The challenge comes when we say we are doing one of those four things, but we aren't really. For example: There are many churches that would say they "make disciples" but practically all they do is impart knowledge.
"Thank You, God, that You have enlightened me to not be like someone from 'one of those churches'." <- something I almost said
What you said, Pheaney, I think started a cascade of thoughts for me. "Those churches over there" that only impart knowledge probably got there with good intentions, but somewhere slipped into a system that was easy and overly "efficient" - "make disciples" probably became "this is a simple way to make disciples" which probably became "here's a system to make disciples" which probably was misinterpreted and allowed for a system where transferring good knowledge about discipleship was not followed up with actual discipleship. I suspect that might happen because people stick to the simple and good system but then never grow towards finessing it personally, and I suspect that that growth doesn't happen because there's something missing. Maybe a lack of introspection? Maybe forgetting to ask God to "search me and try me..."?
But I think it sort of ties in to this common problem which is the pharisee's mindset - "thank You, God, that You have not made me like this tax collector" - and instead, the antidote is the tax collector's mindset - "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"
A refrain I come to is "okay, so we do all these things to make gathering a catalyst for transformation, but why aren't people engaging with it so that they can be transformed?" I'm concerned that people are hearing but never really listening and engaging - because I've done and still do the same thing!
And I suppose where I'm coming to is that whether it's churches who reduce discipleship to just knowledge transfer, or the person in the pew who nods along to the sermon without letting it change them, or if it's me falling to the trap of thinking "thank You I'm not like that", there's some common thread along the lines of not seriously asking God to search and try ME - the mindset that's missing the transformation always focused on someone else's sin and not my own.
Good article.
The challenge comes when we say we are doing one of those four things, but we aren't really. For example: There are many churches that would say they "make disciples" but practically all they do is impart knowledge.
Agreed!
"Thank You, God, that You have enlightened me to not be like someone from 'one of those churches'." <- something I almost said
What you said, Pheaney, I think started a cascade of thoughts for me. "Those churches over there" that only impart knowledge probably got there with good intentions, but somewhere slipped into a system that was easy and overly "efficient" - "make disciples" probably became "this is a simple way to make disciples" which probably became "here's a system to make disciples" which probably was misinterpreted and allowed for a system where transferring good knowledge about discipleship was not followed up with actual discipleship. I suspect that might happen because people stick to the simple and good system but then never grow towards finessing it personally, and I suspect that that growth doesn't happen because there's something missing. Maybe a lack of introspection? Maybe forgetting to ask God to "search me and try me..."?
But I think it sort of ties in to this common problem which is the pharisee's mindset - "thank You, God, that You have not made me like this tax collector" - and instead, the antidote is the tax collector's mindset - "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"
A refrain I come to is "okay, so we do all these things to make gathering a catalyst for transformation, but why aren't people engaging with it so that they can be transformed?" I'm concerned that people are hearing but never really listening and engaging - because I've done and still do the same thing!
And I suppose where I'm coming to is that whether it's churches who reduce discipleship to just knowledge transfer, or the person in the pew who nods along to the sermon without letting it change them, or if it's me falling to the trap of thinking "thank You I'm not like that", there's some common thread along the lines of not seriously asking God to search and try ME - the mindset that's missing the transformation always focused on someone else's sin and not my own.
Sorry for the ramble!
Amen! I love what you’re doing brother. Very Jesus centered and transformative
Thank you for handling a complex topic with simplicity and grounding it in scripture.