What is your church doing to make disciples?

A few years ago I attended a meeting of leaders from different denominations.  During the meeting someone commented on the rapid growth of a church in one of the denominations represented.  The individual from that denomination admitted that particular church was growing in its worship attendance but the attendance in that church's Christian education program was declining at almost the same pace.  He explained it was the same problem many of their denominational churches was having, and his fear was that this would lead to serious problems in the next 10-20 years.  The reason for his fear was that the new people their churches were reaching were doing little to grow spiritually, and in the next few years they would be the next generation of leaders in their churches.  Unfortunately, this problem is not limited to his denomination.

The church must do more to help its members grow spiritually.  The Great Commission  does not simply tell the church to lead people to a decision or to baptize people; it says we are to "make disciples of all the nations."

When many evangelical churches think of discipleship they immediately think of their Sunday school program, a program that is in decline in many churches.  If we expect our Sunday schools to be sufficient for producing disciples it demonstrates we have a mistaken concept of discipleship.  Being a disciple is more than just acquiring knowledge.  To be a disciple we must be transformed by the knowledge we gain.

Discipleship is more caught than taught.  Yes, we need to be taught the truths of Scripture, but we must also have the opportunity to put those truths into practice.  The challenge for the church that is serious about discipleship is helping people apply what they are learning.  Too many of our churches fail to provide those opportunities.  We call ministers to provide ministry services to the congregation who sees themselves as consumers of those services.  Clergy is then evaluated on how well they provided such services.  We need to involve everyone in ministry if we are to create disciples.

Jesus called those who would be his disciples to "Follow me."  He then took them on a journey that would shape their lives and prepare them for the ministry they would be given.  Part of that journey involved listening to his teachings, and part of it involved hands-on ministry.   This is the same model churches must follow if we are to be serious about raising up disciples.

One reason more churches do not do this is because discipleship is messy.  It's often easier for the pastor to do the ministry than it is to send out others to do it.  Besides, how can we know when someone is ready to minister to others?  Often, we can't until they are actually involved in ministry.  There is the real possibility that people will mess things up when they try to minister to others...just like Jesus' disciples did.  They couldn't cast a demon out of a young boy, and they didn't have a clue what to do when Jesus told them to feed the multitudes with a few pieces of bread and fish.  Of course, nothing matched their biggest failure when they ran away on the night Jesus was arrested.  But, the important thing is they learned from their mistakes and eventually became known as people who turned the world upside down.

As we approach 2014 I encourage you to take a look at your discipleship efforts in your church.  Are those efforts producing disciples?  Are the members in your church becoming more like Jesus, and are they involved in ministering to others?  What ministry opportunities will your church provide for those who want to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ?  These are important questions you need to answer as you prepare to lead your church into next year.

Much of this material comes from a chapter in my book The Healthy Community: Moving Your Church Beyond Tunnel Vision where you will find some more recommendations on how to help improve the discipleship ministry of your church.