The reason you can’t make disciples is probably something that’s built into your culture that sabotages your best intentions before you even start.
Pastors, have you ever noticed that the people in your congregation aren’t quite as excited about discipleship and mission as you are? Have you ever wondered why, despite your best intentions, you can’t make disciples?
Welcome to the club! This has definitely been the case for me, and as I’ve coached and consulted with all kinds of churches, I’ve noticed that there is something built in to almost every church I’ve ever encountered that sabotages their best disciple-making intentions.
Fly, my pretties!
I remember wondering about this when I first got into all this stuff. My theology was being profoundly reshaped along missional lines. I saw a vision for Christian discipleship that was bigger than just people being nice until heaven.
I figured all I needed to do was announce the possibility of being on mission with God, and people would shout for joy and wholeheartedly dive into it. I thought that all people really needed was permission to live missionally, and it would become an unstoppable hurricane of love.
Well, that didn’t happen. Instead I found I had unleashed a profoundly stoppable puff of wishful thinking.
I was so eager to see all this wonderful stuff happen that I spent some time trying to convince people that it was indeed a good idea. I argued and cajoled and sermonized and encouraged and urrrrrrrged and inspired. All for naught.
Formation required
Something was missing. I began realizing that missional people don’t fall from trees. They are not called forth ex nihilo. They must be formed.
The reason I wasn’t seeing people released into everyday mission was because people hadn’t been formed significantly into the image of Christ.
But why not? These were people who attended church services regularly, led small groups, taught Sunday school… these people worked in the nursery, even! Why wasn’t all this activity and service resulting in spiritual formation in the likeness of Christ?
Enrolling in Jesus school
I found it was because they had never fully intended to follow Jesus as his disciple, learning from him how to be like him. Faithful churchgoers can be some of the meanest people you’ll ever meet! Why?
Because events and practices (even good ones), in and of themselves, don’t magically make us like Jesus.
We must INTEND to become like Jesus, and engage in practices that form us in that direction.
So why don’t people become disciples of Jesus? It’s interesting that Jesus couldn’t seem to get rid of people even when he tried. And we have trouble getting people to sign up at all! What’s the deal?
What’s in your good news?
That one stumped me for awhile, until I heard Dallas Willard ask this question:
“Does the gospel I preach naturally lead to people becoming disciples of Jesus?”
Putting it another way: Is becoming a disciple of Jesus the natural way to say ‘Yes’ to the gospel I preach?
Here’s a quick test: One popular version of the gospel states that your sins can be forgiven and you can go to heaven when you die.
How do we say Yes to this gospel? By signing the contract and believing the right things about Jesus. You certainly don’t need to become a disciple to say Yes to this gospel.
People who say Yes to this gospel hardly ever become disciples of Jesus because we can’t fathom why we would need Jesus for anything other than his blood. We are essentially “Vampire Christians” as Willard called them.
Let’s test another gospel: Another popular version of the good news goes like this: “We can do something about injustice.”
How do we say Yes to this gospel? We sign petitions and march in the demonstrations and volunteer at the food bank and advocate for the homeless.
Now, these are all great things to do. There’s nothing wrong with them (just like there’s nothing wrong with forgiveness). But we don’t need to become disciples of Jesus to do these things.
Again, discipleship feels like an “extra” thing. An add-on to the “main thing” for people who are into that kind of thing.
Under the logic of these kinds of gospels, why would anyone in their right mind become a disciple of Jesus? What use would it be? It certainly doesn’t help them say Yes to the good news they heard and believed.
Our only strategies are to “should” on people or just redefine discipleship to mean what people are already doing. Neither strategy helps us really understand why we can’t make disciples.
Recapturing the gospel of the kingdom
Here’s why we can’t make disciples. Here’s the factor built in to almost every church that sabotages discipleship before it even starts… we aren’t preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
Instead we preach gospels that aren’t necessarily WRONG, but because they’re TRUNCATED they don’t naturally lead people to become disciples.
Here’s the truth to wrestle with: there is a DIRECT link between the gospel you preach and whether or not people become disciples of Jesus in your church.
What’s happening in so many of our churches is that because we preach a truncated gospel, we are inadvertently directing people AWAY from becoming disciples of Jesus.
So what kind of gospel results in discipleship? The gospel Jesus preached. The gospel the New Testament writers preached. The gospel the early church preached. The gospel of the kingdom of God.
Here’s how it sounds: “A new life under God’s rule is available to you right now. This very moment you can reach out and experience it.”
This is the good news that INCLUDES forgiveness and justice, but so much more! It sounded audacious back then and it sounds audacious today.
Saying Yes by becoming a disciple
But if it’s true… if a new life in God’s kingdom is truly available, how do we say Yes to it? This is more than signing a contract for afterlife insurance. This is an entirely new kind of life you need to learn how to live. It’s a life that will feel counterintuitive to everything you “know.”
To say Yes to that kind of gospel, you need to trust someone who knows how to live in God’s kingdom. In other words, you become a disciple of Jesus.
Living abundantly in God’s kingdom is what Jesus is “good at.” So listen to him, and trust him. Put his teaching into practice. As you do that, you’ll find that a new kind of life begins to work in you, and transformation begins…
Discipleship flows easily and naturally from the gospel of the kingdom, because the way we enter life in God’s kingdom now is by trusting Jesus.
Trusting him not just for forgiveness. Not just to let us into heaven when we die. No, we trust him for everything: our daily needs, abiding joy and peace, and power to do the things he said were good and right and true and beautiful, to join with him in his activity in the world.
This leads to formation in character and competence in the likeness of Christ.
Which leads to everyday mission in the name of Christ (which leads to more disciples, because we participate in the work of God by proclaiming the good news, which leads to… discipleship!)
I’d also love to have a discussion about this! Have you experienced similar frustrations when it comes to making disciples? What have you learned? Leave a comment below and let us know!
I love the article, and agree whole heartedly with you. The one paragraph that I disagree with you is when you said that Jesus couldn’t get rid of people even if he tried and we can’t get people to sign up. The gospels paint a different picture of Jesus. He was controversial. His own family rejected him and he lost most of his followers in John 6. And, often, when we are preaching the gospels that you talked about later in the article, it is easier for us to get people to sign up. However, if our life is not a living example, then they probably won’t stay committed.
I think that is an important enough issue to mention it. The same was true for the early church. Acts often said that people were afraid to join the believers, even though their numbers kept growing. I think this is important because people do naturally feel apprehensive about being a disciple, even today, because it is so much different than the “normal” experience of church today. This is probably a good thing initially as the DNA of discipleship works its way into our lives and transforms us. As more and more believers are transformed, maybe the apprehension will diminish a little, simply because there are enough living examples for all to see. But, maybe the appreciation will never go away. We will have to wait and see.
Aaron Cantrell
Fort Wayne, IN
Thank you Dallas
@Aaron Cantrell Thanks for your comments, Aaron. You bring some good nuance to the general statement I was making.
Love it Ben. I’ll be sharing this with my staff this week. Much to ponder brother.
I agree with your main point, Ben. Only an encounter with the living Christ Jesus will motivate a human being to become a disciple of Christ. One tiny glimpse of who Christ is, and the only possible response is to fall face down on the floor in worship and adoration. The only way to ‘orchestrate’ such an encounter is to preach THE GOSPEL from THE WORD and not get sidetracked by social gospels, feminist gospels, etc., just like you said.
One of my professor’s emphasized over and over again that every believer needed to preach the Gospel to themselves daily lest we forget the Who (Christ Jesus), the What (His Kingdom), the When (already but not yet), the Where (on Earth as it is in Heaven), and the Why (to be unified with Christ and all believers). The Gospel, preached and lived authentically, honestly, and passionately works concurrently with the Holy Spirit to ‘arrange’ the encounters that motivate discipleship.
Great topic Ben. It’s so challenging to nutshell the Gospel. I would argue that your gospel nutshell; “A new life under God’s rule is available to you right now. This very moment you can reach out and experience it.” is as truncated as the other statements you reference. A hindu could say yes to this and not become a disciple. A muslim could say yes to this statement and not become a disciple. Any Gospel nutshell should include what Paul said was of first importance; the perfect life, substitutionary death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). How can a Gospel summary be complete without a direct reference to Jesus, the source and subject of the Gospel? You allude to it in your phrase “is available to you”; How is it available? Through Christ the King! The pendulum swing in our day away from that which is of first importance has been replaced by a focus on the individual, or on the benefits to the individual, or community, or lot’s of other things. The Gospel results in a changed life, but the message itself is not, you can have a changed life. The message is; the perfect life, substitutionary death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus. When the Spirit awakens someone to that, it results in a transformed life. I agree that to say yes to that kind of Gospel means you must trust someone else who knows how to live in God’s Kingdom-again this seems like a move away from saying–you must trust someone who lived God’s reign perfectly for you, on your behalf. That has power to transform the heart.
B_UU Hey Brian – thanks for commenting. I agree that we’d need to add “through Jesus Christ” to the phrasing to make it theologically stable. I’m thinking more about the practical skills of proclaiming the gospel – how to train people to announce the good news of Jesus in contextual ways to address the issues/problems people are having right now.
@Ernie Hinojosa Thanks Ernie! Honored that you’d share it.
I’m not entirely following. Are you suggesting a shift in preaching foundation will address formation? If so, then no, that won’t work regardless of what kind of message we believe in. If it’s some formative shared living, which you seem to touch on at the end, then I’d agree, that’s our only hope.
Intentional following of Jesus for all phases of our lives, not just heaven-insurance! Good post, Ben. More similar to Bonhoeffer’s Costly grace, versus the Cheap grace that we might dearly like to access.
Brilliant! I just started preaching through the sermon on the mount which has really hit me in the face in a good way, because its all about the gospel of the kingdom! Very keen to hear your thoughts in your next post Ben.
I’ve been thinking about this article a lot. Kingdom theology isn’t taught or emphasized, instead we’re invited into “life with Jesus” which mostly just means in practice doing the Churchianity (as I call it) thing. If it’s a Kingdom, then discipleship means doing what Jesus did. Reading this article, I keep hearing an old audio recording of John Wimber telling his testimony as a new believer asking, “so when are we going to do the stuff? You know, the Jesus stuff, healing the sick, casting out demons, when do we get to do that?” I find myself asking the same question. It’s not worth my life to be a Churchian but being a part of doing the Kingdom stuff, that’s something I could give everything up for.
MarkRiese1 Amen, Mark.
Ben, this is what I’ve been wrestling with for the last few months. Thanks for your concise explanation of how to define the Gospel of the Kingdom. This helps a lot. I look forward to reading your prescription for proclaiming it. I am also looking forward to finding a relatively concise way to integrate this with the focus found in the epistles on the good news, as seen from the open door of the tomb, as proclaimed by Paul and the other Apostles.
Rick Knox Looks like you found the next post on proclaiming it (saw your comment over there)! Would love to hear more about what kind of integration you are seeing a need for when thinking about the good news that Paul proclaimed.
bensternke Rick Knox We’re coming down the homestretch in my huddle with Brad Miller, and I’m trying to find the best expression of the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Gospel of Peace (Eph. 6). I think they are two sides of the same coin, one introducing us to a relationship with the King and the other talking about the incredible blessings of being embraced as a child, priest, reconciler and sent one, all because Christ the King has made peace possible between us and God through his death and resurrection.
Rick Knox Good stuff, Rick. We have started articulating that as God’s kingdom of love, that encompasses a COVENANT relationship with him, as well as a CALLING to represent him (and or course enjoy the benefits of that position).
Thanks for the post. The comments helped too. Ive found a lot of push back in the church and among missionaries even, to my dismay, over the years. Missions was on my heart in the beginning, and then it occurred to me later that making disciples was the better phrasing, and it means something – it meant everything to Jesus. Asking how I can enter into discipleship, I received many answers: join a Bible study, small home groups, come to the fellowships, volunteer with various programs and outreaches. I was thankful then, to be a part of the body, doing something in the church and community. But it still reeked of not enough. Pastors and leaders rarely seem interested in duplicating themselves, though they at times grumble about the lack of overall interest among the congregants to learn and serve. Maintaining a status quo of congregants and new converts coming to church to hear a sermon every Sunday seemed to be enough for most. It’s hardly the same thing as discipleship. A mentor would be closer to this model, and that too turned out to be an almost impossible task, to find someone who was willing, knew how, who cared enough, who wouldn’t need prodding to keep it up month after month. Basically, pastors and missionaries have told me the same tired false thing, that I need to go to seminary if I wanted discipleship, if I want to serve in the mission field, if I wanted to become a leader. They couldn’t help me. I would attend many lectures by visiting missionaries, praying, hoping, that one would say, If only someone was faithful to join us, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, who will answer? And I was poised to do so, but they never did. And I couldn’t do missions unless I was called, to which they often said, they didn’t know to tell. When a pastor has said, and a few have, “But I don’t know your heart,” I would ask, Why Not! You’ve known me for years, I’ve poured my heart out and served where I could and have begged to do more, for no glory or pay. Or, they would insist I was being discipled already – but just wasn’t seeing it or perhaps not participating enough. And again they’d council me to join the A/V ministry or the sports ministry, or any number of what they kepy calling ministries, but in practice do little in teaching and training and intimate life accountability and growing responsibility in a life that resembled that of Jesus. It was really discouraging. I knew they were incorrect, but try proving that kindly. The part they’re wrong about is in part, a part simply omitted. A congregation and often even pastors and deacons, elders, think that not everyone is cut out to evangelise or disciple, that most people can just lead godly lives in their work and at home, that being entirely enough. I was recently told, “But you don’t Have to DO anything. You know that, right?,” they ask. Actually, I can’t do Nothing. I am compelled to share the gospel, to disciple, it’s what we’re called to do, every one of us. So I decided recently to stop asking for permission and advice on missions and discipleship. Instead I asked the associate pastor if I could shadow his leading of the young adults group, study alongside him as he prepared a study, and occasionally stand in for him, with his guidance, once he felt that I could. He agreed and I think him and I are on the same page here. I just can’t take it anymore with the leaders in the church immediately suggesting to those who want discipleship, suggesting in a way, or verbatim, Maybe that’s not for you. Maybe missions isn’t your calling. Maybe you should just work in the secular field you like and be a good example. I reject this. On the other hand, if you don’t want a masters degree, to find yourself in tremendous debt to be discipled and trained in theology, which I’m not sure even seminaries actually disciple either, seems an awful way to start out as a poor missionary, one can attend a Discipleship Training School (dts) instead. I’ve looked over many of these and have found them to be somewhat reasonably priced, but it still irks me that one has to pay to be taught, trained, discipled, to serve in the Kingdom. That just doesn’t feel right. But if that is the only way, then that’s just what one has to do. Denominations often have their own certain credentials process, perhaps a 3 step process or training. This does seem to have a discipling component as well, and they do have formal schools or online courses that satisfy their steps to becoming a service worker, licensed and then ordained. But I’ve also found this hard to decide upon too, as there are differences and disagreements in doctrine among Denominations that, probably many a laymen aren’t really aware of it well versed on, or denominations put too much emphasis on things like speaking in tongues or predestination. As a young man I find this all rather daunting. It seems like many are dissuaded from even starting. I don’t want to be in the same place 2, 5, 10… years from now. It seems the longer people go, comfortable in their church attendance routines, the more likely they never will move forward. And probably, increases the likelihood they will not be strengthened enough when the tough times come against the Church they just stay home and perhaps fall away. Time is not to be wasted, neither is study, nor prayer, neither is spiritual growth. In short, I’d say most Christians are all but abandoned to the pews once they’re evangelised to and baptized.