My early Christian formation involved a lot of information. In fact, one could say that discipleship was confused with information download. We seemed to be functioning on the idea that he who had the most information, as long as it was within the proscribed parameters, was the best disciple. Is that really true? The Pharisees had tons of information. And in general, they put it into practice; yet they rejected their own Messiah when he came.  This is an example of the letter killing. So mere study of the Scriptures, even diligently putting it into practice, isn’t enough to be a true disciple. That is why Jesus could say to them: You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (Jn. 5:39-40) See my post of Aug. 26, 2010: Religion Kills, Jesus Saves.

As wonderful and good as Bible study is, there is certainly something more to discipleship than mere Bible study or the study of theology. After all, mere study of the Scriptures, according to the Bible itself, can actually kill our souls. What is that something more? I am going to start a brief series that explores these questions and tries to give some answers of how we can truly make disciples.

So let me start this series by posing some questions. These are questions I will introduce here but explore in more depth in the next few days. Question #1: Whose disciple are we? If I were an observer of current Western Christianity, perhaps a secret anthropologist from another planet, I’d probably answer that question like this. Practitioners of the religion called Christianity, in the Western cultural steam, are followers of various institutions called, for example, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Campus Crusade for Christ, Dallas Theological Seminary, etc. Others are disciples of various dead individuals. These call themselves Calvinists (after John Calvin), Wesleyans (John Wesley) or Mennonites (Menno Simons), for example. Others are grouped in much smaller groupings following living leaders. These are the followers of Charles Swindoll, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Hagin, or Joel Osteen, for example. Some of these groups can be as small as 30 people, following some local leader called a pastor. These followers of living individuals, within Western Christianity, tend to be very zealous in their devotion to their heroes.

At best, in this schema, Jesus becomes an overarching footnote. In my own formation there was more of an actual interest in, and connection with the apostle Paul than there was in Jesus. Jesus was just too enigmatic, to paradoxical, to…well…illogical. Is this hyperbole? Ummm, yeah, probably a little; but not much. Let me say this categorically; we should be disciples of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. If we define ourselves by some other name, we are on very dangerous ground. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) So discipleship is connecting people with Jesus. It is not teaching them how to be a Baptist, connecting them with the mother Catholic Church, sending them to Dallas Theological Seminary or giving them a series of books by Kenneth Hagin.

Question #2: How helpful are techniques in discipleship? Can we really help people connect with Jesus if we get just the right techniques? This is a complex question, which I’ll explore in the series. I do think techniques can be somewhat helpful. I also think we can very easily get blinded by the bright lights of techniques. So again, let me say categorically, the power is in Jesus, not techniques.

Question #3: In our discipleship, how do we live in our new covenant relationship with God and not just fall back into a legalistic religion? That, in essence, is to go back to the old covenant. I believe discipleship has to connect us to Jesus Christ himself, not some religion called Christianity.

For other posts on discipleship see: Why Simple Churches Don’t Work, Reason #4, Authority: How Jesus Leads a Church, Why Simple Churches Don’t Work, Reason #3, and  The Spirit Leads to Truth.  

  • Am I being fair to Western Christianity?
  • Is there more than a thread of reality in these characterizations of Western discipleship?
  • What elements do you think are indispensible in discipleship?
  • How can we use techniques without getting blinded by them and having more faith in the technique than in Jesus?
Did you like this? Share it:

« »