Jul
25
2007
Book Review: Simple Church 3
The Importance of “Moving” Disciples
One of the most practical areas of Simple Church centers on the importance of “moving” people from one level of discipleship to another. This emphasis on “movement” is badly needed in Southern Baptist churches today, many of which seek to build only one aspect of the ministry (worship attendance, for example) instead of seeing people grow spiritually through an intentional discipleship process.
The authors define “movement” as the sequential steps in the process that cause people to move to greater areas of commitment (139). Most pastors already hope their people are moving to greater areas of commitment, but Simple Church challenges pastors to figure out what the “hand-offs” are by asking tough questions that aim specifically at removing congestion between church programs. How are we moving people from worship attendance to small group participation? How are we moving people from Bible study to mission trips? Rainer and Geiger encourage pastors to have an intentional, specific plan for moving people from one area of ministry to another.
Thankfully, though the authors focus on formulas adopted by other churches (83-103), they do not advocate a simplistic formula meant to work in every kind of church. The Great Commission should be a constant reminder that we are not called simply to make new converts or to keep old believers happy, but that we are to make disciples. No formula can ever capture the numerous ways that discipleship takes place, but the inclusion of other church experiences help the reader.
People will not move from one area of discipleship to another without some system in place to connect them to people in the next level. Rainer and Geiger encourage church leaders to have a clear entry-point to the process and also a clear method of moving people to the next stage (146-147). Relationships are crucial here (151-152). Titus 2:2-8 backs up the importance of relationships in discipleship, as Paul commands older men and women to mentor and disciple those in the next generation.
written by Trevin Wax © 2007 Kingdom People blog
I’ve always found the attempts to define stages of discipleship to be fraught with danger if not outright insulting.
To think that discipleship is something we “progress” through consisting of stages that we pass through and “graduate” to subsequent stages, rings empty to me.
I’d liken it to the field of child development. We know a lot about the physical, social, intellectual, and emotional development of children as grow into adults. But, if you’re a parent you know that, even armed with the best science, your kids will always befuddle you. The problem is: people notoriously do not follow the rules. Though our experiences are similar, they are not all encountered the same way or in the same order.
That said, the only one who can guide a child into adulthood is someone who has already been through the process (a.k.a an adult). In the church, this role is filled by close relationships with “those who have gone before”. This includes the elders (by gifting, not title) the God has raised up in the body as well as the writings passed down to us through the ages from the saints.
But in our corporate, compartmentalized model of church (seniors ministry, men’s, women’s, youth, children’s, etc., etc.) we rarely have the vehicles that allow this kind of mentoring to happen. And don’t get me started on the spoon-feeding that takes place with oversimplified church curricula.
Hi Bob,
We have indeed compartmentalized our discipleship process by age, so much so that many of our elderly never even see our young people… and vice versa. Mentoring is the key to seeing strong discipleship. I’m not sure that a program working towards that end is necessarily a bad thing, though. Even if mentoring should be happening, it rarely does unless people are intentional about it.
The discipleship process should have mentors at every step. Sunday School class teachers mentor students. Veterans of short-term mission trips mentor newcomers to the ministry. Those with the gift of evangelism take new people with them on visits, to show how it is done. Having an intentional discipleship process does not have to keep people chained to certain places in the process, but can free people to become more involved with those who have already reached a certain level of maturity.
I agree about the mentoring doesn’t happen unless people are intentional about it. But I think programmed mentoring is an oxymoron.
If we are part of a community, we are following someone whether we recognize it or not. (Actually we’re probably following a dozen people or so at any given time.) That isn’t “intentional” it’s natural–how we are wired up.
But it is those being followed who have to intentionally press the followers not to “bring more followers in” (as in invite you friends to church). Instead, they should encourage them to be leaders to those who follow them (i.e. intentional mentoring).
It is in this learning to mentor to others as you are mentored to that the “follower” goes through the developmental process of discipleship. (As opposed to the educational process of discipleship that really just amounts to acquiring more information without necessarily putting it into practice.)
I guess the idea of mentoring “steps” is replaced by mentoring “links”.
“Programmed mentoring” can be an oxymoron, but it isn’t necessarily so. If I’m meeting and mentoring some guys for lunch weekly at the same time every week, it’s programmed… but it’s still mentoring. It’s intentional. If I set up young Christians with older Christians and they begin meeting together regularly, there is mentoring going on… with or without the program.
The program is simply a tool. Mentoring takes place inside and outside of it. A big part of mentoring is education. I don’t think the problem in American churches is that our people know too much of the Bible and practice too little. Our Bible knowledge and understanding of the Christian worldview is woefully inadequate. Good mentoring resolves the lack of education and keeps the discipleship process practical by making it personal and applicable to daily life.
I just don’t know if I’ve been around many mentoring “programs” that were wildly successful. I don’t think you can take a bunch of well-intentioned people, pair them up randomly, and expect mentoring to happen.
For the successful mentoring I’ve seen, there is usually a pre-existing relationship between the mentor and the protege. Oftentimes, the mentor sees something in protege that intrigues him…something that he feels motivated to draw out of him. Mentors are more than “big brothers” or lunch companions or teachers/guides. They are people who see us as we should be.
Certainly mentors and proteges (on the surface) will look very much as you describe–meeting, talking, sharing meals, teaching, listening. But without the underlying connection (which cannot be forced or fabricated) it is just participation in a program. (IMHO).