A few weeks ago I shared a bit about the connection between growth in the faith and personally hearing from God. Since that time, I’ve had the opportunity to consider this further and to speak to a few other pastors and leaders about this concept.
I have been asking the question of church leaders, “How to you help others to hear from God personally?” The typical response has been two-fold. First, there is silence as I’m finding that most leaders don’t have a good answer or even any answer at all to the question. Second, a sizable percentage of those asked confessed that they had been giving this very thing some thought in recent weeks and months, though they hadn’t come up with concrete steps to pursue. I have concluded that the Spirit of God is moving in this direction, touching the hearts and minds of many leaders regarding this singular consideration. Of course, perhaps the Spirit of God has been moving in this direction all along but we just missed it with our western civilization emphasis on intellectual learning.
Let me tell you where I am in this. I have put together a logical flow of thought – at least I think it’s logical. It begins with a simple definition of discipleship. What is discipleship? Simply stated, discipleship is growing to maturity in Christ – see Ephesians 4. So then, we have to ask what is maturity? I think that maturity in Christ is not primarily about information but is primarily about transformation – becoming the new creation. The goal is not improvement; the goal is life transformation.
According to the study I cited a few weeks ago, the main catalyst for spiritual transformation is hearing from God, personally. It’s not enough for the preacher to hear from God and then tell others what God told him. That might be considered hearsay! OK – maybe I’ve gone too far. It’s true that God can speak to me through the preaching and teaching of others. But at some point, I need, we need, to hear God’s voice directly.
Aside from discipleship and maturity, another definition is needed. What is a disciple? Given our context, I’m ready to propose that a disciple is someone who hears from God, who understands what he/she hears from God, and obeys or acts on what he/she hears from God. That said, the challenge for me is to be someone who hears from God, understands and obeys, and then to teach, train, equip, guide, influence others to hear, understand and obey.
This is a work in progress but I feel that I’m on to something.
