Who Is Watching You?
The idea of discipleship is a recurring theme in the Bible. For example, Jethro and Moses, Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Eli and Samuel, David and Jonathan, Jesus and his disciples (especially Peter, James and John), Barnabas and Paul, Barnabas and Mark, Paul and Timothy (and a number of others), to mention some of the best known. And yes, there are many women discipleship examples, too.
It is clearly God's intention that we should learn from one another, grow together in our relationship to Him and seek to serve Him faithfully in partnership with others.
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19,20)
So, who is discipling you? Who are you discipling?
In this post-modern age, characterized by a deep desire for real relationships and a great desire for spirituality, perhaps it is time to check the status of current discipleship trends.
To get a sense of the current state of discipleship within the American Church, noted Christian researcher George Barna conducted extensive research regarding the spiritual lives of adults and teenagers who have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and who expect eternal salvation because of their confession of sins and acceptance of Christ as their savior - a group that Barna refers to as "born again Christians." Several large-scale national surveys among random samples of these people revealed that the faith commitment of most born again believers is not very deep. Among the many examples of the shallowness of believer's faith are the following:
*When Christian adults were asked to identify their most important goal for their life, not a single person said it was to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ, or to make disciples of Christ.
*Less than one out of every five born again adults had any specific and measurable goals related to their personal spiritual development.
*Less than 1% of all believers perceived a connection between their efforts to worship God and their development as a disciple of Jesus.
*The most widely-known Bible verse among adult and teen believers is "God helps those who help themselves" - which is not actually in the Bible, and actually conflicts with the basic message of Scripture.
*A minority of adult and teen believers contends that absolute moral truth exists.
*Less than one out of every ten believers possesses a biblical worldview as the basis for his/her decision-making or behavior.
*When given thirteen basic teachings from the Bible, only 1% of adult believers firmly embraced all 13 as being biblical perspectives.
*Research revealed specific and significant problems related to core spiritual practices such as worship, evangelism, stewardship, community service, and lifestyles.
Barna noted that most believers stated that their church does little to help them grow as a true disciple. "Few believers said that their church lacked programs, but most Christians complained that little is done to effectively motivate and facilitate their development as genuine, fervent followers of Christ. Our surveys among pastors showed that they dismissed such views as excuses and as inaccurate, but the bottom line remains unchanged: most Christians are simply not making progress in their personal spiritual development."
The real challenge for every church is to define a clear, comprehensive and effective process for discipleship that it consistently implements. |
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