Disciple Making
Covid-19 has presented enormous challenges to the local church that are requiring significant and systemic changes to how we make disciples. However, this does not have to be a bad thing.
Instead of looking backward at what once was with fondness and nostalgia, maybe we can look backward with clarity at our increasingly failing discipleship systems. The vast majority of curriculum and classroom approaches had information as their goal instead of formation. So if we are to shift quickly into a new approach toward discipleship, what are some of the things we could do?
“Netflix” Discipleship: Your people are increasingly accustomed to accessing content - blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos and television - on their terms and time schedules. However, most congregations still offer a discipleship system that is campus based and only at designated times determined by historic approaches. The local church needs to get this right and do so quickly. The content of discipleship is too often missed because we do not provide it in a way that people digest content today. It is time for us to provide people discipleship opportunities in a way that can be experienced on their time instead of the institutional church’s time.
Relational Discipleship: Your people don’t love Jesus because it is popular. They are growing increasingly alone in their following Jesus. Our discipleship systems must engage the disciple beyond the designated time and effectively touch and encourage the disciple at multiple points during the week. They are parched and weary from all the combative voices they hear daily. We must speak life to them beyond Sunday morning.
Formational Discipleship: Most of the people in the church today who have been around for a while know way more than they actually act on. Paul spoke to this malady in Romans 2:13 and it seems we are in need of relearning his lesson. When you look at your discipleship systems, is there ever any follow up, accountability, evaluation and mutuality or does the point of the lesson end when the class ends. Social distancing does not equal discipleship distancing. There exist tools we can use to come alongside each other as we journey in following Jesus.
Contemporary Discipleship: The Bible is contemporary in that the New Testament authors addressed the hot topics of their day. Some of those topics are not hot buttons anymore but the principles behind those hot topics still speak to us today. The issue of food sacrificed to idols does not speak to a 20 year old. However, they are very interested in a biblically formed view of sexuality, immigration, creation care and other issues the church struggles to think biblically about. We are much better at speaking politically than biblically about the hot topics of our time. It is time for us to speak biblically formed truth into the hot button issues of our day. If that can be done primarily through the lens of a political party, you need to go back and read the Bible again.
The congregation I serve does not see these things as an ending point but a starting point for our conversation on discipleship shifts. We are in a fast paced learning approach to discover how to most effectively disciple people in a socially distanced culture. We are sure to make mistakes and you will too! However, the end goal is worth whatever it takes to help people fall in love with Jesus all over again.