MORPH 3: ESSENTIALS TO DISCIPLE-MAKING
By Steve Behlke
Many Christians unthinkingly associate church with a building they attend once a week to hear a sermon, sing a few favorite hymns, and connect with close friends. However, the church, as the born again community of the redeemed in Christ, exists to "make disciples" (Matt 28:18-20). As the Christ-redeemed people of God, together, we are both to become and to be making "disciples" or devoted, practicing, believers and followers of Jesus Christ.
How does this disciple-building process, this MORPHING process occur?
If you are a pastor, elder, small group leader, or a Christian guy or gal wanting to grow in Christlikeness, here are three "essentials." Obviously, more than these three could be put forth and whole books could be written under each heading; but I will resist these temptations and limit myself to these three essentials with only a few comments under each.
TO INTENTIONALLY* GROW IN CHRIST AND ENGAGE IN THE LIFELONG PROCESS OF CHRISTLIKE SPIRITUAL FORMATION,
1. We need a theological understanding of Jesus Christ (Christology) and a vision of how it looks to follow Him
In order to be and to make disciples, processes and structures need to be in place for communicating clear and uncompromised truths about Jesus: His eternal identity, incarnational nature and purposes, character, teachings, and practices, all for the purpose of leading to experiential knowledge and communion with Christ.
This is not "red-letter" rhetoric. I affirm that the entire Bible is one meta-story, therefore we need the whole of Scripture, not just the Gospels! Yet to follow Jesus Christ truly, we must study, know, trust and love Jesus Christ, on His terms, as He is presented in the Sacred Texts. Therefore, discipleship to Jesus Christ calls for bold Christological emphasis in our pulpits, small groups, and private studies.
Reality Alert: This must be intentional. If you are a pastor, elder, group leader, or initiative-taking Christian, this must be an intentional part of your design for being or making disciples.
So, how might you set this up? What type of study would be a good fit for your church or group? How often would you teach, discuss, meditate on the propositional realities of Christ? How would you incorporate this into the DNA of your church or group or personal, spiritual disciplines?
2. Grace relationships in a committed grace community
The first step toward morphing is in relationship to Jesus Christ. The second step includes living out that relationship with one another, the community of Christ.
In order to be and to be making disciples, we need fertile soil, a gracious Christian community. This doesn't just happen either. We must be intentional about this, too. We need a vision for this, we need to commit to connect with others and to build a community that is devoted to Christ in a way that trusts, celebrates and models God's grace in our relationships.
Too many of us live without much grace in our relationships. At school or at work, yet even in too many homes and churches, some of our key relationships are with people whom we do not feel safe, appreciated, or loved.
I personally soar when I am in a community of grace. I grow in holiness, love, and Christlikeness. I am free to be honest about myself, encouraged to trust Jesus, able to be authentic and bold, and secure in Christ. My passion for Christ and for Christlike living is stirred to the top of my priorities.
Yet, when I am in the opposite type of community, when I am in a grace-depleted, performance-judging, untrusting, critical environment, I tend to hide things about myself and second-guess what I do or say. Even emails are reviewed five times before sending them out.
Each of us may fear messing up or making people mad or doing the wrong thing apart from such grace-relationships. We tire of the performance treadmill. We lack perfection. We fear rejection. In such a climate of gracelessness, holiness diminishes; it is replaced with graceless values and narrowly defined religiosity. Few of us know what it is like to be in a genuine grace community. Few of us believe it is possible on this side of heaven. It is possible. I'm not talking about perfection, but the pursuit and value and commitment to grace is possible and worth the cost.
How might your church or small group be compelled to forge this type of community? What discussions need to take place? What needs to be deconstructed, addressed, corrected, and what needs to be added, valued, treasured, protected? How will you help to build grace into your community?
3. Service to others; in the church and through missional outreach
We not only need to know and love Christ in a real way and under His terms (Love God); and also to spiritually grow within a loving community that is devoted to trusting Christ and modeling faith in God's grace in real and practical ways (Love one another); we also need to be actively involved in Christian ministry and missional activity (Love neighbor and enemy).
The emphasis is on active. Jesus didn't raise His disciples in a classroom, a seminary, or a meditation center. He certainly trained and taught them many things. He wanted them to know truths, propositional truths about Him (I am the Bread of Life; I came down from Heaven; I forgive you and give you eternal life; I will never leave or forsake you), and how to relate to Him and pray. Yet Christianity is not an exclusive ivory tower or a purely monastic faith.
Jesus also sent his disciples into the world to get their hands dirty doing the things of God, going to the lost, preaching the gospel, feeding the multitudes, being missionaries, facing rejection, persecution, and martyrdom. Jesus said as Spirit-filled communities of God, we would do similar and even greater things than He did. He tells us to go and make disciples, baptizing (immersing) people into a relationship with the Father and Son and Holy Spirit and to teach them - not just tell them but teach them - to obey all that He has taught us. "Just as My Father has sent Me," Jesus said, "so I send you."
This too requires intentionality and action. As we do these, we participate with Christ in His ongoing Gospel mission. This infuses active Christianity to the contemplative and relational, a good balance.
Finally: How might your church, leadership group, or small group go about these three essentials?
*In some churches it will be easier for a small group leader to get his or her group of ten to start doing this than it might take a pastor to get a consensus from the elders, form a committee, research the data, get it back to the oversight committee, form a consensus, get the buy-in of the small group leaders, promote it to the church as a whole, etcetera ad nauseum. Hopefully your church doesn't have this complex layering of red tape - and duct tape - but it will be worth it for church leadership to make the call and implement it.
Many Christians unthinkingly associate church with a building they attend once a week to hear a sermon, sing a few favorite hymns, and connect with close friends. However, the church, as the born again community of the redeemed in Christ, exists to "make disciples" (Matt 28:18-20). As the Christ-redeemed people of God, together, we are both to become and to be making "disciples" or devoted, practicing, believers and followers of Jesus Christ.
How does this disciple-building process, this MORPHING process occur?
If you are a pastor, elder, small group leader, or a Christian guy or gal wanting to grow in Christlikeness, here are three "essentials." Obviously, more than these three could be put forth and whole books could be written under each heading; but I will resist these temptations and limit myself to these three essentials with only a few comments under each.
TO INTENTIONALLY* GROW IN CHRIST AND ENGAGE IN THE LIFELONG PROCESS OF CHRISTLIKE SPIRITUAL FORMATION,
1. We need a theological understanding of Jesus Christ (Christology) and a vision of how it looks to follow Him
In order to be and to make disciples, processes and structures need to be in place for communicating clear and uncompromised truths about Jesus: His eternal identity, incarnational nature and purposes, character, teachings, and practices, all for the purpose of leading to experiential knowledge and communion with Christ.
This is not "red-letter" rhetoric. I affirm that the entire Bible is one meta-story, therefore we need the whole of Scripture, not just the Gospels! Yet to follow Jesus Christ truly, we must study, know, trust and love Jesus Christ, on His terms, as He is presented in the Sacred Texts. Therefore, discipleship to Jesus Christ calls for bold Christological emphasis in our pulpits, small groups, and private studies.
Reality Alert: This must be intentional. If you are a pastor, elder, group leader, or initiative-taking Christian, this must be an intentional part of your design for being or making disciples.
So, how might you set this up? What type of study would be a good fit for your church or group? How often would you teach, discuss, meditate on the propositional realities of Christ? How would you incorporate this into the DNA of your church or group or personal, spiritual disciplines?
2. Grace relationships in a committed grace community
The first step toward morphing is in relationship to Jesus Christ. The second step includes living out that relationship with one another, the community of Christ.
In order to be and to be making disciples, we need fertile soil, a gracious Christian community. This doesn't just happen either. We must be intentional about this, too. We need a vision for this, we need to commit to connect with others and to build a community that is devoted to Christ in a way that trusts, celebrates and models God's grace in our relationships.
- Grace that accepts differences rather than demands conformity to an extrabiblical subculture
- Grace that realizes the terrible power of sin and earnestly seeks sanctification in Christ alone
- Grace that earns the right to rebuke believers who wound others and ruin their own lives
- Grace that prizes such relational dynamics as trust, love, authenticity, humility, and vulnerability
- Grace rather than criticism, finger-pointing, shaming, bickering, score-keeping, condemning
- Grace that allows freedom for the Spirit of God to work in trusting hearts
- Grace that affirms who we are in Christ and values our gifts, rather than questions these
- Grace that actually encourages believers to boast in their weaknesses (think about it)
- Grace that nurtures dependence on God, relationship with Christ, and true holiness in practice
Too many of us live without much grace in our relationships. At school or at work, yet even in too many homes and churches, some of our key relationships are with people whom we do not feel safe, appreciated, or loved.
I personally soar when I am in a community of grace. I grow in holiness, love, and Christlikeness. I am free to be honest about myself, encouraged to trust Jesus, able to be authentic and bold, and secure in Christ. My passion for Christ and for Christlike living is stirred to the top of my priorities.
Yet, when I am in the opposite type of community, when I am in a grace-depleted, performance-judging, untrusting, critical environment, I tend to hide things about myself and second-guess what I do or say. Even emails are reviewed five times before sending them out.
Each of us may fear messing up or making people mad or doing the wrong thing apart from such grace-relationships. We tire of the performance treadmill. We lack perfection. We fear rejection. In such a climate of gracelessness, holiness diminishes; it is replaced with graceless values and narrowly defined religiosity. Few of us know what it is like to be in a genuine grace community. Few of us believe it is possible on this side of heaven. It is possible. I'm not talking about perfection, but the pursuit and value and commitment to grace is possible and worth the cost.
How might your church or small group be compelled to forge this type of community? What discussions need to take place? What needs to be deconstructed, addressed, corrected, and what needs to be added, valued, treasured, protected? How will you help to build grace into your community?
3. Service to others; in the church and through missional outreach
We not only need to know and love Christ in a real way and under His terms (Love God); and also to spiritually grow within a loving community that is devoted to trusting Christ and modeling faith in God's grace in real and practical ways (Love one another); we also need to be actively involved in Christian ministry and missional activity (Love neighbor and enemy).
The emphasis is on active. Jesus didn't raise His disciples in a classroom, a seminary, or a meditation center. He certainly trained and taught them many things. He wanted them to know truths, propositional truths about Him (I am the Bread of Life; I came down from Heaven; I forgive you and give you eternal life; I will never leave or forsake you), and how to relate to Him and pray. Yet Christianity is not an exclusive ivory tower or a purely monastic faith.
Jesus also sent his disciples into the world to get their hands dirty doing the things of God, going to the lost, preaching the gospel, feeding the multitudes, being missionaries, facing rejection, persecution, and martyrdom. Jesus said as Spirit-filled communities of God, we would do similar and even greater things than He did. He tells us to go and make disciples, baptizing (immersing) people into a relationship with the Father and Son and Holy Spirit and to teach them - not just tell them but teach them - to obey all that He has taught us. "Just as My Father has sent Me," Jesus said, "so I send you."
This too requires intentionality and action. As we do these, we participate with Christ in His ongoing Gospel mission. This infuses active Christianity to the contemplative and relational, a good balance.
Finally: How might your church, leadership group, or small group go about these three essentials?
*In some churches it will be easier for a small group leader to get his or her group of ten to start doing this than it might take a pastor to get a consensus from the elders, form a committee, research the data, get it back to the oversight committee, form a consensus, get the buy-in of the small group leaders, promote it to the church as a whole, etcetera ad nauseum. Hopefully your church doesn't have this complex layering of red tape - and duct tape - but it will be worth it for church leadership to make the call and implement it.
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