I’m thinking out loud again, and I’m not exactly how this post will develop. I’m searching for words that will explain a discovery that’s been running around in my head for the past several days – so here goes.
In Matthew 16, Jesus informs His disciples that He will build His church. In Acts 2 we see that happening as the Lord adds to their number daily. Often pastors and church leaders allude to one or both of these biblical statements as proof that the building of the church is out of their hands, that it’s all up to the Lord. They use this perspective as an alibi or excuse for why their churches are doing so poorly in the area of bringing people to the Lord through conversion. After all, it’s up to Jesus to build His church and to add to the number. They’re just being “faithful.”
Jesus makes another statement recorded in Scripture in Matthew 28 known as the Great Commission. He tells His disciples to go and make disciples, to baptize them and to teach them obedience to His commands. Somehow this commission has been deconstructed into what pastors and church leaders call “discipleship.” The word disciple means learner, so we have concluded that to be a disciple is to be a learner, and since we are products of western thought, learning means classroom instruction, and classroom instruction in the church means Bible studies, Sunday School, sermons and the like.
The consequence of these two concepts, when linked together, is that the responsibility of bringing people to Christ is left up to, well, Christ, and the Great Commission to go and make disciples is reduced to congregational instruction. As I discuss the strong commitment that pastors and leaders have to this classroom brand of discipleship, they tell me that discipleship is the way to grow, or build, the body.
Now I’m confused. I thought Jesus was going to build His church, His body, and we were to go and make disciples, but it seems that we pass the buck of making disciples to Jesus and we try to do His job of building the church. Am I missing something!?!?
