So, Now What?

I'm painfully aware of how presumptuous it is to assume one has a grasp of the problems, much less the solutions.  I've read more than a few of those church leadership and growth books, and thought I'd found some great answers, only to discover a few months later that the trend of the moment is rarely useful in the long run.  So now, whether I'm considering the problems or the solutions for the church, I try to stick close to the only reliable source we have, the Bible.

There is this really great scene in the series Firefly where River starts "fixing" the Bible to by removing and rearranging pages to something that makes more sense to her.  Shepherd Book, retrieving his Bible, explains, "You don't fix the Bible, the Bible fixes you."

I find that conceptualization helpful.  The Bible fixes us.  In that phrase rests some assumptions that define our faith.  First, we are broken.  And second, we need something outside ourselves to fix us.  It's my impression that the things that are off the mark about today's western church are the things we have done for ourselves in spite of Scripture.  We hold onto these things, even treating them as sacred and ordained, but they are from us.

So I have to think that discipleship, simple and organic, is the better answer to our challenges.  It sounds oversimplified, even to me, to say, "Oh yeah, all those problems could be redeemed by re-engaging the ancient practices of discipleship."  Nevertheless, I think it's true.  The self sacrificing nature of discipleship undermines the consumerism of western Christianity.  The multiplication nature of discipleship decentralizes leadership, thus discouraging celebrity and encouraging the exercise of diverse gifts by multiple believers in each fellowship.  The deliberate process of discipleship extends beyond our current educational models into an active and challenging journey that promises to facilitate genuine spiritual maturity.

I've been hammering away at the idea of discipleship for years, and I've often run into a problem with my conceptualization.  Christians tend to reject the idea that we are not already practicing discipleship.  Of course, I'm hardly the only or the most credible person to make this observation.  Nevertheless, we tend to so closely associate discipleship with Christianity that we think being one is the same as being the other.  Actually, I tend to agree, but in the opposite way.  Where most of the western church seems to be saying "If you are a Christian you are a disciple," I'm saying, in concert with Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Dallas Willard, and countless others, "If you are not practicing discipleship, you are not really living the Christian life."

The scary thing is that real life discipleship is foreign enough to us that most church leaders aren't really sure where to begin.  For that matter, I certainly can't claim any expertise.  I have enjoyed a dsicipleship relationship with certain mentors in my life and I have, with those who've allowed me, attempted to disciple others.  I've read just about everything I can find on the subject, and I've made a study of the concept in Scripture.

Nevertheless, I'm no authority on the subject.  But it strikes me that the advantage of discipleship is that it is not particularly dependent on expertise.  In fact, I think it kind of works against us to assume expertise.  The people I've tried to disciple, for example, are not people to whom I think I'm particularly superior in any way.  Christian discipleship is unique in this regard, because we don't seek to make people like ourselves, but like Christ.  And in regard to emulating Christ, we all share our human weaknesses.  So it actually works to simply share the journey with another, talk to them about what we have learned, and give them room to make their own mistakes.

I've been considering, for quite some time now, the implementation of a discipleship "experiment."  I'd like to gather some people who are willing and ready, and walk with them through a process in which my own leadership would be considerably decentralized.  There would be some instruction.  There would also be experiments with spiritual disciplines and missional activities.  There would be a whole lot of discussion and shared journey.

I've imagined this process because I think it mimics the experience of Jesus' disciples.  Certainly, there was instruction, which often challenged their status quo assumptions.  But discipleship was hardly limited to education.  It was an active process, wherein disciples participated in the spirituality and mission of Jesus.  And, very importantly, those who made the journey chose to make it.