Solutions

I've tried to succinctly state some of the current reality with discipleship in our context (here and here). How do we move forward? How do we change the current state of affairs and begin moving ourselves forward as the Church with regards to discipleship?

One step, is to move from evangelism to discipleship toward the children of believing families. This means that our efforts are given to helping them grow in grace and truth. We take seriously the vows made in their baptisms and trust that their hearts are being gripped by the Holy Spirit. In the context of our discipleship are speaking and living the gospel to them and before them. We focus less on "getting them saved" and focus more on "helping them live" as followers of Jesus.

Another step, is to get the focus off of the Sunday event and on everyday living. Sunday worship is critical, foundational, and fundamental for the people of God. However, it is the beginning-not the center. It is the moment where we are sent out anew as representatives for Jesus each week. When we do this we move discipleship from a classroom to the kitchen table or sidewalk or coffee shop. Discipleship is what happens when we are walking alongside other followers of Jesus seeking him with one another. We are teaching one another. Preaching the gospel to one another. Modeling a faithful life to one another.

In my opinion, this is best accomplished by bringing multiple generations and multiple life stages together. When we break out everyone by life stage to meet their needs what happens is isolation. When we isolate older from younger, married from single, children from adults, we make it impossible for discipleship to truly happen. 1 Timothy 5 is most insightful here. Paul is giving instructions to Timothy and the assumption is that there are multiple generations interacting and engaging with one another. So much so that he has to give instructions on how to help them to do just that. What you will not see is Paul instructing Timothy to pull them apart. All these people need to do life together. Older folks helping younger folks with sage wisdom. Younger folks inspiring older folks with childlike faith. It's a beautiful thing when they rub off on one another.

On Sunday nights, before worship, the Antioch Movement gathers around the table for a meal. I love seeing the generations all jumbled up in a melting pot. Each week it floods my heart with joy. It is a microcosm of the bigger picture, followers of Jesus doing life together and helping one another towards maturity and faithfulness.

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Stating the Problem, Part 2

In my previous post we looked at the first problem regarding the current state of dicipleship and the need for a multi-generational approach. This problem, in a nutshell, was the shift from discipling children of believers to focusing on evangelizing them.

We have moved the center of building our kids faith from the home, mom and dad, to the youth pastor. I call this outsourcing. Why is that? Why have we moved in this direction? First, it's due to the breakdown of the extended family. Secondly, it's due to the shift over the last 50 years to a "seeker" approach of ministry.

What does that shift have to do with discipleship?

When the church at large shifted away from its focus on discipleship to the "seeker", it moved its focus to the Sunday morning event. The Pastor and his team focused their attention on a sermon and constructing an hour that was for the person who doesn't know Jesus. These gatherings were engaging, attractive, and very effective. Lost people were found. It was amazing.

The problem is that this mentality colored everything the church did. Everything became an event, even discipleship.

Discipleship became something that happened in a classroom led by professional teachers. These people were expert communicators and they transferred information to the people.

So what is the problem? Lost people getting saved and Christians being taught, these sound like good things. They are.

The problem comes when we move discipleship into the classroom. By necessity we removed it from the everyday life of people and that took it out of the home and separated the discipleship experience of parents and children. Parents no longer discipled their kids because they were being taught at church on Sundays and Wednesdays.

But, here's the thing: discipleship is something that must happen everyday, as life happens. It is not an event. The shift to the weekly event made it so that discipleship was redefined. When discipleship became an educational event it ceased to be discipleship, it became training.

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