Thoughts On Discipleship

Discipleship. What is it? Why is there so much talk about it these days? Recently I’ve been reading specifically on this topic. Discipleship has never been my favorite subject. I know, that seems weird because it’s so foundational and essential in what Jesus challenges his followers to do, “go make disciples” or “As you go, make disciples” (Matt 28:19-20). As a “professional Christian” or a pastor (please hear the humor in that), I have devoted most of my adult life to leading people in following Jesus. I wonder if the allergy to discipleship primarily comes from the reality that the evangelical church in North America has often reduced discipleship to a knowledge transfer for people who are already followers of Jesus. Once you graduate into Christianity 101, you’re invited to a discipleship class. 

Strangely this approach to discipleship doesn’t seem to match Jesus’ simple approach of calling his first disciples. Jesus’ invitation was a simple “come follow me” (Matt. 4:19). Three simple words that lead to a transformed life, “come follow me”. Drop your familiar nets. It sounds more like mentoring and apprenticeship (even simply put) friendship. Notice, what he says after that invitation, “and I’ll make you fisher’s of men.”  There’s no emphasis on teaching, but rather training. Most of Jesus’ teaching was cryptic at best and was intentionally delivered in parables that contain deeper esoteric meaning. Note, He says, ”come follow me and I will ‘make you’…” He doesn’t say, “come follow me and I’ll teach you.”

So, here’s the tension: when I think about what churches (in my experience) have called discipleship and what Jesus called and lived as discipleship, I am struck with two very disparate images. One picture is an invitation out of the world into a classroom where people are taught a new vocabulary and concepts about God and human behavior. The other is a picture happens in the world as we experience how God would live our lives if He were us. It’s less about teaching and more about modeling. Follow me, I’ll show you a different kind of fishing. (Again, the picture of modern “discipleship” often shows Christians who know far more about the Bible and theology than they put into practice.) The classic bumper sticker comes to mind, “Jesus may love you, but everyone else thinks you’re an A__hole!” Ok, maybe that’s a little too hyberbolic, but you get the idea. The other picture again, a group of Jesus’ early followers being sent out two by two and told to bless people and stay with those people of peace that receive their blessing (Luke 10). Remember Jesus’ earthly ministry was only 3ish years. These early followers didn’t have time to go off and get trained. Jesus counted on an approach of training that would quickly put their hands on the wheel (or the plow). His invitation to “make them fishers of men” was the focus. He enlisted his disciples in gathering the food that he would multiply for thousands. He sent them out as sheep among wolves to declare the good news of God’s kingdom. He invited them to fish as they followed and he put the nets in their hands. 

Now, I need to pause for a moment and make a little disclosure: I said that I have a bit of an allergy to “discipleship”, while at the same time, I’ve gone to Bible College and Seminary. I’ve been “discipled” in numerous schools of discipleship. I’ve read dozens of books devoted to the concept of discipleship. I was both discipled and have been the discipler of others. All of this discipling was in the context of North American Evangelical Christianity.  So, my self-disclosure is that while I see the discrepancies in these pictures of discipleship, I have been an invested part of the modern picture that looks strangely unlike the Jesus picture. In fact, after having “successfully” planted a church in the early 2000’s it hit me that maybe there was something about how we were making disciples that was actually fostering consumerism more than it was discipleship. Much of our ministry approach could be summed up in “come to us and we will give you the spiritual goods and services you need.” Mature and maturing Jesus followers were portrayed as those that would give back by supporting the ministry with finances and time. The discipleship process was so intermingled with consumerism that to separate the two seemed more difficult than splitting the double helix strands of human DNA. 

During that season, there were two little books that kept finding their way onto my desk. The Master Plan of Evangelismby Robert Coleman and Jesus With Dirty Feet by Done Everts. Both of these books and a new little friend of mine called As You GO, Make Disciples by Colin Noyes emphasis a very simple key that I am beginning to think may be the silver bullet to discipleship. Noyes calls this concept imprinting.  Whatever approach we choose to employ, discipleship is at it’s core a transfer from one person to the next. An Imprinting of life onto life. It is modeling, mentoring, and training. There are undeniably a lot of spiritual dynamics and implications. Pause for a moment and think about what was the most impactful in how you were disciple. My guess is that more than a program or a study, you, like me think of a person. A person who was willing to invest. A person who trusted you enough to let you put your hands to the plow.