- Jesus calls us to whole life discipleship that loves Him with all our mind, but more! With all our heart, soul and strength, too.
Ran across a provocative headline online: “Why American discipleship gets it all wrong.” Being a professor of discipleship, I skimmed the article. Without going into detail about the contents, let me say – I think the article got it…wrong.
Our home Bible study was discussing Paul’s time on Mars Hill in Acts 17. Tucked away in that chapter are these words: “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.” Nothing in the text or Paul’s other writings suggests that a church was planted there, although some seemed to have been converted.
If, indeed, no church was established in Athens until later, we might be able to surmise why – where sitting and listening is the primary method of learning, nothing much tends to change. And if there is something awry in American discipleship, we could probably point to the fact that our discipleship paradigm is largely built around sitting and listening. As I frequently tell my students, “If you make disciples by sitting around and talking don’t be surprised if your disciples sit around…and talk.”
Too often the church buys into the idea that we can have a transformed life by attending and listening to sermons, Sunday school lessons, and Bible studies and/or being absorbed with the ample Christian resources at our disposal through books, podcasts, videos, the internet. But what all this doesn’t necessarily encourage is movement.
How Jesus made disciples that would change the world should be instructive. First thing, He calls people to follow Him; then He walks away. The true believers among those he challenged left what they are doing to follow Him, walk with Him, go where He is going, emulate His actions. And where does Jesus lead these disciples? To the synagogue, to the Temple, yes. But mostly He takes them towards human need and into other challenging (and sometimes dangerous) situations.
Jesus moves with His disciples. Talks, yes. Instructs, yes. Verbalizes, yes. But all of that training takes place in the context of doing something. And this is where American discipleship often fails. We love sitting around and talking, and talking, and talking. Our faith becomes verbal, intellectual, comfortable. Jesus calls us to whole life discipleship that loves Him with all our mind, but more! With all our heart, soul and strength, too. A discipleship that misses that misses it all. You might be following something, but it won’t be Jesus.
David Bosch once said that mission is “not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God.” If John Wesley and Bosch were having a discussion the former might use one of his best lines as an addendum: “God works; therefore you can work…God works, therefore you must work.” Among His divine properties – work, activity, applied compassion, moving towards desperate need.
An approach that misses the work, misses true discipleship. That’s not all there is to the Great Commission…just the part we tend to miss in this country.
Matt Friedeman
