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Embracing Discipleship -- Part IOur Ten-Year Vision statement says it this way: "We envision House Churches in every neighborhood, town, or village... with each disciple steadfastly committed to the ‘one another way' and connected through healthy discipling relationships." There. We said it: "discipling relationships." We were born as a discipling church. We grew up as a discipling church. And though we made mistakes, and at times sinned, as a discipling church, we are still a discipling church. That means that each one of us needs to once again embrace discipling. Some of you, upon reading this, may twitch and think back about a bad experience you may have had, some poor advice you may have received, or an embarrassing and unfair rebuke you may have endured. Others among us have had very positive experiences in our ‘intentional' relationships. In the month of October, we are going to spend a number of weeks studying the scriptures together to allow the Bible to define for us why this is a critical need for every member, and a part of God's great plan for the salvation of our world.An Honest Evaluation of Past & Present SinsIt is no wonder that some would be concerned about a renewed emphasis on discipling relationships. ‘One over another' discipling has been blamed for numerous unhealthy practices, not only in our movement, but in others as well. At different times, authority was misused; personal opinion was treated as doctrine. At times correction was harsher than was warranted; patiently loving one another was seemingly less important than immediately correcting one another. And we could go on.We also have to be honest, however, about sins in our ‘present.' In the absence of mutual accountability, we have seen a preponderance of unconfessed sin and a waning commitment, both to meetings of the body and opportunities for service in the community. Though we offer more significant help to all of our married couples (in the form of our marriage dynamics classes), we have seen an emergence of deeper and more frequent crises in marriage, couples even talking about separation and divorce. In addition to all of this, our evangelistic fervor has cooled significantly, one of a number of ‘sins of omission' of which we are guilty. Unquestionably, this is to some degree the result of letting go of consistency in our relationships. Given the positives and negatives in regard to our former "one over another" understanding of discipleship, how are we to move forward? The scriptures, by command, inference, and example, model for us a balanced view of discipling. Though we will cover all of this in greater biblical detail in weeks to come, what we will propose will attempt to maintain and restore the great strengths of our one another relationships while striving to avoid the pitfalls of the ‘one over another' model. Let's begin with a working definition of discipling. Greg Ogden, in his outstanding book Transforming Discipleship, defines it this way: "Discipling is an intentional relationship in which we walk alongside other disciples in order to encourage, equip, and challenge one another in love to grow toward maturity in Christ." 1 Terminology is very important in this definition. These relationships are, first of all, intentional. When we stood in the waters of baptism and prepared to give our hearts to the Lord, we made the commitment to be disciples of Jesus, to learn at his feet. And the challenge of discipleship is daunting - we are to "obey everything he commanded us (Matt 28:19)." Just as we were led to Christ by another human being, it is only in concert with others that we will grow to maturity in Christ. That's God's plan, and there is no other. "Intentional" means that we will strive to meet together regularly. "Intentional" means that our times together will have a purpose. Being with one another will be a primary means by which we will grow toward Christ-likeness. When we say we will ‘walk alongside' other disciples in these relationships, we are deliberately making these relationships non-hierarchical. We view this as a dynamic process. A young disciple may have a mentor-type relationship in a group with others who are older in the faith, but in most situations, we are intending a one-another approach rather than a ‘teacher-student' approach, handled in groups of three or four. Some might argue that this seems contradictory to the approach of Jesus, who was clearly in a ‘teacher-student' relationship with the three, and with the twelve. There should be a difference, as none of us are Jesus. This is consistent with over fifty verses in the New Testament that together define "the one another way." This is not to say that correction will not exist alongside encouragement in our definition of discipling; both have their place, along with many other relational issues that we will further discuss. For now, though, let us all honestly examine our hearts, accept the scriptures, and, in a healthy way, embrace once again, or maybe for the first time, the discipleship to which we are called. 1 Ogden, Greg. Transforming Discipleship. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2003. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In this article, Dave Eastman encourages the Central Ministry Center to examine discipleship in light of the many "one another" passages found in the New Testament. With a clear biblical view of discipleship -- along with a recognition of our past and present shortcomings -- we can fully embrace discipleship.
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