Disciplship II

In my last post I talked about discipleship and how we as a church were going through a process of evaluating what we were doing as a church, what was effective and what was not. The conclusion I came too was pretty much summed up in the following statement.

“Quantity cannot replace quality. It wasn't most of Jesus metaphors and teaching that got across to the twelve, in fact most of the time they didn't understand what He was saying. It was the walking with Him in good and bad, everyday life stuff where Jesus rubbed off on them. Time and the Holy Spirit are the key. Maybe we would be better served to make sure the things we are doing are Spirit filled and lead and that we are giving them the time and effort before we go throw other things on the plate.”

I wanted to make sure and clarify what I meant by that statement so that there is no confusion.

Many times as Christians and ministers we are always looking for the next best thing, what is working best in other churches and then implementing the same in our situations? The problem with that is that it often leads us to another program that will most likely not change our current need of Spiritual nourishment. True discipleship doesn't come from a program it comes from the Holy Spirit’s work in us and through us! That doesn't mean that programs in and of themselves are bad or are not used by God to help the discipleship process. Rather it is a matter of what is our focus. We would be better served to seek God’s direction in what works best for our ministry scenario in where God has us serving. Than to imitate something that has worked somewhere else.

One of the great things about what the Navigators have been walking us through as a church (although it can seem somewhat tedious at times) is that rather than just coming in and implementing a program they have lead us to take the time to really seek God. To evaluate what we are doing that is working and what we are doing that is not working. Will we be implementing new processes as our new discipleship plan for our church unfolds? Of course we will! Some things won’t change. Some new things will be implemented. But none of those things will remain or be implemented just because they have worked before or somewhere else. It will be because we have sought God! We have gone through a lengthy evaluation process. So whether it be Sunday school, small groups, triads or quads, bible studies or prayer groups it won’t just be a cafeteria of options for people to pick and choose. It won’t be a program implemented just because it has worked somewhere else. No it will be a deliberate effort of the local body of Christ who has spent months praying and seeking God’s desires for this local body.

Hopefully every ministry opportunity, every fellowship group or study group, every time we come together as a church it will be intentional God lead and orchestrated times where we grow together. Where our members are not coming because it is the next thing on the list, rather because people are meeting Christ and growing in the faith. Or in keeping with the theme of the previous blog everything we do has great quality and brings nourishment to the soul!

As I sat there in our meeting I couldn't help but get excited because as I heard people speak I wasn't just hearing that we were adding more quantity to the things we were doing. I was hearing quality as I heard the testimonies of members who’s lives were already being changed by some of the things that this discipleship process has brought about!

Discipleship?

As God continues to fulfill the vision he lead our church too in regards to Cambodia and our adopting the Khmer people, many challenges have come our way! These challenges have been some of the best things that have ever happened to me spiritually speaking in that I have had to do some real soul searching, and relying on God! I have been stretched in ways I would have never even come close too and headed in directions that would have never even been on my radar otherwise.

One of the many unexpected challenges has been the overwhelming power of God moving and bringing the lost to Himself at a rate that quite frankly we were neither anticipating nor prepared for! To be quite honest I was prepared for the most difficult part of reaching an unreached people group to be the communication of the gospel in ways they would understand and receive. How foolish of me, God from the outset brought Chiv my Cambodian brother on the scene and every time he opens his mouth in Cambodia masses are getting saved! What has been a challenge however has been how to disciple these new converts. The great commission calls us not just to save people rather to teach them in the way that they should go. This is rather difficult when you are oceans apart. In this too God is stretching us and proving that He is God and He is in control. He will not abandon those who pursue Him!

An unexpected result of our efforts in Cambodia has been that we have recognized that we need to re-evaluate our discipling efforts at home. Are we intentional enough? Do we have appropriate ways in which our members are being disciples and discipling? This has lead us into an 18-24 month process that is still in the works where we have brought in the Navigators and we are looking at out church with a "fine toothed comb" to see where we are effective, where we are anemic and what we need to do to be better disciples who are discipling. In fact just last night I was in a meeting where updates on the process were being given and several testimonies were shared. And while God is doing amazing things I have to admit that my mind wondered as people were sharing. It wondered back to Cambodia. To all the weird things we ate. Yes, I know my mind is a wild and out of control monster of it's own but bear with me.

In Cambodia we ate some weird stuff, stuff I don't even want to know what it was! Just like the first pic above of my friend Mark that was with me you can see the fish head and yes that is an eye that he was about to eat! Many of the things we ate had little to no nutritional value what so ever and so it begged the question why we were eating it in the first place? Somewhere along the way I realized that during the Khmer Rouge Regime while Cambodia's people were in concentration camps and labor fields being starved to death. They learned to eat anything! Bugs, plants, anything! Many times they were forced to make soup because they didn't have enough rice so they would have a bowl of soup with about 5 or 6 grains of rice and in order to give it sustenance or flavor they would come up with anything to try and get protein or break the mundane. The more stuff and the more variety the better they could forget the fact that the were indeed starving to death.

In much the same way, we as Christians erroneously tend to think of discipleship. The more things we throw into the "pot" there better it will be. Sunday school, small group, accountability group, triad or quad, mid week bible study, prayer meetings and the list goes on and on. Don't get me wrong none of these things are bad in and of themselves. And most of these can be used as tools for discipleship. However it is not as simple as the more you are involved in the better the discipleship. Quantity cannot replace quality. It wasn't most of Jesus metaphors and teaching that got across to the twelve, in fact most of the time they didn't understand what He was saying. it was the walking with Him in good and bad, everyday life stuff where Jesus rubbed off on them. Time and the Holy Spirit are the key. Maybe we would be better served to make sure the things we are doing are Spirit filled and lead and theat we are giving them the time and effort before we go throw other things on the plate. More things might make us feel liek we are getting full but that doesnt mean we are getting healthy nurishment taht we truely need!

AS for Cambodia, I am getting ready to go back in a few weeks and thank God Mark is going with me so he can eat the gross stuff for me!