I have been convicted that somehow in my "church planter-ness" I have forgotten the mission. It's to make disciples right? Not to build big or small christian communities that suck the life out of the pastors and the leadership always wanting to be entertained....not to convince people that our church or "rebrand" of christianity is good...
Remember, Jesus says to baptize (because we can't be His people unless we are born again. Baptism is a sign of our rebirth, a sign of conversion.) We must remember that just doing "good things" in the world does not equal His kingdom. There is a part of discipleship that happens before belief, a big part. This can be played out as we walk with not yet believers and show them what it looks like to love God and live in His ways in the tangible task of life. But it can't stop there. Someone who is baptized is someone that wants to proclaim their conversion. Our culture is trying to convert us to everything. Why are we afraid of converting people to Jesus? I think it's because we are worried more about our own name, our own identity more that the name and power of the trinity. We want to rebrand Christianity and try and make it good again but we have failed to realized that God has already rebranded humanity and made us good again in the person of Jesus.
Jesus then says to teach them to do all that I taught you to do. This is not a system, its a life style. It doesn't happen in a classroom it happens in life. So when we think like this we see that we can disciple someone to love their wife because we have learned and are learning to love our wives. We can disciple someone to rest, because we have learned and are learning to rest. This is not bullet points, its life. We can disciple someone to read and pray, because we are reading and praying. We can disciple someone to love their neighborhood because we are loving our neighborhood. You see, we can't disciple someone in something that we are not already doing.
But the biggest part of discipleship that I believe is too often overlooked is that Jesus is with us always, no matter where we go or what job we have. He lives in us. We are His carriers into this world bringing His kingdom wherever we go.Why do we teach people how to "be" like Jesus and then send them out to "be" Jesus? We have just created a new law, a new system of morality. We are not to go and "be" Jesus...we are carriers of Jesus. He is in us, He is alive, He is bringing His power and righteousness through us into our communities, families and workplaces. If the discipleship process makes us feel pressure to go and "do" then it's probably not true discipleship.
Think about these words... "All power has been given unto ME" (Jesus)... "so as you are in the rhythm of life, as you go"... "make disciples" (reminds me of be fruitful and multiply).... "of all peoples" (not just the ones you like)..."Baptizing them in the name of the trinity" (not just Jesus only, but teaching people about the whole character of God)..."teaching them to do" (we can't teach someone to do something we don't do. This is not ideas, this is life. Our true theology is what we live that we believe about God, not just what we say we believe about God)... "all that I have taught you" (not just the parts that feel good. not just go out and try and live like me.)... "for I AM with you always" (Jesus in us)...
Maybe we ought to rethink what we are asking people to do? Maybe we ought to be disciples that make disciples. Maybe our diagrams and charts ought to help communicate discipleship not replace it. Learning this as I go but I think that's what Jesus said right..."as you are going...Make disciples".
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