need you. I need your strength, power, and righteousness. Help me Lord. Renew my mind. Do this in me, for your glory and my joy. Amen.”
Putting It all Together
One final example; Pastor Paul said it best.
I have been crucified with Christ (MESSAGE) It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (MEANS). And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God (MODEL), who loved me and gave himself for me (MOTIVATION). – Galatians 2:20
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Jeff Medders is the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Church in Tomball, TX. He is pursuing his M.Div at Southern Seminary. He and Natalie have one precious little girl, Ivy. Jeff digs caffeinated drinks, books, and the Triune God. He blogs at www.jeffmedders.org and tweets from @jeffmedders.
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For more in-depth discussion of sharing the gospel, check out Jonathan Dodson's Unbelievable Gospel.
For more free resources on strengthening your witness, read: Jeremy Carr's Impressing the Gospel Through Questions, David Fairchild's Gospel Diagnostic Questions, and Jonathan Dodson's All the Right Answers: Reason it's Difficult to Share Our Faith.
The Opportunity of Doubt
It is human, all too human, to doubt. When we share our faith with our non-Christian friends, we are often skirting the tension between finite understanding and infinite understanding—between the materially possible and the spiritually necessary. Doubt and faith have nothing to say to each other, and yet in this world, they often appear inseparable. For this reason (and by God’s grace), I have felt the Spirit prompting me at times to share my doubts with the folks I disciple. My prayer is that what follows is both a guide to the stormy waters of doubt as well as a clear pointer to the light of Christ shining above the troubled seas of our lives. One Hundred and One Fun Things to do with Doubt
Last football season, I had an extra ticket to a game, and I invited my friend along. We stopped by the grocery store for some beers and sunscreen before heading to the tailgate party. Which is to say, I wasn’t really brooding about Existence right then, but my friend was. As we waited in the check-out line, he started talking about the end of the world: how humans have polluted the land, air, and water; how we’re continuing to do it; how we’re actually increasing our efforts.
Zoom out. We were waiting in line in a noisy, crowded store, and my friend was speaking to one of my most complex, unending despairs. Here’s how the doubt runs in my mind: both the Bible and science indicate that the future isn’t exactly rosy for the earth, and yet one of God’s initial commands was for humans to be stewards of His creation. I can’t help but feel deeply ashamed of the ways my actions contribute to the destruction of the environment.
This doubt stems from a cognitive dissonance: Take care of the Earth versus the Earth will be destroyed. This dissonance is partly responsible for the heated political rhetoric surrounding the environment and sustainability. At any rate, this is what I told my friend. I explained how deep my despair is about this subject, and I didn’t sugarcoat it with some platitude about my beliefs. I was honest. I told him that I have to pray about the Earth every morning. I have to give it back to God. On a cosmic-scale, it’s almost hilarious just how much global climate change is out of my hands, and yet I cannot help but feel responsible.
The beauty is that God doesn’t sugarcoat anything. He doesn’t have to. He knows this planet—He even knows me—far better than I do. By placing my faith in Christ, I align myself not with unthinking religiosity, but with the greatest thinker in the universe. As a result, I am free to act (and sometimes even fail) in pursuing environmental stewardship.
Zoom back in. My friend and I are standing in line to buy junk from the local mega-corporation. (There’s those cognitive dissonances playing out in real life.) But I don’t have to despair. Yes, I think the gospel calls us to help in renewing all creation, but do I always trust that knowledge? No. That’s what I told my friend. The gospel frees me from judgment and empowers me to act (Romans 6:1-2), but I am still compelled to get down on my knees and pray for strength to accept that freedom everyday.
We can open up to our friends about doubt, if we will see past our feelings of despair into our forgiveness in Christ. This frees our witness from both crippling defeatism and self-satisfied legalism. It can season our speech with the salt of critical thought (Colossians 4:6). In other words, the doubts aren’t the key. The key is the compassion found in Christ—that he understands our doubts and still loves us.
With this freedom, my friend and I climbed into my car and drove to our national distraction. Because I followed the Spirit’s promptings to be transparent about doubt, I gained an opportunity to talk about my faith. Honesty about doubt led to a deeper conversation about faith.
Doubts and the Doubting Doubters who Doubt Them
In Christ, there is no real reason for doubt. In Christ, we claim forgiveness, grace, and peace. Through faith in Christ, we possess the power to move mountains. The problem is one of unbelief. Our brokenness, our every sin stems from something we do not fully believe about God, but if we are to share our faith in a genuine way, we must share how God answers our unbelief, how our wayward minds are redeemed in Christ, how our troubled souls find rest and overflowing grace in the Holy Spirit.
When sharing a doubt with your friends, avoid the language of ownership (if possible). More importantly avoid self-pity about the despair attached to the doubt. Avoid smugness about your faith. The hope is that in disclosing a doubt we can open up a discussion of faith and offer loving words about how God answers our unbelief with grace and courage.
For example, many of my non-Christian friends feel the doubt voiced by logical positivist philosophers like A.J. Ayers. In so many words, they’ll explain that religious language is nonsense because it’s scientifically/empirically unverifiable. While this isn’t my particular brand of doubt, it is certainly one to which many non-Christians cling. But in speaking to them about this doubt, I have not found it helpful to rationally discourse about this philosophical stance. The conversation then caves in on the limits of its own reasonability, resulting at best in a series of metaphysical chess problems.
Rather, when I’m attentive to the Spirit, I’ve learned to take a step back and remember my own feelings of doubt—how they create such pointless sorrow and anxiety—and I speak to that. In other words, when we’re in tune with the Spirit, we speak from the heart to the heart (not necessarily from the mind to the mind).
The Division of the Individual
That’s all good and fine for sitting at the café chatting with our friends. What do we do when doubt gets personal? For example, what of the militant doubts that point out the uncounted atrocities that have been committed in the name of religious belief?
Again, take a step back and pray. Remember, this is the despair and anguish of unbelief talking. We are not equipped to answer these charges. Fortunately, Christ is. In this example, it may not be a good idea to air your own feelings of unbelief and doubt, but rather speak directly to the pain of the individual with the healing and love you have found in Christ Jesus.
Here’s the funny thing about faith. We all have it. It takes a certain amount of faith simply to be convinced that my “self” or anyone else exists. Interestingly, folks don’t typically assign this aspect of faith any religious meaning. It’s simply “who we are.” But, in the total absence of faith, who are we really? There are statistics that speak to those who lose this last hold-out of faith, and they aren’t pleasant. Without some small amount of faith, we would begin to doubt the very substance of our being.
This is the critical juncture of how broken we really are. Except for faith, our humanity is literally falling apart. In John’s Gospel, Christ says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). This is kinda scary stuff for a non-Christian to hear, but God is bigger than those fears. God is bigger than the horrifying things that have been done by ignorant and deceived and broken people in his name. How do I know this? Is it simply wishful thinking? Is God loving only because I say so? No. Christ says that’s all sorts of backwards and upside down.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. - John 15:9-12
In other words, when addressing—for example—despair over the atrocities committed in the name of religion, leave everything else and follow Christ. Remind your self and your friend that—according to scripture—nothing has been done in Christ’s true unutterable name that wasn’t also done in love. If an act of “religious belief” was done without love, it was done without Christ, and if it was done without Christ, then it was done without faith. In the absence of faith, all that remains is—not just doubt—but the void, the total dissolution of the God-breathed life inside us.
The critical distinction we must make as disciples of Christ is that our identity and agency do not arise from the formless void gnawing at the base of individual identity. By grace, we are learning to see that the very prospect of this construction of individual self is impossible from its foundation up, hence the terror and pain of those feelings of doubt. But when we take ownership of faith in Christ, then from him flows a new communal identity and a powerful fellowship of agency—the foundation of which is the very center, the unshakable core of all Creation.
Identity Restored
My true identity is in Christ not in myself. In Christ, we stand united with the true meaning of our lives, with our renewed humanity. But for a person hearing this truth for the first time, all this sounds pretty weird. The loss of individual identity? Being united with what? This is when—if I’m in tune with the Spirit—I often hear that still small voice saying, “Share those same doubts you once had… now share how Christ offers so much more.”
Christ is the hinge on which the entire universe turns. Christ is the door that opens to the infinite glory of God. Likewise, the gospel is the key that unlocks our restore identity. The good news is Christ understands our doubts. In Luke’s Gospel, Christ dispels the disciples’ doubts just before his ascension, offering questions that convict me even now: “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see.” (Luke 24:38-39)
My prayer today is to lay my doubts before Christ. To meditate on the wounds he suffered for my sake and find in his cuts and bruises the fullness of grace poured out for my sake. What doubt can withstand this flood of mercy? May the Holy Spirit guide the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts toward healing the sickness and pain of unbelief in ourselves and in those we disciple!—that we might sing of the peace and restoration found only in our redeemer Christ Jesus.
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Ben Roberts is the Managing Editor of Gospel Centered Discipleship, a member of Austin City Life, and a follower of Christ. He lives in an amazingly ugly house with his wife (Jessica), son (Solomon), dog (Charles Bronson II), and two very angry chickens. A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers, he is currently working on a novel. Twitter @GCDiscipleship
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For more on sharing the gospel authentically, check out Jonathan Dodson's Unbelievable Gospel.
Impressing the Gospel Through Questions
A few years ago I attended an apologetics seminar featuring a few well-known authors and speakers. During a Q&A panel discussion, one of the speakers stated “We mustn’t just answer questions. We must answer the person behind the questions.” This drastically changed my thinking in regard to evangelism and discipleship. We mustn’t seek to only provide better answers, but to encourage the asking of better questions. Questions reveal something about the person questioning and the person answering.
A Culture of Questioning
In a postmodern society, the church has seen a backlash against doctrinal absolutes to the point that questioning everything has become the norm. Everyone has questions. Everyone seeks answers. While questions aren’t in themselves dangerous, how we answer them can be.
Safe Questions, Safe Answers
Some questions prompted by fear are answered by surface-level statements whose goal is self-preservation. While the answers may be factual and true, there is no transparency or vulnerability. In some church circles these have been called “Sunday school answers,” keeping discussion on topics rather than getting to the heart behind the question.
Safe Questions, Dangerous Answers
Some questions are prompted by ignorance. In these conversations, one may be quick to speak an answer, but that answer is not always wise. At best this is a “missing the forest for the trees” scenario.
Dangerous Questions, Safe Answers
Some questions are prompted by pride. These questions are asked so the questioner can answer themselves. Though Scripture is frequently used, it is often misapplied. What’s at stake are idols and religious legalism.
Dangerous Questions, Dangerous Answers
Some questions are prompted by sin and rebellion. The question and answer are often the same, exposing the fallenness of humanity and expressing cultural and personally preferences.
Gospel Questions, Gospel Answers
Gospel-centered discipleship involves not only providing the answers, but reorienting the question itself, getting to the heart behind the question and applying the gospel. “Gospel questioning” is prompted by the good news, asking questions in faith and hope, seasoned with grace, honesty, and vulnerability. Questions are the groundwork for the gospel answer to take root and flourish.
A great example of “gospel questioning” is in Mark 10:17-31. This is a beautiful story of discipleship: an outsider trying to become an insider and a group of insiders learning the nature of the identity they’ve been called to as disciples. A rich man asks Jesus a question. Jesus answers with a question, spinning the disciples into questioning, all the while providing the answers in the interchange. Here we see three questions posed which inform us of the gospel in the immediate context, but also apply to us today.
The Rich Man: “What must I do?” (17)
Behind this question is a man characterized by wealth, knowledge, and good works. The rich man asks a good question – one that we all ask. We answer by our religion, spirituality, and good works.
Jesus: “Why do you call me good?” (18)
The man addresses Jesus as “good teacher” – a seemingly prideful comparison of being on par with the Savior in light of his telling of keeping all the commandments. Jesus responds to the question with a question that draws out the motives and theology of the rich man. Is Jesus good because of what he can do for the man? Is the man addressing Jesus as an equal who’s religious lifestyle is “good” as well?
The Disciples: “Who can be saved?” (26)
The disciples ask a question that has personal and missional implications. “Who can be saved?” as if to say, “Look what we’ve done – We’ve left everything to follow you – what about us?”
Jesus impresses the gospel through questions, revealing the true motives of the human heart. The true issue is not the question itself, but the sin, idols, fear, and pride within the heart that prompts the questions. Here the pride and idols of the rich man are exposed. Likewise, the fear and pride of the disciples is addressed. One could imagine the ignorance of bystanders washing away in light of the revealing of Jesus’ goodness and the salvation he provides.
The Question Whose Answer Changes Everything
Mark 8:27-30 is the turning point of Mark’s gospel. Jesus asks, “who do people say that I am?” This question sets the stage to address cultural views and expectations, revealing the questions people are asking. Jesus not only gives the answer, but uses and question to bring about revelation of the gospel. Jesus asks his disciples, “who do you say that I am?” This question gets to the very heart of any fears and doubts that the disciples may have, evoking the faith and hope of the gospel. On behalf of the disciples Peter responds, “You are the Christ.”
This question is not only the once-for-all proclamation that all Christians cherish, affirming the identity of our Savior Jesus. This is an ongoing question we must continually ask to remind ourselves of the good news.
The Role of Questions in Gospel-Centered Discipleship
Impressing the gospel through questions has implications for both personal discipleship and leadership.
Personally, impress the gospel into your own heart by questioning the questions and objections prompted by sin, idols, pride, and fear. Invite others to question you as well. In the moments of combatting sin and idols, we must answer the gospel question Jesus poses: “Who do you say that I am?” Our response of faith or doubt will change everything – not only for eternity, but the moment-by-moment living in a broken world.
In discipleship, may we answer the person behind the question, tilling the very soil of the questions so that the gospel seed may be planted and flourish. May we answer questions well, and also encourage the asking of questions in light of the gospel. May we face the brokenness of humanity head-on and pry the human heart with questions.
Developing gospel questioning fosters humble reliance on Christ’s work, Scripture’s guidance, and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. Likewise, gospel questioning develops ongoing rhythms of belief and repentance personally and relationally in community on mission.
What kind of questions are you asking? What kind of answers are you seeking? What kind of questions are you evoking? What kind of answers are you giving?
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Jeremy Carr (ThM, MDiv) is lead pastor and co-founding elder of the WELL in Augusta, GA. He has been a member of the Acts 29 network since 2007 and has written for the Resurgence. Jeremy is husband to Melody and father to Emaline, Jude, Sadie, and Nora. Twitter @thewelljeremy
How Jesus Made Disciples
"What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” - 2 Timothy 2:2
Many Christians and churches will never reproduce themselves. The result is that they take their faith and legacy with them to the grave. Nearly four thousand churches close every year in North America. Ed Stetzer estimates that 70% to 80% of all evangelical churches in the US have either stopped growing or are in decline! What does this mean? Simple: the church in North America is not reproducing. We need to become a reproducing disciple making movement once again.
The ultimate goal of discipleship is to reproduce disciples with the gospel through developing disciple making leaders and church planting. Reproduction ensures that a movement will live past its founding stages. The church was never intended to be an end in itself; rather it is called to reproduce and fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples. Reproduction is the goal of every living thing. We see this throughout the pages of the Bible. The Bible is full of reproductive language. God created humankind, animals, and plants to reproduce. Reproduction is also seen in the agricultural language that Jesus uses throughout the gospels.
Reproducing disciples is the result of selecting, training, and empowering leaders who will in turn reproduce themselves in others. This begins locally with the church and then can take place on a larger scale through reproduction of church plants regionally and internationally. You can be a part of a 21st century disciple making movement that can change our postmodern world for Christ.
Reproducing Disciples: A Few Good Men and Women
The most powerful paradigm for reproducing disciples is the discipleship methodology of Jesus. In The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman tells us that Jesus’ plan of reproducing disciples, “was not with programs to reach the multitudes but with men whom the multitudes would follow...Men were to be His method of winning the world to God. The initial objective of Jesus' plan was to enlist men who could bear witness to His life and carry on His work after He returned to the Father." If we are to be like Jesus, we must invest our lives in faithful men and women who will reproduce themselves in others.
Robert Coleman’s Master Plan of Evangelism offers the following eightfold way Jesus trained the twelve disciples; selection, association, consecration, impartation, demonstration, delegation, supervision, and reproduction. In this section, I will summarize Coleman’s analysis of Jesus training of the twelve disciples in this section and apply it to reproducing disciples.
Selection
It all started when Jesus called a few men to follow him. Jesus did not choose everyone he met to be his disciples. He took very seriously the selection of men he trained. Rather than focusing on the multitude, he only chose twelve. The reason for his selectivity was intentional. He chose twelve men and a number of women to instruct and train. They would in time reproduce themselves in others. A few good men and women were Jesus’ master plan of reproducing disciples.
In a similar way, we must be selective in the people with whom we choose to disciple. We should look for people who are faithful, willing, and able to reproduce their discipleship in others. Disciple making does not require a degree or Bible college education; rather we should seek to find men and women who have a passion and a hunger to for Christ. Willingness to answer the call to follow Jesus is the only requirement to be a disciple of Jesus.
Association
Jesus was intimately involved in the lives of his disciples as they followed Him. His training method was spending time with His disciples. Coleman points out that Jesus had no formal training or education; He was His own school and curriculum. This is a radical concept for those of us who live in the 21st century. Whenever we find someone, who seems called into ministry we send them off to let someone else train them. The New Testament model of discipleship was homegrown, natural, and organic. Discipleship happens as men and women spend time with their spiritual mentor.
In a similar way, we should be in the lives of the people we are seeking to develop. We should schedule time with people who we want to disciple outside of normal church functions. We should schedule times to play, pray, and share a meal together with the people we are discipling. This means that discipleship will require something of us. Discipleship costs us something even for those of us who are called to disciple others. We must sacrifice our time, energy, and emotion in others if we are to fulfill the discipleship task of making disciples. I believe this is one of the number one reasons that churches don’t disciple anymore. It takes "too much" time.
Consecration
Jesus expected His followers to obey Him. He sought to create in His disciples a lifestyle of consecrated obedience. Discipleship is about a total consecration to the Lord. As disciples, we need to submit and obey God’s word and plan for our lives. However, many of us have trouble submitting. We live in an individualistic culture where people do not want anyone else telling us what to do. That is why submission and obedience to God is so hard as well as important. When we become obedient to God in every area of our lives, we will experience victorious Christian living. God can only use men and women who are willing to obey Him.
Impartation
Jesus gave himself away to His disciples by imparting to them everything that the Father had given Him. He gave Himself freely. He imparted not only Himself, but also spiritual truth about life and ministry. He taught them about the scriptures and the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus imparted Himself to His disciples, we must seek to give ourselves to the men and women that we are called to serve. There is a transfer of godly wisdom and character when true discipleship takes place. As leaders, it is important for us to grasp that we have a spiritual responsibility to impart ourselves in others if we are going to make disciples.
Demonstration
Jesus demonstrated how the disciples should live the Christ centered life. One reason Jesus had such a lasting impact on His disciples is that He lived the message before them daily. He was the message and the method. By walking with Jesus, they saw how He lived His faith in the real world. He prayed before them. He fed the poor. He had compassion on the multitude. He healed the sick. In other words, He lived the life that He wanted to reproduce in His disciples. After Jesus' death and resurrection, He expected His disciples to say and do what He said and did.
It is important that we practice what we preach, because the people we are training will follow our life and example. It is not enough to preach the gospel, we have to practice it daily. Our personal walk with God is one of the most important factors in developing godly leaders. We will reproduce what we are. The most powerful message is a life lived for God. Make sure that the life you live is worthy for others to follow.
Delegation
Jesus assigned His disciples work. He developed His disciples by delegating ministry responsibilities to them. He sent His disciples out and gave them real ministry. Hands on experience was a vital part of Jesus' discipleship curriculum. It's funny that churches make people do things even Jesus did not do. Some churches make people go through a yearlong process before they can serve in any capacity in the church. Likewise, some people spend years in college and seminary with little if any real ministry involvement. Churches need to rethink delegating spiritual responsibility to people, especially new believers. Is it any wonder our discipleship is often anemic? Sadly, most people think the pastor is supposed to do everything in the church. We must not forget the power of involving people in ministry.
Supervision
Supervision is important. Jesus supervised His disciples. Whenever they returned from a ministry trip, they would report to Him. This allowed a time for the disciples to reflect, review, and to receive instruction from Jesus. Supervision is an important part of leadership development, especially when dealing with new believers. We want to delegate and empower people to act, but we also need to help supervise them to make sure they stay on track. Many times people will get into trouble without proper supervision. Supervision is an art. On the one hand, if we are not careful, we can micro-manage people. On the other hand, we can be so loose that we don’t supervise people at all.
Reproduction
Jesus expected His disciples to reproduce His likeness in others. He imparted His message and mission to His disciples so that they would reproduce themselves in others and make disciples of all nations. The Great Commission implies that the followers of Jesus will reproduce themselves and “Make disciples.” Reproduction is how the Christian movement was born.
Today, what has become a 2.1 billion-member movement started with only twelve disciples. I want to return to the analogy of the Vine in John 15:1-17. The purpose of the Vine (Jesus) and the branches (us) is to bear fruit. Christians are to work for and expect a harvest (Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:2). Let us commit our lives and our churches to reproducing ourselves in others in order to make disciples of our communities and our world.
We need to rediscover the reproductive nature of the church. We are called to select, train, and send missional disciples of Christ out into the world who will be able repeat the process of discipleship. What we need in our day is an organic disciple making movement that will train and send men and women to be reproducing disciples of Christ.
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Dr. Winfield Bevins serves as lead pastor of Church of the Outer Banks, which he founded in 2005. His life’s passion in ministry is discipleship and helping start new churches. He lives in the beautiful beach community of the Outer Banks with his wife Kay and two daughters where he loves to surf and spend time at the beach with his family and friends. Twitter: @winfieldbevins
Gospel Hospitality
Hospitality is a forgotten art. It also has a lost biblical history. We can recover the art of hospitality by understanding what it is and discerning how the gospel changes our notions of hospitality. In general, hospitality is about treating strangers as equals by creating space for them to be protected, provided for, and taken care of, followed by assisting and guiding them to their next destination. Let's see how this holds up to scripture. The Origin of Hospitality
There is a lot of history to consider in understanding the act or art of hospitality, but it all goes back to the beginning. In Genesis 1-2, we discern God’s first hospitable act. Consider what God did when he created the world and the garden of Eden for humanity to live in it. He gave Adam and Eve all they needed to enjoy life restfully while doing the work He created them for. He gave them space to exist, to enjoy creation, and to enjoy each other and fellowship with Him. They were given both the space and the capability to create, to work, and to exercise authority, with all the resources necessary they needed.
Israel: God's Hospitable People
Consider God’s commands to His people regarding hospitality to strangers (Lev 19:9-10, 33-34; Deut 10:18-19). Through Abraham and Sarah, God created a new nation - a People blessed to be a blessing to all nations. He gave them all the resources and capabilities to exercise hospitality to strangers, orphans, and widows. Similar to the Garden experience, Israel offered His people a place of refuge where others could rest and receive all they needed, enabling them to do what God had created them to do. However, now this rest came in the midst of a broken, sinful world.
On the flip side, think of the number of occasions where Israel found itself as the strangers among a host people. In some cases they found a hospitable reception (Egypt with Joseph in charge; the spies and Rahab). In other cases they found themselves treated like enemies or slaves (Slavery in Egypt; Babylonian Captivity). God had called them to be hospitable, yet they often failed to do so. After, receiving hospitality this must have become clearer to them.
God allows us to experience grace as recipients so that we might be distributors of grace to others.
God allows us to experience grace as recipients so that we might be distributors of grace to others. Hospitality toward Israel was a clear example of God’s gracious gift, once again, and should have motivated generous hospitality. Unfortunately, Israel failed to enter God's rest because of their unbelief and disobedience (Heb 4). So, they not only failed to rest in the work of God, but also failed to offer that rest to other nations. In all their hospitable failures, they needed one who would fully rest in God in order to become an enduring place of refuge for others.
Rethinking Hospitality with Jesus
Jesus entered into a culture shaped by a variety of world views (The Imperial Cult, Jewish Monotheism, and Hellenistic Philosophy to name a few). In this culture, the concept of hospitality was rooted in several different traditions. First, the idea of taking in a hostile stranger or enemy and treating him as you would yourself. Second, the Greek practice of hospitality in which a stranger passing outside a Greek house would be invited inside the house by the family. The host washed the stranger's feet and offered him/her food and wine. Only after the stranger was feeling comfortable, could the host ask his or her name. This practice stemmed from the thought that the gods mingled among men, and if you played a poor host to a deity, you would incur the wrath of a god.
A third shaping force in the concept of hospitality in Jesus’ day was the Hebrew understanding (as briefly considered in the passages above and demonstrated also in the story of Lot and the angels– Genesis 19). Jesus comes into this cultural context and calls the weary to himself, feeds the hungry, mends the broken, eats with sinners and tax collectors, washes his disciples' feet...and ultimately gives his life to cleanse us from sin, deal with our unbelief and provide a way and place for us to rest. Jesus lives, loves, obeys, works, dies, and rises again so that we might find a place of rest, renewal and recreation. He offers us rest in order to send us on our way to be about God's purposes - rescued to offer rest. Jesus saved us to be His Hospitable People!
3 Ways the Church Can be Hospitable
In light of the Gospel, we might define hospitality as the creation of a space that allows people to BE themselves, to BECOME renewed, and to DO the works God has saved them for. When we properly exercise hospitality, we welcome people to be themselves in the warmth of the light of Christ, to become renewed by being changed by the work of Christ, and to do works we have been created for in Christ.
To Be Rested
In a broken world, marred and diseased by the effects of sin, people need the space to rest. This is why Jesus called people who were weary and heavy-laden to come to him. He would give them rest for their weary souls. Jesus calls us to rest in His work on our behalf so we can be a people at rest who provide sanctuaries of rest for others.
Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed. God had created a place and made space for them to be themselves without covering or facades. If we are in Christ, we are clothed with His righteousness. We don’t need to cover up or hide. One of the ways we create space for people to experience and come to understand the gospel is by creating space for people to reveal their true self and see that they are loved regardless of the “wrinkles and scars” of sin. How do we create space for people to be their true self?
To Become Renewed
The gospel isn’t only about loving and forgiving sinners. It is also about restoring broken and marred people into healed and whole people who grow up to become imitators of Jesus Christ – restored image bearers of God. Jesus created space for people to be and to become (Think of Mary, Peter, Thomas, the woman at the well, the blind man, the paralyzed). Gospel hospitality implies creating space for people to be known, to be real, to be loved, and ultimately to be led with the Holy Spirit’s help to healing and wholeness through the work and person of Jesus Christ. How do we create space for people to be led toward healing and wholeness?
To Do Works
The gospel moves from who God is and what Christ has done on our behalf into the works He created us to do (See Ephesians 2:8-10).
This is the result of Jesus’ gospel hospitality. He got on the same level with his enemy – becoming human. He became our servant – to the point of death. He spent all that He had in order to clean us up – by becoming our sin and giving us His righteousness (2 Cor 5:21). Then He sent us His Spirit to empower us to do good works for His sake so others could be welcomed in to the family. When we engage in gospel hospitality, we are regularly asking ourselves this question:
How do we create space for the stranger to be rested, restored, healed, and prepared in Jesus Christ for the work God has called them to?
Will you join God's rich history of providing rest in order to extend rest? Remember, everything he has called you to do he has already done for you in Christ Jesus. You have everything you need to offer gospel hospitality to the strangers, friends, and even enemies around you.
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Jeff Vanderstelt and his wife, Jayne, have three children: Haylee, Caleb and Maggie. He is a pastor at Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA and a trainer for church planters. He blogs here. Twitter @JeffVanderstelt
What is Gospel Centered Ministry?
The theological foundation of the church is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Churches fall into error whenever they move away from the gospel as their foundation. Alan Hirsch reminds us that, “Discipleship, becoming like Jesus our Lord and Founder, lies at the epicenter of the church’s task. It means that Christology must define all that we do and say...It will mean taking the Gospels seriously as the primary texts that define us.” Therefore, the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves individuals is also the gospel that grows individuals through discipleship in the church. Man-Centered Ministry
One of the major problems in many churches is bad ecclesiology and a man-centered view of ministry. The recent development of trends in North America such as mega-churches, seeker churches, and emerging churches has brought the issue of ecclesiology to the forefront of debate/discussion for church leaders. Many churches in North American have a pragmatic approach to ecclesiology that focuses on church growth more than church health and on cultural accommodation rather than biblical faithfulness.
The result is that many churches produce consumers and not radical disciples of Jesus Christ. Contemporary churches are being shaped more by contemporary trends than by the biblical ecclesiology. Some churches have either adopted a hierarchal structure that resembles a corporate business structure or they simply have no church structure at all. The truth is that church structure is extremely important for the overall health of a local church and the discipleship process.
Understanding the Gospel
Discipleship begins with understanding the gospel. Many Christians have a watered down, man-centered version of the gospel. The result of not having a solid grasp on the gospel is a dysfunctional and fragmented faith. C.J. Mahaney warns that three things result when we move away from the gospel: legalism, condemnation, and subjectivism.[i] There is a need for a clear understanding and a rediscovery of the gospel in the 21st century. Jerry Bridges writes, “The gospel is not the most important message in history; it is the only essential message in all of history. Yet we allow thousands of professing Christians to live their entire lives without clearly understanding it and experience the joy of living their lives by it.”[ii]
What is the gospel?
The gospel is the declaration of the good news that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died for our sins on the cross of cavalry. Simply put, there is no gospel without the sinless life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Tim Keller beautifully describes the gospel as, “The person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever.” [iii]
Doctrines of Grace
To be gospel-centered requires that one knows the doctrines of grace. Men like Martin Luther and John Calvin fought to bring a reformation to the church that would put faith back into the hands of the people. Arising out of the period of the Protestant Reformation were five foundations which summarized in part what the Reformers were trying to do. These banners were known as the "Five Solas" (Latin for 'only' or 'alone') of the Reformation: the authority of scripture, salvation in Christ alone, by Grace alone, through faith alone, and to God Alone Be Glory. These five solas of the faith are as important now as they were then.[iv]
A gospel-centered view of salvation is completely Christocentric. Christianity begins and ends with Jesus Christ. The word Christian literally means “Christ-like.” Therefore, a proper Christology is the place to start if we are really going to talk about salvation. Gospel-centered theology distinguishes between man-centered and God-centered views of salvation.
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole person and is freely offered to all who repent of their sins and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. By His blood, Jesus has obtained eternal redemption for every believer. We are “saved by grace through faith, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Therefore, salvation is the work of God from beginning to end. Salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God's grace. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, thereby justifying them in His sight.
Applying the Gospel
The gospel has implications for every Christian believer that reach far beyond salvation. Christians should live gospel-centered lives. Believers are saved by the gospel and called to live by the gospel. The gospel is for all of life. Not only should every Christian have a clear understanding of the gospel, but we should also apply it to every area of our lives.
The gospel is to be applied to every area of thinking, feeling, relating, working, and behaving.[v] Christians must never move beyond the gospel. C.J. Mahaney writes that believers should memorize the gospel, pray the gospel, sing the gospel, review how the gospel has changed our lives, and finally we should continually study the gospel.[vi] This is the reason why the gospel is the foundation for discipleship.
Gospel-Centered Ministry
There is an important connection between the gospel, ministry, and discipleship. Our theology has a direct effect on our ministry and discipleship. In many ways, our discipleship is the fruit of our theology. Sadly, many church leaders use church growth principles to add people to the church; however, only the gospel can grow people into disciples of Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, a Gospel-centered church does not only preach the gospel. The gospel is not an addition to our ministry or even a beginning point; rather, the gospel must saturate every part of our church’s life. Each stage of our discipleship process should also be gospel-centered. From assimilation, to preaching and teaching, to counseling, to leadership development, the gospel must be central. Even our worship should be gospel-centered.
The church should reach lost people with the gospel through community outreaches, personal evangelism, and missional living. The church should develop and grow disciples with the gospel through small groups, Bible study, service, and the teaching of spiritual disciplines. It should seek to reproduce disciples grounded in the gospel through leadership development and the mentoring of godly men who will become elders and deacons. Let the gospel be the heart of your church from beginning to end.
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Discipleship 101: How to Disciple a New Believer
There are two men in their 20s who recently came to faith in Christ through the ministry of our church. I baptized them a few weeks ago. I’m discipling these guys right now. So, the question of how to disciple new believers is foremost in my thoughts. Discipleship involves a lot, but one of the most important things we can do for a new believer is teach them how to read, understand, respond to, and apply God’s Word. I’m discipling these two men is through weekly Bible reading meetings. This is how I do it:
-Every Wednesday night these guys come to my house to join in our Neighborhood Group with people from our church and neighborhood.
-I have the guys come 30 minutes early so the three of us can read the Bible together.
-Each week we read one paragraph of Scripture together and talk about it. Right now we’re reading Philippians because it’s the book I’m preaching through, it’s the book all of our Neighborhood Groups are studying, and because I think Philippians is a pivotal book to master for new believers.
-Each week I ask the guys two questions about the text: 1) What did this text mean in its original 1st century context? 2) What does this text mean for our lives today? As we work through these two questions I connect our thoughts to Jesus and the bigger storyline of Scripture.
-From 30 minutes of Bible reading and these two questions, we end up covering a ton of theological and practical ground. Last week’s study of Philippians 1:3-11 led to conversation about the Trinity, the second coming of Christ, how to pray, and God’s sovereignty and human responsibility.
Most believers have never been intentionally discipled and most believers have no clue how to go about discipling a new believer. The problem is that people don’t have a good understanding of what discipleship is. Here’s a definition we use:
Discipleship is truth transferred through relationship.
It’s that simple. What I’m doing with these two men on Wednesday nights is transferring truth through a meaningful relationship. I love these two men, and they know it. In relationship with them, I’m teaching them the truth, and at the center of that process, we're learning how to read, rejoice in, and apply God’s Word.
This post originally appeared at JustinBuzzard.net.
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Justin Buzzard is founder and lead pastor of Garden City Church, a new church plant in Silicon Valley. Buzzard has been dating his wife for nine years and is the father of three young sons. He speaks widely, writes at JustinBuzzard.net, and earned an MDiv at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of Consider Jesus and mostly recently Date Your Wife. Twitter @JustinBuzzard
Taking the Long View
A few years ago I read A Narrative of Suprising Conversions by Jonathan Edwards, and there is one particular paragraph that God used to shape and change my heart. Edwards is talking about his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, who preceded Edwards as pastor of his church. Listen to how Edwards describes him: “He was eminent and renowned for his gifts and grace; so he was blessed, from the beginning, with extraordinary success in his ministry, in the conversion of many souls.” Edwards explains that this happened in five seasons or “harvests" spread over Stoddard's 60 years in ministry. Edwards tells us exactly when they happened:
Harvest one erupts, and many are saved… Four years pass… Harvest two comes, and a great number of people are converted… Thirteen years pass… Harvest three happens, many come to know Christ… Sixteen years pass… Harvest four comes about, people flock to faith in Jesus… Six years pass… Harvest five errupts, and many are saved.
Years passed - sometimes more than a decade - between the times in which this church saw God bless them with great seasons of numerical growth by conversion. This great man of God pastored in the same place for nearly 60 years, pouring his life out for the sake of Jesus, working hard to make disciples, and was blessed to see amazing things.
We like to talk about those periods when growth is happening. It’s exciting. It’s energizing. We love to tell stories of churches that are seeing many people coming to faith. New services are started. Locations are multiplied. Baptisms are happening. But my question is: what about the seasons in between? What was happening in Stoddard's congregation then?
For every harvest there must be a sowing. When you add up the numbers, for 39 of his 60 years in ministry Solomon Stoddard didn’t see extraordinary growth. To be sure, people came to faith. Undoubtedly, the Spirit of God was at work. But, by most standards today (at least those we use in the American Church), Solomon Stoddard wasn’t much of a success.
At the heart of his ministry is a quality that is unfortunately all but forgotten by many: faithfulness. If Stoddard had been evaluated today, he might have been told to give up. To reevaluate his call. To change things up, try something new, adopt another strategy. Why? Because we are so tempted to trade the call to faithfulness for the allure of success. It is not sexy or glamorous to spend decades faithfully preaching the Word of God, investing your life in the people God has entrusted to you while seeing very little visible fruit.
But for a true harvest to come, there must be seed sown. Cared for. Watered. Tended to. Protected. Nourished. It is only after this hard work of faithful care has been done that a lasting harvest can come.
My prayer today is that God would give us the long view of ministry, and that our desire would be to give our lives in faithful service – trusting God to bring a tremendous harvest!
Bill Streger serves as the Lead Pastor of Kaleo Church, an Acts 29 Network church in Houston, TX. Born and raised in Houston, he attended Houston Baptist University and is currently pursuing his M.Div. from Reformed Baptist Seminary. Bill is a husband to Shannon, daddy to Mirabelle and Levi, and a life-long Houston Rockets fan. Twitter @billstreger
A Story Of Gospel Community
In two weeks, in a suburban town outside of Seattle, we'll celebrate God's grace and the Spirit's work through baptizing a new disciple of Jesus. This is the story of how a neighborhood can look like the book of Acts, where disciples are made and we teach and preach from house-to-house, an example of how to make disciples in our sphere of influence... in today's context. We moved into our housing development 7 1/2 years ago, and for the first 6 years, we didn't know anyone who didn't live next to us. I’m serious. I didn't know the guy across the street. By the way, his name is Trevor, and he's getting baptized in my backyard. But, for the first 6 years, the extent of our reaching-out to our neighbors was leading a youth group and handing out bibles door-to-door and singing Christmas carols in the dark because people shut off their lights on us. Sometime while standing in the cold singing "O Come All Ye Faithful," I started to think, "Maybe we need a different modus operandi for bringing the gospel to my neighbors."
I decided to leave my one church to seek out help from people who have done this before, and I landed with Soma Communities. Truth be known, I am very prideful in the way I do things. Whether it is my orthodoxy or my orthopraxy, I feel like I have it down to some degree, which is a spillover from my success in business. It is wrong thinking, but I know this about myself. When coming to Soma Communities, I purposed to be a learner. What I asked myself was, "If you know so much, how come no one around you is repenting and being baptized?" So, even though I was soon asked to take a lead role in a Missional Community out in my suburban city, I decided to just sit back and learn. As I learned, as I listened, I began to be intrigued, and I finally had to act on it.
I asked a new friend of mine, Caesar, "How should I start? Where should I begin in my community?"
He suggested, "Ask the Spirit, 'What's next?'"
At that time, I rarely asked the Spirit to guide and empower me for mission because I was doing nothing that would require the Spirit. I was insular, hanging around only Christian people, and rarely ever engaging anyone with the Gospel or showing them the effects of the Gospel and how that might look in our community. There was no reason to pray. It would have been like asking God to help me flip the channels on my television.
Well. My wife and I prayed... Spirit, what's next?
If you want to open the power of the Spirit like freeing a hungry lion from its cage, then ask the Spirit what's next with a desire to show others what He's like for the sake of making disciples.
The Spirit answered by simply telling my wife and me this: On July 4th, instead of having your BBQ in the backyard, move it to the front yard.
This isn't earth shattering, but as Luke 16:10 puts it, he who can be trusted with a little, can be trusted with a lot. We agreed with the Spirit and decided that would be a good idea. Then He pressed. We ended up putting together a 4th of July wiffle ball tournament and cook off and going door-to-door handing out flyers. The response was overwhelming. This was the first time I met Trevor, my neighbor from across the street. He entered a wiffle ball team, and they won. Whatever. In the end, we had about 40 people play in the tourney and around 150 people at the 4th of July festivities. People continued to come up to me and tell me it was the best 4th of July party they had ever been to. It reminded us all of the Wonder Years. We didn't want this to only happen once a year. So, we started throwing BBQs all the time and inviting people over to have dinner from the connections we made on the 4th.
As summer was drawing to a close, my wife and I knew one thing: we needed help to build this community to reflect the community of God. We started praying that God would send helpers and had other leaders within Soma praying for us as well. God answered. He ended up moving another couple to our city from a different Soma Expression and then sent us another couple from our old bible study. It was beautiful. We came together with a plan that we felt was from the Spirit. We sought to continue the dialogue with these new couples by hosting Saturday morning breakfasts at our house. We wanted these other couples to be there with us to engage our neighbors and become part of our community. To do this, they had to be willing to lay aside some of the things they might have been more comfortable with to pursue our neighbors. But, our goal was to have these breakfasts with an eye on going through the Story of God at some point with those people with whom we were building relationships. We figured this might take a year or so to build these relationships strong enough to engage them on a deeper spiritual level.
This whole time, my wife and I kept asking the Spirit, "What’s next?" Now, we were able to put names to these prayers. We started the breakfasts in October and by the end of the month the Spirit was opening doors for the Gospel like I've never seen. People were asking us, "Why do you do all these things for the community? (We had also arranged a Halloween party, game nights, etc.) Do you sell Avon? Are you Christians? What church do you go to? etc."
We answered those questions, and then asked, "Would you be interested in walking through the story of what the Bible says about God and why we feel compelled to bring about this type of community? We can do it our house and have fun and eat like we always do anyways and then have this story time with dialogue among friends.”
We ended up asking about 6 couples from our neighborhood and 4 said yes, including Trevor and his wife. After 10 weeks of engaging in story and having a lot of fun, summer was back. We told those who went through the story that if they wanted to continue with us to dig into the Scriptures to see what the Gospel says about making disciples, we'd be happy to have them. Trevor and his wife agreed and really started to delve in. We again threw a huge 4th of July party with wiffle ball, cook off, and fireworks, and kept following up with BBQs and studied the word together as a Missional Community.
Now, this entire time, we had, as a group, been praying that God would put on our hearts those people in our lives who seemed to be pushing into the kingdom. We'd been praying (and are still praying), because we were going to once again be doing the Story of God coming up in January. We then had a study on baptism, and two things came out of Trevor's mouth: 1) I want to be baptized 2) I've been praying and talking to my brother and his fiancé and they desire to not only come to the BBQs but also to the Story of God when we start it.
Praise God!
In two weeks we'll be having Trevor's whole family, some friends, and our Missional Community in our backyard for a BBQ and a baptism. He's being commissioned to make disciples, but because he’s been watching me, and I've been walking this out with him day-to-day in normal everyday life for a year and a half, he's already doing it. To him, a disciple of Jesus naturally makes more disciples.
Our Missional Community started the day I put aside my own comforts and moved my BBQ from my backyard to my front yard. We went 6 years without knowing anyone. Now, if we throw a BBQ, we have 70 people show up. We have 6 couples in our Missional Community. We are doing pre-engagement for one couple and trying to save another couple from going through a divorce. We think we might have to multiply coming up in January because we could have close to 40 people that desire to go through the Story of God with us.
I'm no saint. I'm nothing special. I'm not paid by the church. I'm not paid by the community. God pays me money through my business - not to hoard it, but so I can be making disciples who make disciples in the neighborhood where I live.
This story isn't crazy. This story isn't outlandish. It's pretty normal. My family is pretty normal. That's the beauty of it. This is a small taste of what has been happening in our neighborhood and also in our own spiritual development. You’ll notice as you live this out, life, as usual, isn’t perfect. There are times of much difficulty. As a dude in our Missional Community put it, “You only get really irritated with people if you actually get to know them. It’s hard to get irritated at others if you merely wave at them when putting your garbage at the curb.”
If you're reading this, what’s holding you back from going to your knees tonight and just asking God, "What's next?" Be careful. Once you’ve let this Lion of Judah out of the cage, He'll take over the neighborhood.
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Seth McBee is the adopted son of God, husband of one wife, and father of three. He’s a graduate of Seattle Pacific University with a finance degree. By trade Seth is an Investment Portfolio Manager, serving as president of McBee Advisors, Inc. Today, he’s a missional community leader, preaching elder with Soma Communities in Renton, Washington, and executive team member of the GCM Collective. In his down time, he likes to do CrossFit, cook BBQ, host pancake ebelskiver breakfasts at his home and many other neighborhood events in his hometown of Maple Valley, Washington. You can find him on twitter @sdmcbee or at www.gcmcollective.com.
The Gospel Affects How We Treat Leaders [video]
This part 4 in a series of video interviews about the book Gospel-Centered Discipleship.
Sharing Your Failures & Your Faith [video]
This part 3 in a series of video interviews about the book Gospel-Centered Discipleship. In this video, Jonathan explains an important concept in his book regarding the professional/novice discipleship distinction. He advocates that we should disciple by not only sharing our faith but also sharing our failures. He also addresses the challenges of introvert/extroverts in making disciples.
Messy Discipleship
In our house, we used to have a beautiful set of drinking glasses that were made of translucent artsy green glass. Notice I said we “used to"... A few weeks ago our house was full of the life, laughter, and mess of sharing our home and table with our community; after everyone left and my wife and I were cleaning up, we noticed one of our beautiful green glasses had a huge chip off the top. We now officially have only three of these nice glasses. They've moved from the threatened dishes list to the full-fledged endangered dishes list. I don’t have much hope for their survival either as they have yet to breed.
Just the other day a neighbor broke another one of our glasses, and as I was cleaning up the glittery shards, it hit me - if you have a complete set of dishes you just might not be on mission.
God’s mission is messy and costly. Think about it. In order for us to be a part of God’s family, to be his disciples, to get to live in eternity with him in his home, it cost him his comfort to the point of a dirty, torturous execution on a cross. Yet I often want to be his follower and have a life of comfort.
I want to do hospitality my way, on my time, around my schedule, with the people that are easy for me to be around, and I want to have a complete set of dishes when I am done. But this just isn’t the life God has called us to. God calls us to not just have hospitable events but to have an open door and hospitable life. Jesus was available for the sick. He fed the hungry crowds when it was inconvenient. He hung out with the drunks, tax collectors, lepers, and sinners. His way of discipleship was dirty and probably smelly.
I have a friend that has modeled this hospitality well and as a result often has men in his home that are so drunk and out of it they sometimes foul their pants. He and his wife have literally cleaned man-poop off their floor. This grosses me out and makes me want to think twice about the people I let into my house, but oddly enough it also inspires me. It looks so much like Jesus. A couple of weeks ago my neighbor’s daughter had a little present slip out of her diaper while they were visiting. We saw the log on the floor, and all of us wondered where it came from. I immediately checked my son's diaper, and people were diaper checking all around until we found the culprit. I instinctively cleaned up the poop, de-sanitized the floor, and went on with what turned out to be a wonderful evening.
Sometimes discipleship means people are going to poop on your floor. If we are servants like Jesus, we get to clean it up. Jesus modeled this when he washed his disciples feet. At the time, everyone traveled on dirty, smelly roads in sandals and often were hopscotching around camel dung. Washing smelly feet was reserved for slaves, yet Jesus, the master, took the lowliest task and washed his disciples' feet.
I like my things to stay nice, and I don’t like doing disgusting jobs. But I do want to follow Jesus, and I do want to be his disciple and make disciples. To do this all the time means I am going to have to do some things I don’t like and lose some things I do like.
So again, if you have a full set of dishes and nobody has ever pooped on your floor, you might want to stop and examine if you are really on God’s mission.
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Jake Chambers: A member of Jesus’ bride - the church, husband to his beautiful bride Lindsey, and a daddy to his boy Ezra. Jake is passionate about seeing the gospel both transform lives and create communities that love Jesus, the city, and the lost. He currently serves Red Door Church through leading, preaching, equipping, and pastoring. You can read more of his writing at reddoorlife.tv.
Forgiveness Is Not Semantics
The world often claims that authentic, unhindered friendship is not only unrealistic but not that important. I have come across very Godly and mature believers who are also confused on this important matter of community. We must get back to making authentic friendships essential as we disciple others—teaching and living-out this truth. Christ tells us to forgive others just as our heavenly Father forgives us (Mt. 6:14-15):
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Let's look at how this concept plays out in our society and if it helps relationships or not. When we sin against someone, we'd much rather free ourselves from that wrongdoing so we say things such as "My bad," or "I didn't mean to do it." We’re trying to say what we've done is really a cosmic whoops versus Sin. The person who was wronged often responds by saying, "No problem, everyone makes mistakes," or "Don't worry about it." The wronged party returns the favor by passively retracting any ownership that they might have in the process of reconciliation.
Alarmingly, this interaction becomes the norm for our relationships. The result is that trust is never truly built, safety is never restored, and we are able to throw past problems back at each other. This is why bitterness creeps in, and we begin to paint a false picture of each other. This is also why people are pegged as harsh and unloving when they call a sin, a Sin. It’s simply not the norm in our culture. Is it unloving? Or is it redemptive?
We like to think that forgiveness is dispensed by a super-gracious God with no strings attached. This is not altogether true. Although forgiveness is free and God is super-gracious, Christ has said it must be given to be received. I propose that by the definition of the cross, forgiveness is always available but only instituted when we realize we have wronged a Holy God and ask God for His forgiveness. God forgives, but we have to admit we need forgiveness and forgive others in turn. God doesn't take the "no big deal" route, nor does he let us say "Oops, my fault." In the same way, as we follow Jesus' model and obey his command, we must concede that there are two people in the relationship. Both people are needed for the relationship to be brought from brokenness to wholeness.
So what does it look like to practically take our cues from Jesus in the area of receiving and forgiving people?
When we wrong someone we do the following:
- We don't make excuses or justification.
- We clearly admit the sin and name the sin.
- We ask for the other person to forgive us (modeling that they are an important part of the reconciliation process).
The person who has been wronged now has the opportunity to do two things:
- Take the person off the hook by extending forgiveness (Mt. 6:14-15).
- Encourage the person being forgiven that their wrong doing will not be connected to them during the rest of the relationship (1Cor. 13:5).
I must warn you, people like to hear this theologically, but when you hold them accountable they might not be so appreciative. To enact this gospel-centered principle as we disciple others, we must first build conviction from Christ’s instruction and then plead with the Holy Spirit to strengthen us as we build authentic friendships. In fact, this negotiation of true repentance and forgiveness is a critical key to authentic friendships. In modeling Christ’s instruction for forgiveness, we are fighting for a major truth of genuine gospel-centered fellowship.
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Eric Russ is compelled by gospel-transformation in the city and author of Discipleship Defined. He and his wife Sara along with a dedicated team of friends moved to Detroit's east side and founded Mack Avenue Community Church, where he serves as lead pastor. Discipleship is the heartbeat of their ministry. Twitter: @EricRuss76
Video: Justin Taylor interviews Jonathan Dodson about his New Book
In this video Justin Taylor interviews Jonathan Dodson about his new book Gospel-Centered Discipleship. Jonathan responds to questions such as: What is discipleship? What is gospel-centered? Where have you failed in disciple-making? Justin Taylor is vice president of book publishing and an associate publisher at Crossway. He has edited and contributed to several books, including A God-Entranced Vision of All Things and blogs at "Between Two Worlds," hosted by the Gospel Coalition.
Jonathan Dodson is the lead pastor of Austin City Life church and provides directional leadership in several organizations including PlantR, The GCM Collective, Gospel Centered Discipleship.com. He recently published Gospel-Centered Discipleship with Crossway.
Questions Asked During the Interview 0:10 – What do you want GCD to accomplish?
2:31 – What does it mean to be a disciple?
5:08 – So many people are using the term “gospel-centered” that it can seem like a buzz word or a fad. Why did you choose to use this phrase in the title of your book?
7:44 – Looking back at the last ten years of discipling others, how has your disciple-making changed? Where did you drop the ball?
11:35 – How are “Fight Clubs” different from the typical accountability partner or accountability group?
14:50 – Justin Taylor: “I had a hard time putting the book down, and I hope other people not only pick it up but read it and then apply it.”
Preview Gospel-Centered Discipleship
- Download free Holy Spirit chapter
- GCD Book Discussion Guide
- Also available at Crossway & Christian Book.com
Replacing the Center of Youth Ministry
To truly disciple is to realign our affections - and those of the person we're discipling - to a greater Person. Unfortunately, many youth ministries do not focus on making disciples or the heart change of their young people. Instead, behavior modification, moral change, or intellectual assent are often emphasized. This method of enacting change will never bring about true, joy-filled change. It will merely adhere to dutiful rules and regulations. Our hearts and minds must desire something of greater worth. We need something that moves beyond and replaces the previous holder of our affections - something of supreme meaning and power. Thomas Chalmers puts it this way in The Expulsive Power of a New Affection: "We must address to the eye of his mind another object, with charm powerful enough to dispossess the first of its influence, and to engage him in some other prosecution as full of interest, and hope and congenial activity, as the former." (Emphasis mine) In other words, the Christ of gospel must replace the thing that holds the place of highest esteem and honor in the hearts, minds, and the eyes of those who we disciple.
Replacing Our Affections If we do not replace these objects of highest affection with the Gospel, Chalmers says, we're in essence putting our young disciples through torture. We're removing their greatest joy and pleasure, their deepest happiness - the very thing that makes them who they are. We're stripping them of their identity and replacing it with a new “nothingness.” It’s no wonder our disciples struggle. The Jesus we preach is not worth replacing any of the desires of our hearers' hearts. The Jesus we preach is more like a guidance counselor than a Savior; more like a baseball coach than their Lord; more like a friend than a conquering King.
The Jesus we preach is not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus we preach may be great for saving us from the fires of hell, but He most defiantly will cause us to live a hell here on earth because He is not something that can fill our affections. This is not to say that the true Jesus cannot fill these voids, it’s that the Jesus we preach of cannot fill these voids. The Jesus we preach is a moralistic therapeutic Jesus. He is a Jesus for the future not for the present. He is not a Jesus that cares about our lives, our parent’s divorce, our grades, or our basketball team. All He worries about is how good we are, or if we're looking the part. It’s no wonder students don’t want to follow this Jesus.
Securing Our Affections We must not point our youth toward empty religion but to a love-filled cross, a beaten and battered Savior, a King who defeated His foe, a risen Lord who rescues our hearts. To the one who beckons us, “Come, rest, and be accepted not because of what you have done but because I love you.” The cross secures our affections to the one who was placed on it. All other affections will fail us. The cross and resurrection are not only the focal point of all of human history, they're the only lasting thing that can eternally hold our affections. Because of this, the cross is the one and only place where we can point our young disciples that will replace their highest wordly affections. Only a true view of what Jesus has done will cause a student to, in the words of Paul, “Count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Phil. 3.8). Because of His life, His death, and His resurrection, we can turn our eyes toward ultimate worth.
Ultimate Truths For too many of us we simply do not have a big enough view of what Jesus can - and has - done. Because of this disbelief in the power of the Gospel we have moved away from pointing our hearers to Jesus, the Gospel and a big God. Youth need to know three ultimate truths are central to affection-stirring discipleship:
1. Jesus The Jesus we teach, preach, and worship matters. Sadly, we teach a Jesus who is more concerned about our happiness than his glory - a Jesus who wants you to have your best life here and now. This thinking and teaching is not true. Yes, Jesus did come to give us joy and hope. He even came to guide us, much like a guidance-counselor. But many times what Jesus has called us to do is the exact opposite of what is comfortable, easy, or fun in our own eyes.
2. The Gospel Once we understand Jesus, our view of the Gospel needs an overhaul. We have relegated the central truth of the Scriptures to “a one and done” deal and removed the power from the Gospel by preaching it merely as the mechanism for salvation. The Gospel calls us to more then just intellectual knowledge that Jesus died in our place. It calls for allegiance to the King. An allegiance that brings about change in the world through the power of the Gospel (Rom. 1.16; Col.1.6).
Once students grasp the centrality of the Gospel to Christian life, they will no longer be tossed to and fro by every movement, thought, or idea that is thrown at them. No, they will have affections that are firmly rooted in the only place that can bring them lasting joy. This is something worth living for.
3. Big God A clearer understanding of Jesus and his Gospel leads us to a clearer understanding of God. We must teach students about our BIG GOD - a God who is bigger then their parents' divorce, their friends' suicide, their failed relationships, or the wars in the world. We need to teach a sovereign, all powerful God. A theologically correct view of God, who is all-powerful and all-knowing. This God is worthy of our very best. He gave His very best, Jesus His only son. When the God that we teach is better, more powerful, more glorious than what they see here on earth, then and only then can they endure the trials and sufferings of this world. When they lose what they have here on earth, they have only lost something of temporal joy and pleasure that pales in comparison to their God.
We must set our hope on Jesus who will lead us to denounce all other things upon which we have, or could, place value. Is the Jesus you're pointing your disciples to worth giving one’s life for? Or are you calling them to an empty hope, events, or moral change? Nothing truly changes until the object of our affections have been replaced with a big God, in the person of Jesus, through the hope of the gospel.
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Josh Cousineau was a youth pastor for over 5 years and is now the lead pastor of Redemption Hill Community, which launched in Auburn ME in 2012. Josh is married to his high school sweetheart, Anna. They have 3 amazing children (2 boys and 1 girl). Their daughter was adopted from Uganda in 2011. Josh blogs at http://joshcousineau.com
IMITATION: Getting Beyond Information-Based Discipleship
Karl Weick, in his book Making Sense of the Organization, says, “…whenever you have what appears to be successful decentralization, if you look more closely, you will discover that it was always preceded by a period of intense centralization where a set of core values were hammered out and socialized into people before the people were turned loose to go their own ‘independent, ‘autonomous’ ways.”* Weick is pointing out an important ingredient here when it comes to decentralizing the church for missional ventures. As much as we would like to see the church decentralized for mission, we cannot successfully de-centralize for mission until we first go through a period of centralization where the necessary foundations for movement are embedded within the community.
Centralized or Decentralized for Mission?
This is exactly what we see taking place in the life of Jesus, the revolutionary founder of a global movement. For 3 1/2 years Jesus discipled the twelve and modeled for them what discipleship, community and mission really looks like. When it came time for the disciples to launch out into a decentralized mission of disciple making and mission, they had the necessary training and tools to lead the movement. You can’t get to Acts without passing through the gospels. And you can’t make it through the gospels without passing through discipleship. The reality is, Jesus did not expect the 12 to know how to be or make disciples, live in community, or be on mission with God until he had modeled and trained them for 3 1/2 years.
Trying to catalyze a decentralized movement without laying a good foundation of discipleship is just trendy new-speak. In fact, if you try to decentralize without first going through a period of centralization where the core practices of being and making disciples along with living as an extended family on mission, you will not end up with movement at all. What you will end up with is a fragmented group of disillusioned people with no point of reference for how to move forward. To put it another way: Decentralization before discipleship equals diaspora. Decentralization after discipleship equals movement.
Imitation as the Missing Link
Most churches find themselves stuck in a stage of centralization, but it is not the kind of centralization Jesus has in mind. Instead of centralizing around the core practices of being and making disciples, and living as an extended family on mission, the church often centralizes around teaching and information. In this model of centralization, discipleship and mission take a back seat to the centralized gatherings that are primarily focused on preaching and the band. If there happens to be any mission minded leaders in the bunch, they typically challenge the church to go and do mission, but in essence they are wanting people to spontaneously go out and do mission on their own.
The only problem with this approach is that people tend to do what you model for them. So if you give only give them information, then challenge them to do mission, they will most likely equate mission with giving people information…about the centralized gathering where you receive…thats right….more information.
The missing link in this informational approach is discipleship; specifically, the principle of imitation. In order for me to learn how to be and make disciples, and live on mission, then I need to be invited into a relationship where I can have access to someone who actually lives it out in their own life. To get me going I need something to imitate. My friends at 3DM use this triangle to illustrate the proper relationship between information, imitation (discipleship) and innovation.
It starts with information, then leads to imitation, and finally moves into innovation. Centralization takes place during the first two phases. Decentralization takes place as you move towards the edge and innovate with new expressions of ecclesia. The order is really critical if you want to see a decentralized movement of disciple making and mission to emerge. The missing component, for most church plants (and churches for that matter), is the phase of imitation where a leader invites people into a relational process where they model for them how to be and make disciples and live like an extended family on mission. If the leader is aiming for decentralized mission where people move towards the edge and innovate new expressions of ecclesia within every nook and cranny of their context, then they need to invest the necessary time and energy to centralize around the patterns of Jesus’ ministry. Those who take the time, like Jesus, to build a discipling culture will always get what Jesus got……a movement. If we want a movement like the one Jesus started, then we need to do it the way he did it. There is just no way around this.
It is true that anyone can start a movement, but the sustainability of that movement will hinge upon whether or not the leaders of the movement can be and make disciples…that make disciples…that make disciples. Imitation is the portal through which all successful movements travel.
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Tim Catchim co-authored The Permanent Revolution: Apostolic Imagination and Practice for the 21st Century Church with Alan Hirsch. He grew up largely in the metropolitan region around Washington D.C. His leadership experience revolves around urban and semi-urban church planting, discipling, and working with at-risk youth. Tim functions as a multi-vocational entrepreneur. In order to support his church planting habit, he started a curbside recycling business. He is the founder and director of Generate, a coaching and consultant agency for apostolic ventures. As a practitioner of grass roots church planting, he brings a unique perspective that can only be forged through experimentation, failure, and success.
Invite & Invest to Make Disciples
As Jesus completes his public ministry and prepares for his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, he spends his final moments with his disciples--teaching them what it means to abide in him and be his disciples on mission in the world. John 14 -15 provides a clear understanding of what it means to abide in Jesus. Based on this text, I use two questions to develop a common language for discipleship within my church community: “Are you abiding in Jesus Christ?” and “Who are you teaching to abide in Jesus Christ?” When we teach others to abide in Christ, we follow a very simple pattern of inviting them into relationship, investing our time and lives in them, and imagining with them what their lives would look like if lived in light of the gospel.
Inviting In John’s gospel, you see a very simple yet profound practice that Jesus employs in order that his mission will continue on after his death and resurrection: the practice of invitation. In John 1:35-51, Jesus extends the invitation to Andrew, Peter, and Phillip by simply calling them to “Come and See” and “Follow Me”. Although these would-be disciples have no idea what is in store for them, they drop what they are doing and begin the journey of learning from Jesus.
If your aim is to make disciples, this practice is essential for you as well. I believe the simple and intentional practice of extending an invitation to another person in order to teach them the truth of Christ and model for them a life in Christ is what is often missing in our attempts to make disciples.
We may talk about making disciples and even hope to make disciples, but until we actually invite someone to become a disciple, we have only a stated value, not a true value.
If you were to invite someone to be a disciple and teach them what it means to abide in Christ, who would it be? Perhaps a struggling couple in your church, a neighbor down the street, an unbelieving co-worker, or even the barista at your local coffee shop? Begin to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to someone you can disciple--and when He does, extend an invitation.
Investing Jesus spends an inordinate amount of time in John 13-17 alone with his disciples. Since he has completed his public ministry, and since he knows that he will soon be put to death publically, he takes a large amount of his time investing in his disciples.
The practical impact of this text cannot be overlooked. Think about all of the “good” things the Incarnate Son of God could have been doing with his last few moments of “free time”: he could have continued healing the sick, he could have continued calling the masses to faith and repentance, he could have even continued pleading with the Pharisees to turn from their religion and embrace Him as the Messiah. But he doesn’t do any of these things.
Instead, Jesus invests the fading moments of his earthly existence with 11 (Judas has departed) half-hearted disciples--whom he knows will soon abandon him in his greatest time of need. He gives them a symbol of his purifying blood by washing their feet. He models for them a life of service and love. He teaches them how to abide in him.
All of this shows us that if we want to make disciples of Jesus, we must invest our time and lives in a similar fashion.
We must be willing to invite people into our lives even when it is inconvenient.
We give away our time and experiences to others in order that they will grow in their faith in Christ and learn what it looks like to follow Jesus. We invest in others because he invested everything in us! As Paul says,
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV)
Imagining One key concept that should not be overlooked in John 14-17 is Jesus’ expectation of what his disciples will become after he has departed. In other words, Jesus paints a picture for these disciples about the possibilities that are in store for them if they abide in him. He tells them they will receive the Holy Spirit (14:16, 26), they will be adopted into his family (14:18), they will be one with him and the Father (14:20), they will bear fruit (15:5), they will experience true joy (15:11), persecution (15:18), and a deeper knowledge of the truth (16:12-13), just to name a few!
I believe the most overlooked aspect of teaching someone to abide in Christ is this work of “imagining” a different future for them. Life in Christ is full of joy, freedom, and satisfaction.
Knowing and living out your identity in Christ is the work of discipleship, and this leads to re-creation and renewal in the life of a disciple.
We must show others what this life can look like.
As you teach someone to abide in Christ, point to the great and glorious promises that Jesus gives his disciples. Help them imagine a different reality--one where King Jesus rules over them as the Servant King, extending grace upon grace to his followers. Help them see how this affects their work, their relationships, their marriages, the future of their children, the well-being of their neighborhood and of their city. Show them how a good and gracious God can wash the feet of sinners and rescue them from their own selfish ambition and self-hatred.
Discipleship is giving them a new story, with a new plot, and a new Hero, so that they can see the incomparable alternative to their current way of life.
In order to teach others what it means to abide, we must invite them into our lives, investing our time and experiences in them, and imagine a different future for them. My hope is that these simple steps can assist us all in our calling to make disciples of Jesus, through the power of the gospel.
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Greg "Gib" Gibson (@gibgibson) is an elder and teaching pastor at Living Hope, a church in the suburbs of Memphis, TN. Gib and his wife, Jill have three adorable kids.
Be Fruitful and Multiply Disciples
Historically, movements have stopped because they were primarily leader-led information dumps. Information isn’t a bad thing, but information-driven movements are limited in influence. Why should we create disciple multiplying movements? How can we create them? It's What We Were Made For In the garden of Eden, we see that image bearers of God we were made to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:22, 26-28). By issuing his first "great commission," God did not merely intend for us to have more people over for Thanksgiving dinner. Rather, he wanted his beautiful image to fill the entire earth through the multiplication of his image bearers. But through Adam, we sinned and were separated from God.
In the attempt to author our own story, we sought center stage--pushing God's goals for us aside. We sought to multiply our image for the sake of our own fame rather than God's fame.
When someone repents and turns to God, it is our responsibility to show them their new mission by pointing back to the garden. We must show how their mission is all about multiplying for the sake of God's glory not multiplying a life that is all about them and their legacy.
Most small groups in churches believe their goal is to get to know each other or form a close bond. If this is the goal, multiplication will never be desired. Drawing close to one another is not the goal of missional community, but making disciples who make disciples is (being fruitful and multiplying images of Jesus). Drawing close to one another happens because Jesus has given us the same Father, and we are a part of the same family. So, forming a close bond is a bi-product rather than the goal of living together on mission as family.
This Must be on Our Lips If our goal is to make disciples who make disciples (to be fruitful and multiply), then this must be on our lips constantly. I tell those who aren’t even followers of Jesus yet, that we desire to see communities like ours across the world doing the same thing. So, when they join our community as a follower of Jesus, they’ve already been discipled to know that we desire multiplication.
But it doesn’t stop there. We continue to talk about it as a group and continue to seek to hear from the Spirit on his timing and his power to send us out. The best way I can describe this is by relating it to your child. Do you desire to see your child stay in your house until they die? Or do you desire to see them leave the house and have a family of their own? Do you then wait until they are 18 and spring this on them and then kick them out? Or, do you continue talking to them about it, train them and seek for them to be ready when the day comes to leave your house and go and be fruitful and multiply with their new family? This is the same thing we need to be doing with our church families. We need to seek to see them grow in maturity and grow in the gospel so that they too can lead a family of missionary servants to live out the effects of the gospel with those around them.
People often ask me how I make it easy for our groups to multiply. I say the same thing every time: You must regularly talk about multiplication and train the next group for its certainty. It must always be on your lips and prayers, and always on your people’s lips and prayers. If it’s not, then it will be very difficult when it happens--like kicking out your unsuspecting child and telling them it’s healthy.
Transforming and Transferable You will do well by building the foundation of multiplication. You will also do well by regularly talking about it and listening to the Spirit in the process. But what happens if you have no leaders to lead the multiplication? This is where many groups and movements fail. The reason is that people in the group look at the leader and think, “There’s no way I can do what he’s doing. This takes too much time and too much theological knowledge.” Not only that, but you’ve merely spoken about multiplication without transforming people’s hearts to seek it out.
Merely talking about making disciples is sometimes fun and it’s a great theological exercise for the mind. But mere talk and theologizing rarely inspire people to make disciples.
If you desire to see others gripped to make disciples, you must not only penetrate their intellect. You must also aim at their hearts. If you merely aim at their heads with theological reasons why it’s good to make disciples, people will always come up with reasons why they are not convinced of its realities.
I think of Jonathan Edwards when he spoke of God’s holiness and grace and compared it to honey.[1]
In this way, he says, there is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former, that knows not how honey tastes; but a man cannot have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance. When the heart is sensible of the beauty and amiableness of a thing, it necessarily feels pleasure in the apprehension. It is implied in a person's being heartily sensible of the loveliness of a thing, that the idea of it is sweet and pleasant to his soul; which is a far different thing from having a rational opinion that it is excellent.
So, we must, as leaders, show others what it means to make disciples. When a follower of Jesus sees new disciples being made, and they are a part of it, their heart will rejoice. And like honey on the lips, they will desire more honey instead of merely talking about honey. Jesus did the same with the blind man in John 9. He healed him, so that the blind man would taste and see that the Lord was good. Then he supported that heart-transforming act, to theologically tackle the implications of who Jesus was afterward in John 9:35-41. Notice the way the blind man desired others to taste and see that the Lord Jesus was good--because his heart was transformed.
Not only do we seek to transform, but we must also make sure what we do is transferable. I have many things I can share from experience that I believe are transferable for my people, but you must ask yourself these types of questions:
- Do I need a theological degree to lead the community like I do? Remember, not all people like to read and study as much as many of us pastors do. If we want to create a movement of disciple-making, then we have to move away from leading from a position of “trained” men, into leading like “untrained” men. (By the way, I’ve never been to seminary, nor am I paid by the church.)
- Do I need to be paid by the church to have the time to do what I do? See above.
- What resources are available to give future leaders so that they don’t feel like they have to think of new topics to discuss and study in their Missional Community? I do not do any book studies in the Bible that cause me to do an immeasurable amount of study and reading on my own. If I do, then people will see the group as one that can only be led by someone with my capacity. Instead, I use easily transferable studies (e.g., check out www.bild.org)
- How can I model all of this, so that I am going to be able to transfer leadership, instead of being the functional savior for our groups? Make sure you lead as you want others to lead. Don’t do studies that can only be led by a seminarian. Don’t do so many activities that can only be done by those with a job inside the church. Remember, as you lead, you are discipling those in your group on what it looks like to lead a group of disciple-makers. You can’t say one thing and model another. They’ll see right through that.
Because I have worked hard to hear the Spirit’s leading in this, 80% of those that are a part of the Missional Communities in my expression within Soma Communities desire to lead MCs at some point. When I baptized a new disciple, he first desired to lead a group of disciple-makers. He saw this as the only option for someone who was a follower of Jesus and, that it wasn’t anything special. In spite of being a new disciple, he didn’t see this as some “high calling” only for a few.
Since we want to lay the foundation of multiplication, we regularly talk about making disciples who make disciples. We seek to do this by modeling it for them in ways easily transferable. New disciples often can’t wait to lead others in the making of disciples who multiply to make more disciples.
So, go! Be fruitful disciples of Jesus by multiplying his beautiful image everywhere.
1 http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/edwards_light.html
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Seth McBee is the adopted son of God, husband of one wife and father of three. He’s a graduate of Seattle Pacific University with a finance degree. By trade Seth is an Investment Portfolio Manager, serving as president of McBee Advisors, Inc. Today, he’s a preaching elder, City Church leader and coach with Soma Communities in Renton, Washington. In his down time he likes to watch football, cook BBQ, host pancake ebelskiver breakfasts at his home and many other neighborhood events in his hometown of Maple Valley, Washington.
The Challenge of Making Disciples on Campus
Jesus’ message to his followers was to “make disciples.” This is a huge, all-encompassing command. We evangelize, worship, teach, gather in community, and show mercy—but in doing all these things, we are to be making disciples. If we are not making lifelong disciples of Jesus, we are doing the wrong things or doing them in the wrong way.
If we are making disciples, then what we do will last for eternity and result in greater glory to God.
This is a particular comfort and challenge in the field of college ministry.
As we see in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), evangelism was never meant to be divorced from discipleship, and neither of these can be divorced from mission. Many ministries are discovering that making on-mission disciples is the best evangelistic strategy they can initiate. Still, making lifelong disciples is a challenge, a truth to which any of us who have wrestled with our students drifting away from the church and Jesus after graduation can testify.
Therefore, we should be asking the question, “How does what we’re doing make disciples?” If we’re serious about ensuring we’re on mission, we will evaluate every program, every meeting, every event, every dollar we spend, and even every staff position by asking how each one serves to make disciples. Some aspects of our ministry will be affirmed and bolstered, others will need to be tweaked, and some will need to be axed if they don’t serve the goal of making disciples.
Why Is Making Disciples Such a Challenge? Making disciples is a challenge for many reasons. The “tyranny of the urgent” is particularly strong in college ministry, where life-shaping conversations, processes, and events are crammed into fifteen-week semesters. There is always a lot going on. In this context, if making disciples isn’t built into the DNA of who we are, it will get shortchanged. Yes, we might talk about discipleship, but not everything we do contributes to it.
Campus ministry can’t be concerned only with the programs, events, or activities that are happening next week. We must focus on the spiritual formation of students for the missio Dei, a lifetime of following Jesus and joining him in his mission, making our goal to make disciples for the mission of God. After all, wasn’t that Jesus’ goal? Jesus proclaimed the good news that his hearers could join him in a new way of life. More than simply offering a message of personal salvation, Jesus invited his followers to participate in God’s redemption of the world. Our approach to articulating a vision of discipleship ought to be based upon Jesus’ own call to discipleship.
What Is a Disciple? Perhaps we need to start by demystifying the term “disciple.” A disciple is a Christian, and a Christian is a disciple. Because of our modern obsession with compartmentalizing, we have acted as if there are two kinds of people in the church—Christians (the ones who “asked Jesus into their heart”) and disciples (the ones who are more serious, more disciplined about their faith). But this isn’t a biblical distinction. There is no such thing as a Christian who is not following Jesus. There is no allowance for someone to have Jesus as their Savior but not Jesus as their Lord. There is no such thing as a Christian who does nothing but sit around, passively absorbing content. The word “disciple” is used 230 times in the gospels and twenty-eight times in Acts. It is by far the most common way of referring to the people who followed Jesus and placed their faith in him.
Being a disciple means following Christ. More than that, it means responding daily to Jesus’ instruction that “if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34).
This is a comprehensive following: it means to follow him in everything, even unto death. Where discipleship is involved, there is no room for a simple decision of faith divorced from genuine commitment and the rigors of following Jesus.
To be a disciple is to obey everything Jesus taught us. It is not merely to give cognitive assent to a set of truths, but to belong to a community. It is to be increasingly conformed, by grace, to Christ, and means joining him in his redemptive mission and heeding his sending and discipling commands. Similarly, the essence of discipling others is to say with Paul, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Being a disciple is always about Christ.
The concept of discipleship Jesus introduced ran counter to the prevailing notion of the teacher-disciple relationship. Jesus was not making disciples who would learn of him, become independent of him, and then make disciples of their own. His goal was that his disciples would make disciples not of themselves, but that they would go forth to make disciples of Jesus. The extent to which we enter the picture is only the extent to which we are conformed to Christ. This conformation must include following him in his redemptive mission.
“Do vs. Done” Discipleship Because we follow Jesus Christ, true discipleship is always centered on the liberating and radical grace extended to us through him. I can’t overstate how crucial this is, because our failure to keep discipleship gospel-centered is the very reason so many Christians find it distasteful. The gospel is about what Jesus has done to save us, not what we do to save ourselves. Gospel-centered discipleship is about living into our identity as accepted, adopted sons and daughters of God, and following Jesus by the strength and power he provides. The discipleship that many of us have experienced is often about self-control, self-reliance, self-righteousness when we “succeed” and self-reproach when we “fail.” Gospel-centered discipleship is about celebrating and growing into our acceptance, while works-centered discipleship is the ill-fated, soul-sucking, burnout-inducing attempt to earn God’s approval.
The kind of discipleship that results in campus-saturating movements doesn’t rely on people trying to prove to God, others, and themselves that they are worthy. Gospel-centered discipleship tells us we’re not worthy, that we can’t measure up, and it’s only by grace that we’ll become like Jesus.
While works-centered disciples spend most of their time looking down on everyone else or themselves for not measuring up, gospel- centered disciples spend their time looking up in wonder at the grace they have been shown. While works-centered disciples are usually arrogant or depressed, gospel-centered disciples radiate joy and exude a holy confidence. While works-centered disciples are profoundly self-focused, morbidly introspective, and narcissistic, gospel-centered disciples are Christ- focused and radically others-focused. While works-centered disciples try to run on the fumes of self-effort, gospel-centered disciples are propelled by the grace and power of God. To follow Christ works the same as being saved by him—by grace, through faith.
Have you ever watched one of those home improvement shows? A few years ago, some friends of ours were on Trading Spaces. This was before the days of tear-jerking extreme home makeovers, so with the make- over team, they just performed some cosmetic changes that consisted of buying new pillows, adding a fresh coat of paint, and rearranging furniture. But despite their TV home “makeover,” their home looked pretty much the same. It wasn’t until years later, when they had a huge addition put on, that their home was transformed.
Works-centered discipleship—the kind for which we have such distaste, the kind in which the Pharisees and every legalist since them have indulged—makes cosmetic changes but fails to truly transform. It cleans things up a bit and makes for a good appearance, but nothing is really different. On the other hand, gospel-centered discipleship works from the inside out to truly transform someone. The emphasis is not on the external behaviors or the rigor with which we perform them. It’s on receiving the grace of God, which alone can save and change us.
The Problem with Small Groups “But wait,” you might be saying. “We already work hard at making disciples. In fact, we have a number of small groups designed to do just that!” The problem is that many of our small groups are not doing all that we need them to. The reason we fail to not only make new disciples, but hold on to the ones we have, is that our discipleship processes often lack essential missional foundations. This is particularly the case in what we could call Just Small Groups Syndrome, or JSGS.
JSGS emphasizes intellectual/cognitive knowledge instead of whole-life conformity to the truth. We’ve compartmentalized the learning from the being and doing. In the college ministry realm, we’ve implicitly told students that they can’t “do” until they’ve learned enough. But Jesus taught his disciples through doing. What constitutes a successful small group? A team of people who would win Bible Jeopardy, or people who don’t just hear the word, but do it? JSGS creates consumers instead of disciples. It creates people whose only expectation is to get fed, people who feel threatened if we call them to more than that. JSGS creates inward-facing, self-concerned communities instead of outward-engaging teams of missionaries.
What if discipleship weren’t viewed apart from mission? What if one of the ways we grew in the gospel was not only through community, but through being embedded in a community in which people are on mission together?
We need more than small groups. We need missional communities — teams of students who share a burden for a particular people group and come together for the shared purpose of reaching that group together. They come together in community to preach the gospel to each other and to help each other share it with others. They come together for prayer, encouragement, and equipping. They come together to model the kind of community into which they’re inviting others. They’re not a once-per-week meeting, but a team or band committed to a common purpose. Groups that do this well are gospel-shaped communities on mission, and it is groups like these that God uses to transform lives, campuses, and the world.
This is an excerpt adapted from Stephen Lutz's book, College Ministry in a Post-Christian Culture.
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Stephen Lutz is a pastor with Calvary Baptist Church in State College, PA and a campus minister with CCO at Penn State University. He is the author of College Ministry in a Post-Christian Culture, a book written to help college students and ministers recover the missional nature of college ministry. Steve is a native of the Philadelphia area. His interests include reaching college students, starting churches, innovation and entrepreneurship, and Penn State and Philly sports. He lives with his wife Jessica and their three children in Boalsburg, PA. He blogs at http://www.stephenlutz.net and tweets @stephenlutz.