The reason I'm the "late guy" is because I spent most of this week planning for the fall semester at Raystown Lake. This trip of course included several trips on the lake to wake board. (yes...I know Jeremy and Dave you think that I've wasted a week at the lake wake boarding instead of fishing, but that's only cause your from St. College, haha) Cohen, if we ever live somewhere where there is a lake near by, this will be one of our pass times/ministry tools! (Like maybe CHICAGO!)
Much of my time with The Teacher recently has been mediating on discipleship. Matt. 28: 18-20 is such a clear and universal call for each of us to be actively involved in discipleship. I dwell much of the time on what our world would look like if multiplicative discipleship were happening in the local church and not just in para-church college ministries. I believe very deeply that each true, walking, kingdom seeking child of God should be able to answer the question "Who's life are you multiplying yourself into right now?" with a list of at least two names. I see that "multiplying" as being not a therapy session, but true life sharing, ministry training, theology developing and in the end sending them out to do the same for others.
The elephantS in the room however are who's throwing resources at solving this problem? How do you disciple a 40-something with a 50 hour work week, a wife, 2 kids and mortgage? and then how does that same person find time to do it for someone else?
These are questions that I believe are imperative to the pursuit of a truly biblical church. For goodness sake it's the last thing Jesus said, we have to realize that it's of the utmost importance!
Do you guys feel the same way? How do we answer these questions? How do we make sure this doesn't continue for another generation?
Feedback Please...
2 comments:
To be honest, I have wrestled with the question of how you disciple a guy who is married, has a full-time job, and a couple of kids. I need to think more before I say to much, but here is one idea: We need to preach better. Our pastors, and that will include some of us in the future, must preach the Bible clearly. The preached Word will never return void. We must preach toward the end of genuine growth. We must preach the truth of scripture so hard and so genuinely that the man or woman who is in the congregation and is not growing feels uncomfortable. My pastor here in Louisville does this so well and, therefore, I feel out of place all the time because of my lack of intimacy with Christ. This is not the only answer, but we must preach better.
As a married man with a full time job (no kids though), that is definitely the hardest struggle I have. Not just with discipleship, but ministry in general. I tried a bible study, but times would not work on a weekly basis. Interest was low. Although it's very cliche, there is a lot of behavior that exemplifies a "Sunday only" mindset. I'm condemning myself when I say this as well: often we would rather be entertained than spiritually developing. I have not tried one-on-one discipleship largely because of time, but I think I'll have to have a talk with a good friend of mine.
Nick, I'm excited by your passion for developing people. Without this desire and passion it will be easy to keep the status quo. (And as Matt hinted at, making people feel out of place to provoke growth is very effective...which Matt, you did for me all freshman year. I attribute so much of my development to not wanting to feel out of place when we hung out and especially at our accountability lunches.)
Post a Comment