Some of the most frequently quoted verses in
Evangelicalism are Matthew 28:18-20:
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to
Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
“teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”
Decisions
The Great Commission
calls for making disciples rather than preaching the Gospel. (The same command
in Mark 16:15 says “…preach the gospel….”) It is probably for this reason
most Christians assume incorrectly that preaching the Gospel fulfills Matthew
28:18-20, but it does not. Preaching the Gospel and making disciples are two
entirely different (though related) things. Billy Graham, and others, have
illustrated very well that there is a huge difference between these two ideas.
Preaching the Gospel is relatively easy, and skilled evangelists can bring many
to the altar through a single 30-minute sermon. But that is only the first step
of many, and on its own does not fulfill the Great Commission at all. In fact,
calling someone to the altar often does nothing more than give the candidate a
false sense of security—they believe they are saved because they prayed a rote
prayer and signed a decision card. Billy Graham worked that out and eventually
started calling these “decisions” rather than “converts.”
So while preaching the
Gospel is commanded and is vital, it is NOT discipleship and does not obey the
Great Commission. For instance, many young men mistakenly think that
inseminating a young girl makes them a father. It does not. A father provides
for, trains, and raises that child until it is an adult. So evangelization
without discipleship is like giving birth to a baby, and then dropping the
newborn on Main Street and pointing the infant to a range of restaurants.
Assimilation
The more modern, and popular, system of
assimilation is also not discipleship. This method involves inviting unbelievers
into a non-threatening, non-confrontational social environment, vaguely
associated with the church. These events could include enjoying coffee in the
foyer of the church, attending church social events, playing on the softball
team, joining (motorcycle) breakfast runs, etc. Some churches even invite
influential members of the public to serve in some capacity, including serving
on the board of the church. The idea is that the unbeliever will gradually be
assimilated into the life of the church to the point that they become full-blown
members.
It outwardly appears that this method works. Such people
are quite successfully drawn into church membership, and learn to talk the right
language and do the right things, eventually looking just like a real member.
Many of these will even get baptized, take out church membership and rise to
leadership positions. In the same way children that grow up in Christian homes
become assimilated into the life of the church—they learn the right clichés,
when to stand and when to sit, how to blend in, how to say “God bless you” and
“I am praying for you”—but remain unregenerate. In the absence of having been
born again, the first step of discipleship is missing. Therefore anything they
say, do or learn is without any foundation and is simply learned behavior. There
is no difference between such people and the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, of
whom He said: “… you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful
outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”
(Matthew 23:27).
Rather than teach
disciples to become like Jesus, these “joiners” teach the church to become like
the world.
Heavy
Shepherding
Popular in more
cultic groups, heavy shepherding (aka Shepherding) is seen by its
proponents as the ultimate form of discipleship. In this system disciples are
manipulated, controlled by fear, threatened, and coerced into becoming clones of
the leaders. These leaders will make every decision for their minions, even
control their thought processes, values and minutest discussions. Once again,
the system seems to work as the “disciples” act and speak exactly as they have
been taught. These groups are often marked by such conformity to the standard
that they all dress the same, speak the same and think the same. This is sold as
“unity” but it is not. This “unity” is achieved through the subjugation of the
will and the mind of the individual to that of the leader(s). True unity comes
about as the individuals are submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ rather than to
men.
Louw and Nida confirm: “In rendering μαθητεύω in Mt 28:19
and similar contexts, it is important to avoid the implication of duress or
force, that is to say, one should not translate ‘force them to be my disciples’
or ‘compel them to be my disciples.’”[1]
Heavy shepherding is most certainly not discipleship
since it fails in the primary purpose of discipleship—to make disciples of
Jesus Christ. Followers of these groups are disciples of men who have
usurped the role of Christ in the heart and mind of the believer.
Mentoring
The words
mentoring and discipleship sound like they mean the same thing, but
they do not. A mentor is actually the name of a man who had occult abilities who
lived hundreds of years ago (see
HERE). In the occult world, a mentor became known as someone who was
training an “adept” to have spiritual gifts that they could use to perform
occult rituals. Promise Keepers (among others) brought the word mentor
into the evangelical world and soon mentoring replaced discipleship in many
churches.
Interestingly, the term mentoring conveys the idea of
shadowing or mimicking someone else's behavior. It has to do with actions and
activities that in psychology are known as “behavior modeling.” But it isn't
about cognitive learning, which is a key component of discipleship (studying the
Bible and Christ together). So mentoring becomes a substitute for actually
delving into the Word and learning obedience to Christ. Rather it is some sort
of trying to act like a leader. Hence the proliferation of popular books such as
Lead Like Jesus, etc.
Bible
Lectures
On the other extreme
are those who believe that by simply preaching the Bible on Sundays that people
will miraculously be changed into disciples by hearing the Word. This method is
partially based on the King James translation of Matthew 28:19 as “Go
therefore and teach…”
Many of these teachers do
not even draw an application from the text for fear of “doing the work of the
Holy Spirit.” This is a very comfortable way of doing ministry. The preacher
simply prepares and delivers the Bible study and then retreats into his office
in preparation for the next lecture. Members of such churches are marked by a
proliferation of head knowledge about the Bible while simultaneously lacking in
humility and most other characteristics of Jesus Christ.
Obviously, we do believe in the role of the
Scriptures, and that the Word is indeed transformative. We must diligently teach
the Bible, but this in itself does not constitute discipleship. David was very
willing to say “Amen” to Nathan’s sermon about injustice, but failed to
understand the message until the prophet pointed to him and said: “You are
the man” (2Samuel 12:7).
Small
Groups
Many bigger, and not
so big, churches have some form of small group meetings under different names:
cell groups, accountability groups, men’s groups, beer drinkers groups, cigar
smokers groups, house churches[2],
etc. The idea of small groups is to supplement any formal preaching on Sundays
with small groups which do the work of “discipling” the individuals in these
small groups. Mostly these touchy-feely groups study anything but the Bible, and
are more about getting in touch with one another’s feelings than discipling.
Rather than teach people to follow the Lord Jesus, they encourage people to
celebrate their differences, and to feel good and accepted no matter how sinful,
rebellious, or unbiblical their behavior.
Very few members of these
groups have ever been discipled themselves and thus they are not in a position
to disciple others. Group consensus does not make the truth and is a recipe for
rebellion against God’s Word. Small groups can have value if they are led by
godly and gifted shepherds, but this is not often the case.
Counseling and Psychology
Others feel the need to get more
personally involved with the individual, and do this on the basis of counseling
and therapy. These sessions often contain a few misquoted Scriptures used to
mask the true roots of the therapy. There are many variations on the same
theme when it comes to counseling. There are many techniques and ideas culled
from psychology, marketing, personal experience, group dynamics, behavior
modeling, the human potential movement, holistic health, the New Age, etc.
Spiritual self-help books containing new techniques proliferate, and include
such mumbo-jumbo as inner healing, deliverance, positive confession, Reiki,
Yoga, meditation and contemplation, guided imagery, confessing the sins of one's
ancestors, spiritual "gift" inventories and assessments, etc. All of this
serves to assist the counselee to become self-absorbed and needy, which is
hardly a path to spiritual maturity. Yet, these immature people are often put in
positions of ministry and leadership, especially in works-based initiatives
filled with heavy requirements on the time of the individual.
These sessions are usually presided over by one of the
pastors of the church, or by a specialist either from within or without the
church, or by a graduate from an earlier class. Irrespective of the method, the
philosophy remains fairly constant—to encourage the individual to accept his/her
own “idiosyncrasies” (politically correct lingo for sinful behavior). In other
words, the counseling is palliative, aimed at relieving symptoms without
evidence of the transformation of the inner man through repentance and
regeneration. The focus of every one of these methodologies is the individual
and is never Christ. The standard of becoming like Christ is often rejected as
too legalistic and a threat to the individual’s identity and self-expression.
This is of course the antithesis of the whole purpose of discipleship, which is
to help people become conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28). The
purpose of true discipleship is not to get to know self better but to
know Him better.
Elements of Truth
Many of the techniques outlined above
encompass elements of true discipleship, yet fail dismally in producing true
disciples—mainly because they contain more human than spiritual wisdom and have
not been based on a Biblical concept of discipleship. There is room for
preaching on Sundays, small groups, individual counseling and so forth. But none
of these individual components, on their own, constitute true discipling. But an
even bigger problem is that each of these systems is based on a wrong premise,
and seeks and produces an outcome that is in conflict with that of Scripture.
No
Discipleship and True Discipleship
If we discount all the above methods
that do not constitute biblical discipleship, and add to that the many churches
that offer no alternative, it becomes evident that biblical discipleship is
absent in the vast majority of churches today. This is true of big and small
churches alike.
In addition, instead of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the majority of churches in the West are preaching a
false Gospel of self. Thus without the preaching of the real Gospel and without
discipleship, it is no wonder the church is adrift on a sea of humanism.
“… when the Son of Man comes, will He
really find faith on the earth?”
(Luke 18:8)
To be continued…