Making disciples for Jesus Christ stands at the heart of your church’s mission. You know this as well as I do. Yet, despite what we know, most of us would agree (I think) that, at least during this current cultural season, most congregations are not very fruitful.
Attempts to explain why fill numerous books and blogs. I’ll not dig deeply into those here, but I would like to share with you three hard truths about making disciples we don’t always consider. Perhaps as you ponder them here you might discover some adjustments for strengthening your fruitfulness for the Lord.
Hard Truth #1, Not everyone has the same capacity. In a commercial for Southern New Hampshire University, school president Paul LeBlanc says, “The world we live in equally distributes talent, but it doesn’t equally distribute opportunity.” I’ll not argue the later point, but the first is most definitely incorrect. Talent is not equally distributed.
People are different. All persons, as creatures in God’s image, share equal value. The church is called to serve and present the gospel to anyone and everyone, without prejudice, discipling all who respond in faith. And all Christians have the capacity to receive a “well done” from the savior.
But when you invest in discipling those who respond, you will discover some will have a deeper grasp of doctrine than others, some will be more able to teach, and others more capable to lead. This can be attributed to many things, such as spiritual discipline and maturity, spiritual giftedness and calling, as well as individual capabilities, personality, and the physical capacity of each person.
This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the church. The challenge is that you will not fruitfully make disciples with a “one size fits all” program. Churches should have a basic pathway for all members. But for disciples to develop, God’s word must be applied to each individual life and circumstances. For this, disciple making must become relational and permeate the church family.
Consider this question, how does your church connect the sermons and lessons to the lives and circumstances of each disciple?
The opportunity is that, as you disciple all members, you can enhance fruitfulness by multiplying your team. Note those who demonstrate the capacity to teach and lead others. Carve out sessions to cultivate their gifts, then deploy them through the congregation.
How are you identifying potential leaders within your congregation?
Hard Truth #2, Preaching and teaching alone will not do it. Scripture says that faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). This is so true. You will not have fruitful disciple making apart from the steady instruction of scripture from the pulpit and classroom. But, if this is the limit of your instruction, fruit will be limited to the 10% or so of Christians who are “self-feeders.”
Consider the example of Paul, who told the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, “You know how I lived among you, from the first day I set foot in Asia.” He told the Thessalonians, “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you, for your sake. And you became imitators of us,” (1 Thess. 1:5-6). Robert Coleman’s classic, The Master Plan of Evangelism, explains Jesus’ approach with the Twelve. I’ll spare you from enduring a lengthy sermon on the point, but please note that scripture shows disciple makers not only preaching and teaching. They are modeling truth, sending disciples out to practice truth, coaching and questioning them about truth, and certainly correcting missteps. All of this occurs because there is a presence, a relationship connecting disciple maker with the developing disciple.
Church, we must not devalue the pulpit or classroom! But we’ll not see an emergence of great fruitfulness until we develop within the church those connections so that every disciple has some mature, serving, and fruitful disciple makers to guide on.
What is your church doing to accomplish this?
Hard Truth #3: Many churches aim too low in disciple making. When I was in preacher school, I learned that twenty percent of church members did eighty percent of the work. My colleagues across the country tell me that today it’s more like ten percent do ninety percent of the work. Sadly, many churches would be content with either number and call that fruitfulness.
For generations we Southern Baptists have contented ourselves with growing attendance, considering those who volunteer to serve, lead, or enter ministry or missions as the exceptions. A pastor I once knew told me, “Jim, you can’t expect too much from God’s people. They’re just sheep.”
Now, going back to Hard Truth #1, I understand that everyone will not grow to teach or lead others, and even fewer will be pastors or missionaries. But, I wonder, if we don’t teach toward these stronger commitments, how will anyone embrace them? A wise friend once said, “Jim, if you ask for nothing, you’ll never be disappointed, but you will never get more either. If you ask for the world, you’ll never get the world, but you will get a lot more than nothing.”
It's time to raise the bar for disciple making. Churches should teach about the gifts, calling, and spiritual qualifications of ministry leaders, teachers, and even pastors and missionaries. Every Christian is called to live an exemplary life and to serve sacrificially. Raise the expectation in your church of what it means to be a Christ’s disciple. Do this and most will engage, some will struggle, and a few might even fall, but others will grow to deeper levels of service and greater ministry leadership. And you might even find yourself raising staff from the congregation and sending missionaries to far away countries.
What is the base expectation in your church for a professing, faithfully attending member?
Jesus told his disciples in John 15:16, “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide…” Ponder the thoughts. I’ll have more to share later.
Blessings,
Bro. Jim