The New "In" Thing...

"Discipleship" is all the rage these days. It's a main catchword for church activity.

It's even the title of IOLBC's Beyond Ministry website: www.everydaydiscipleship.org and our family blog: www.discipleshipkitchen.blogspot.com

There is good reason for this. Jesus' followers are called "disciples." Jesus invites them to be "disciples." And Jesus commanded disciple reduplication. In fact, it is the one main command Jesus gives the disciples at the end of Matthew's gospel:

As you go about your lives, make disciples of all peoples...(Matt. 28:19)

Still, it can be a little concerning when it gets mixed up with American consumer-Facebook-media driven-"what's in" culture. Or a lot concerning. A recent article from Missio Alliance reflects this concern. The article questions the use of "discipleship" as some sort of fixer to ignite more excitement and participation in church. Discipleship is not to be a church program or a catchy idea to get those people who are not quite "in" on the church thing.

I can see how talk about "discipleship" can go sideways, even with good intentions. Things catch on, and get trendy, especially if they're marketed and packaged well with slick images and simple, catchy words and ideas. People jump on the wagon, and sometimes as happens in our world, the wagon's moving fast. Before you know it, there are people jumping on, but they're not clear what it's about, whose wagon it is, or where it's going.

Jumping on the discipleship wagon is probably one of the better ones to jump on if you're not really paying attention. But still, as the Missio Alliance article suggests, if people think we're selling "discipleship" as something attractive for your best life now (from the perspective of cultural norms), we might just be selling a partial lie. If we're taking Jesus' words and life seriously, we can't escape the conclusion that discipleship is the path of downward mobility.

A recent article at Christianity Today confirms one problem related to the fast moving discipleship wagon: there's a disconnect between pastors/church leaders and the people in their congregations when it comes to "discipleship." And in many cases, it's no small disconnect.

This data comes, of course, from the brilliant team at Barna. But the problem might be worth stopping the discipleship wagon for a moment to consider carefully, lest a wheel come off and everything goes sideways. (I'm not suggesting that we will throw God's mission into a tailspin. But there are consequences for how carefully or not carefully we go about things as a church.)

The article at CT thinks the disconnect a big enough deal to say that pastors and people in the pews "vastly disagree" on what discipleship is all about. That can't be good.

Read the articles. Let's talk and think about these together over the next few weeks.

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For now...

...are you talking about "discipleship" in your ministry or in your church? Why? Is it because it's the latest church fad/catchword? (This is a sort of in-your-face question, I know. But important to ask.) What do you hope to accomplish in your ministry by talking about/focusing on "discipleship"?

...Are you defining or explaining "discipleship," or are you assuming it? How are you defining or explaining it? Do the people in your congregation/ministry have the same ideas of "discipleship" as you do?