If there was one thing that we could change at Amazing Grace, one thing that would maximize the impact of our life together to become a more vibrant church, I wouldn’t ask for a bigger building, I wouldn’t want a youth director, or even more money, as nice as those things would be.
If you, dear reader, are wondering what YOU could do to be an agent for change and vibrancy in your church, instead, the one change that is needed at Amazing Grace, as well as most churches in our tradition, is in an area called discipleship. A disciple is an intentional follower of Jesus. Jesus lived with and taught his disciples about loving God, one-another, and the neighbor.
We can tweak various aspects of Amazing Grace, fiddling with worship to make it more visitor-friendly, improving our website, or starting a new project that will help people, but if we aren’t committed to making disciples, everything else we do will have a limited impact.
As one church thinker frames our situation, “If you make disciples, you will always get the church. But if you try to build the church, you will rarely get disciples”.*
Instead, we worship together (as important as that is) and do some good things in the name of Jesus, and we hope somehow in the process disciples will be made. It is time to be honest and admit we are not doing well in making disciples.*
As I’ve heard it quoted by a leader from another denomination, “You Lutherans have the best theology in all of Christianity, but the worst delivery system”. By that, he is saying we have strong beliefs and values that shape our understanding of the faith, but the worst way of sharing this theology within our ranks.
What Should We Do?
Imagine that you were part of a group of 5-7 adults who met together once a week, or twice a month, and you had fellowship together and you were led by a trained lay person that you respected, and the focus for each in the group was these two important questions:
1) What is God doing in my life?
2) What am I going to do about it?
Does that idea appeal to you? Or do you have this in your life already?
This is more than just a small group, which is traditionally understood as being more social and has less of a formal commitment. Instead it is a group of people who want to intentionally grow in their faith and support others in the growth of their faith.
It is time for a change. In this age where the “church” occupies a space in our society somewhere between the Rotarians, a social-club, and a social service agency who weekly pray and sing together, we need to re-claim our identity as a disciple-making community.
Most of us Lutherans have often had a general sense that we were missing something compared to certain other Christians. We have great theology, great worship, good agencies to help others, and the bottom-line is Amazing Grace has some really great people. What is missing is at the heart of what Jesus did: discipleship.
For us to have a renewed focus on discipleship would require some change on your part. You would need to create a new space in your life for God and for other people. Does this change appeal to you?
I can tell you that people who visit our church aren’t looking to join a committee. They are looking for a community who believes God changes lives.
Nothing else in ministry excites me as much as building a network of disciples. I would rather have 8 new people come to our community and engage as intentional disciples meeting and praying during the week (and creating new disciples) rather than 8 new people come to our community to attend worship, give to the budget and serve on a committee. Why? Because Jesus has shown us that a group of disciples is an effective way to change the world. And changing the world is the reason why I believe Amazing Grace exists.
I admit to pushing this distinction between disciples and church members a little far in this column. Of course every member of our church is a disciple, and of course I know there are a lot of you who daily approach your lives as followers of Jesus. But in doing so I am seeking to make a point: that the heart of our life together is discipleship, and this should be the first priority of all that we do. Right now, it is not.
* http://weare3dm.com/mikebreen/we-are-3dm/why-the-missional-movement-will-fail/Video
*I will highlight the Via de Cristo retreat movement as being an effective vehicle for discipleship. This church has a long history of involvement in this movement, dating back to our founding pastor.
Videos:
Christian Book Review: Building a Discipleship Culture. If you can get past the odd voice, this short video puts the basics of what I am trying to convey in this blog. https://www.youtube.com/
Mike Breen – How To Be A Disciple That Makes Disciples. This goes into greater depth about the challenges and solutions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Blog: http://3dmovements.com/blog/
Book:
The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community by Hugh Halter
http://www.amazon.com/The-