Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Discipleship
Barry Cooper @ 9MARKS:
The biggest problem facing the church today is not a lack of outreach, or a lack of building disciples - it is a lack of BEING disciples. I wonder what would happen if the church quit telling people to reach out and started telling the to grow up? Jesus spent a long time with his disciples before he sent them forth. He himself spent an enormous amount of time in preparation for ministry.
You have to grow up before you can do adult things.
discipleship maturity
Allow me to translate: “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DISCIPLE WITHOUT A NEW PROGRAM?”Oh that "thirdly." That there is a home run. The program is a way of us avoiding the responsibilities of real discipling. Why would that be? Because real discipling requires that we be real disciples. Most of us are not willing to go there just yet.
Brothers and sisters, discipleship is possible without programs....
For a start, programs are necessarily a “one-size-fits-all” proposition....
Secondly, programs can imply that discipleship is a matter of following the correct “process” rather than cultivating the correct character....
Thirdly, we sometimes use programs in the same way a family might use the DVD screens in a Nissan Pathfinder: as surrogate parents.
The biggest problem facing the church today is not a lack of outreach, or a lack of building disciples - it is a lack of BEING disciples. I wonder what would happen if the church quit telling people to reach out and started telling the to grow up? Jesus spent a long time with his disciples before he sent them forth. He himself spent an enormous amount of time in preparation for ministry.
You have to grow up before you can do adult things.
discipleship maturity
