Not long ago scientists believed that as we looked at smaller and smaller units of matter we would understand how the most fundamental particles in existence behave, and ultimately understand how everything works. As it turns out, as we looked closer and closer under the hood of reality, things got stranger and stranger. As a result, the field of quantum mechanics continues to be one of the most profound mysteries and scientific mind-bogglers in history. Nobel Prize winning physicist Niels Bohr said, “Anyone not shocked by quantum mechanics has not yet understood it.” Theoretical physicist and fellow Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman goes even further: “Nobody understands quantum mechanics." It seems that the closer we look for a complete answer to how our universe works, the farther away we seem to be. Apparently, our reality isn't something that can be completely understood and brought under our control.
I believe the same could be said of discipleship.
I connected with “Gary” right from the start. I heard that he was looking for a group of Christians to connect with, and I was leading a Young Adults community at the time. I invited him out and he began attending regularly. We became friends and I took him under my wing. At one point I asked him and one other guy in the group to meet with me once every other week for breakfast and to work through a series of books geared toward discipleship. We met for two years, engaging the material, all the while being involved in serving our Young Adults community and wider spheres of influence in various ways. Those two years passed and after that a couple more. But after countless hours of discussion and Bible study, and countless opportunities to progress, it was as if Gary just wasn’t getting it. Issues kept cropping up in his life and he just couldn’t seem to settle in to a place of spiritual maturity. He ended up moving to a different city and we lost touch.
During this time I met "Jeremy". He was coming out of a time where he was very isolated in life. But he began engaging in our Young Adults community and one day he asked if I could baptize him. We met and talked about his journey thus far and I was amazed at how far he had come spiritually in such a short time span. Soon after, he joined our church's Men's Ministry and we began meeting once a month as a part of the Men's course he was taking. Throughout this time he made huge leaps in his faith and in his walk with God, and yet I felt as though I was doing relatively little. He eventually joined the lead team in our Young Adults community and now is leading the entire group.
We probably all have "Garys" and "Jeremys" in our lives. These stories stand to show just how unpredictable discipleship can be. We must conclude that discipleship is a lot less like using Newton’s Laws to predict the movement of the planets and send rockets to Mars, and a lot more like the unfathomability of the quantum world.
But why is discipleship so unpredictable and messy? Why is it difficult to have a firm grasp of it, to have a clear process with clear outcomes?
Jesus spoke of those born of the Spirit in John 3:8, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” That sounds quantum to me. Yet Jesus’ parting command to His disciples before He ascended to heaven was to go and make more disciples. I think sometimes we can get hung up on the command, forgetting that right afterwards He continues: “I am with you always.” (Matt 28:19). Jesus is with us to see that His will is done through us.
But might it not help if we have a working definition for discipleship?
What is the goal of discipleship? I would put forward the following definitions:
Discipleship - Disciple means “learner”. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be a learner of Jesus’ way, becoming like Him in character in the midst of everyday life. Discipleship, then, is the process of a person moving toward Christlikeness, or, spiritual maturity.
Spiritual maturity - A person is spiritually mature when the fruits and gifts of the Spirit are consistently on display in his or her life. The spiritually mature are consistently attuned to and are obedient to the will of God in their lives.
And who is involved in the discipleship process?
God is the primary Disciple-Maker. We see this clearly in the stories of the Old Testament: Adam and Eve, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the prophets. God had a direct hand interacting with these individuals and teaching them His way. And of course we find Jesus calling and forming His disciples in the New Testament. Today, God still has direct and powerful involvement in the discipleship of His people: He deals directly with people, forming them into His disciples.
A disciple also has a responsibility to disciple him or herself. Like a child learning to walk or crawl, there must be an internal drive to progress - parents can only do so much to help. I remember when my first child was learning to crawl, I thought I was being helpful propping her up on her hands and knees and moving her arms and legs in a crawling motion! It wasn’t helping at all. Crawling was something she had to work out in her own way in her own time. All babies have a natural internal motivation for movement; the same cannot be said for people and spiritual growth. If someone isn’t taking their own discipleship seriously and engaging in their own discipleship journey, they will not grow spiritually. The disciple has a responsibility before God to become his or her own discipler, as much as those surrounding them.
Finally, discipleship is a community endeavor. In most cases a single disciple will have had numerous disciplers, including parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings and cousins, children’s ministry volunteers, friends of the family, Vacation Bible School leaders, camp counsellors, school teachers, coaches, youth pastors, pastors, classmates, authors both living and deceased, professors, small group peers and leaders, mentors, co-workers, etc. Every contribution along the way which helps a person progress toward spiritual maturity is an integral part of the discipleship journey.
Therefore, when we think of the players in the process of discipleship we can picture a triangle including God, other disciplers, and the disciple.
Of these three I believe church leaders put the most emphasis on the "discipler” category. And that's no surprise because this is the area in which we seemingly have the most opportunity to have an influence. But the totality of discipleship isn’t on display when, for example, a mature Christian takes a younger Christian through discipleship curriculum. That is one dimension of discipleship. All three need to be active for discipleship to occur.
But where do sermons, classes, family and friend influence, community groups, affinity groups, etc. fit into the discipleship picture? I find it helpful to think of three “modes” of discipleship:
Environmental discipleship
A person is influenced by those they spend time with in informal settings. This could be one's family, friends, Christian community, etc. There is an element of discipleship that happens by 'osmosis'.
Indirect discipleship
These are settings where a person hears spiritual truth, gains spiritual knowledge, and is encouraged to live by Biblical principles, but direct follow-up and accountability is not a strong factor. Indirect discipleship usually includes sermons, Bible studies, classes, etc.
Direct discipleship
Direct discipleship is a setting where the goal of growing in one's walk with Christ is emphasized right from the start. Direct accountability and follow-up is fundamental. This usually takes the form of regular one-on-one or triad meetings and includes a more structured approach using curriculum, intentional questions, etc.
Putting it all together, when we take into account the triangle of discipleship, the number of people and amount of time involved in a disciple's journey, and the various modes where discipleship can be found, we must begin to see the Lord as the primary choreographer in making disciples. Throughout the lifetime of a disciple He activates a variety of disciplers through various modes as well as directly teaching and forming the disciple Himself.
So what is our role as disciplers?
Disciplers are influencers toward Jesus. As leaders we must seek to cultivate a variety of touch-points (Environmental and Indirect) for discipleship to flourish. We must also build and nurture a culture where Direct discipleship is the norm. A culture of Direct discipleship would look like everyone in the community being able to answer the question: “Who am I investing in spiritually? Who is investing in me spiritually?” There should be an unwritten (or maybe written?) expectation that every individual is seeking to invest in someone else, while also seeking out another person to invest in them. We must also pray that God directs the entire process and ignites an inner desire in the disciple to know, love, and follow Him.
Discipleship and the Pinball Machine
The reality is, we simply can’t create a machine where we herd people in and they come out the other end spiritually mature. There just isn’t a one-size-fits-all process for discipleship. If there was a machine to compare discipleship with it would have to be the pinball machine. Once launched, the ball ricochets around, contacting several different bumpers, catapulting here and there, going up and down ramps, in and out of holes, etc. These are all representative of the variety of touch-points for discipleship. And when the window of opportunity comes for a discipler to have direct contact, make it count (i.e. using the flipper paddles)! But sometimes, despite our best efforts, despite a grand flurry of contacts with various elements in the machine, lights and buzzers and points accumulated, the ball drops right through the middle of the paddles with no hope of being able to stop it. What a helpless feeling.
Discipleship to some degree is untameable - just like the nature of our reality is proving to be through discoveries in quantum physics. Both nature and discipleship are ultimately ungraspable and keep us guessing. But this is what keeps us humble and keeps us looking to the all-wise Universe-Creator and Disciple-Maker, the one who not only commanded us to make disciples, but also promised that He would be with us for the journey.
