Some would suggest it is the job of a trained/ordained priest or pastor. Or perhaps you know a “super discipler” who seems to single-handedly walk anyone and everyone close to Christlikeness? Maybe it’s you! Do you think of yourself as responsible for helping everyone become the person they were created to be? The problem in every one of these examples is that they rely on one person to do all the work. Scripture – and history – and logic! – say something different.

It is the COMMUNITY of God’s people that is responsible for making disciples. Why?

1.We need communities to make disciples because God does not hold me responsible for your growth. He DOES hold me responsible for bringing to your life what He wants me to bring. God calls us to help one another, encourage one another, etc. We are actually created to walk with one another in the journey toward forever with God. It could even be that in most cases, people are critical in one another’s salvation. But there is an individual responsibility we all must take on our own discipleship and can’t put on anyone else.

2. We need communities to make disciples because I am limited. I don’t know everything. I can’t do everything. In short, I am not God… and neither are you. I will help you know and follow Jesus, but I can’t and shouldn’t cover everything. There will be times that someone else needs to cry with you or advise you. You will want other people to also pray with you, teach you the Bible, tell you to stop doing that. Because I am limited, we all are. You and I need lots of people helping us along the way.

3. We need communities to make disciples because the goal is not making you a copy of me. The goal is you becoming the person God has designed you to be in Christ. I guarantee, if I am the only person helping you know Jesus, you will look more like me, or like me following Jesus, than YOU following Jesus. You will pray like me, serve like me, worship like me. Yuck! We need a community helping us be disciples so that we get the best from all, and don’t need to replicate any. Sure, we will model and share how we live. But we share that as an example.

4. We need communities to make disciples because I bring my gifts. You bring your gifts. I bring my experiences. You bring your experiences. We need them all. You want a teacher teaching you. You want a pastor shepherding you. You want an encourager encouraging you. That’s what I want anyway. And I am not all those things. You are not all those things. We get all things in a community of disciples.

I hope you can see that in all this, I/you must take my own discipleship seriously. How am I giving God more room in my life? Am I being a disciple myself? And very importantly, PART OF MY OWN DISCIPLESHIP IS DISCIPLING OTHERS. Did you know that? Part of being a disciple, part of learning to follow Jesus, is helping others do the same! Too often, we think we will be disciples, then reach some magic point, then we will disciple others. When does that day arrive? When I know everything? When I’ve done everything? NO! It’s now. We disciple from where we are now. God does not ask us to have all the answers. He asks us to share what we do know and He will do the rest. If you think back to people who have helped you along the Way, I suspect they were memorable because they were prayerful and faithful lovers of God. And we’ve all had many people help.

We need all of us to be living this way because of the points above. You see, in saying that a community is best suited to make disciples, it does not absolve me of responsibility. I can not therefore count on “the community/church” doing it. Why? Because there is no community without me(s) participating. Yes, we play different roles. But we ALL play roles. It is NOT the role of leadership to make disciples. It is the role of a leader to help US make disciples – setting the environment, connecting the right people, providing opportunities. I do believe we all are gifted in different ways and each of us will play different parts in the spiritual lives of one another. That’s ok – we have a community to help. Each of us needs to be asking what God would have us give to whom, and talk about that with one another to serve together.

I’ll save “what does a community making disciples together look like?” for another post. I think that it can actually differ dramatically depending on time, place, and situation. But the question I want to leave you with is: how do you see your community making disciples? What has been your experience? What has been your participation?

First, Jesus. Christian community, by definition, includes Jesus. Now, I think we can be at various places of journey/understanding/relationship with Jesus. May seem obvious, but we would be remiss if there wasn’t overt acknowledgment that this community takes identity from Jesus. NOTE: this can be expressed many ways, yes? Formal, informal, baptist-flavoured, pentecostal-style, whatever. Those are religious forms we put around our understanding of Jesus, and are debatable. But Jesus is a must for Christian community. Can we differ on some of our beliefs, backgrounds, and practice? I think so because we are centred around Jesus, not just our way of following him. Do you agree?

Next, we have a commitment to one another that is based on relationship, not contract. We have agreed with one another to have a shared relationship with one another around Jesus. Therefore, different people can live out their commitment to varying degrees. Perhaps I have less time and energy than you. That’s ok. The point isn’t how much I do, it’s a common relationship with Jesus. We value heat commitment, not hours or money spent. If you want to make a formal commitment, that is fine and I welcome and honour that. Community allows people to be at different places at one time. Think if this in terms of other relationships you have – do you make friends sign a contract? Are they no longer friends if they can’t make it to dinner one week? Hopefully not! There is give and take, grace, love – all those good things.

Third, I think Christian community needs some sense of purpose. Does this mean each and every person must do all the same things? No. Do we all have to carry the same burden for the same cause? I don’t think so. Many “communities” define themselves by one interest. The problem with that is they are therefore closed communities. This seems to be at odds with having Jesus at the centre. Perhaps a common purpose is something as broad as “helping one another follow Jesus” or “Seeking God’s Kingdom.” To me, these seem different than specific causes. Is there a difference between purpose and cause? I DO think that if there is no purpose, you are ultimately a bunch of people hanging around. That’s fine, but again doesn’t fit with the Jesus part, because he as always about God’s mission and has asked his people to do the same.

Also, I think that Christian community must have some amount of “in common.” The obvious (though not easy) things are shared time, money, stuff, interests. I am really glad that so many people experiment with various forms of communal life. I am saddened that our individualistic/materialistic culture wins most often and convinces us to grow up and get our own things. It appears that many of the most vibrant forms of community through the story of God’s people had things in common. Do we have to have everything in common? Not necessarily. I believe different communities can decide together what and how they are going to share – there’s not “one way.” But if that conversation is not being had, then I don’t think it’s community.

Finally, I think true forms of community are ones where we don’t get to pick just our friends to be part. We need people who are different, people we don’t know yet, even people we don’t like?! for our own sake. You can read Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together” for really good thoughts on this. In short, Christian community MUST contain variation. It must to be reflective of God’s heart and creation. It must so that we have to learn to love and compromise. We NEED people who are somehow different, even if this means it is not as easy. This one may be the most difficult, but is also the most powerful for everyone involved. How different can we stand to be and still maintain relationship?

You’ may notice I haven’t said anything about what we must DO. I think that is pretty negotiable from community to community. Also, I don’t think we are defined by our practice. Rather, practices are fluid to reflect how we are wanting to share our lives with one another around Jesus. Our new community, for example, is currently meeting every-other-week for  a meal, being together, and prayer. Other things can happen in between, but they aren’t mandatory. That’s it for now. We’re young and getting to know one another. And, most of our people are involved in significant ministry, so we are inviting one another to join in what we are doing rather than creating something new. We are sharing our lives with Jesus with one another. This rhythm will grow and change as we move along, but it works for now. And it seems that God is at work, so we keep listening to God together and will see what’s next.

Christian community can be found in a traditional church. Or it can not. I don’t mean any of this in opposition to any particular church expression. Rather, I would hope that regardless of your church/faith community/missional community/holistic community/intercultural community/intentional community, if you are wanting it to be CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, you find these things to be true.

Are they true of your community? If not, do you want them to be present and how can you help?

I suppose most of us agree that there is an amount of our spiritual life that is lived out daily. It includes our personal times with God, loving neighbours, etc. And we know that there are the aspects of our journey that we live out with others. in other words, those things we do or are about when we gather with others (sing, talk, pray, communion, etc.). The overly-simplisticway of viewing it is something like this: together, we do ABC, and alone (when we are not together), I do XYZ. But there’s something missing in this equation. It’s the “even when we are not present with one another, there is still a togetheIt’s the “even when we are not present with one another, there is still a togetherness that is expressed through ???”

This is where people do things like:

• read a daily devotion/lectionary – the same one others are reading all over the world – so there is a commonality though we are apart
• fixed hour prayers so we are all praying at the same time, even if not in the same place
• all committing to do the same certain activity during the week on our own, thereby sharing in a collective (though not combined) experience
• share prayer requests so wherever you are, you can carry one another’s burdens
• get together in smaller groupings for Bible reading, prayer, service, etc. In other words, we are together, but in smaller sets

This is the part of a shared journey that I am quite passionate about. I think this is partially because it breaks the false distinction between personal and corporate spirituality. Also, it says that we can share in faith life even when we are not gathered all together. It definitely takes an extra measure of commitment. It also requires a different level of submission because I am allowing us to govern part of my own “personal” time. Sure, when we are gathered we generally have some sort of plan, often with someone giving guidance. But usually then I get to choose all that I do (or don’t do) in the time between. This is saying, “I will give some of my time between for us.”

I don’t know what those of us beginning to follow Jesus together here in Cape Town will do with this part of our collective journey. But I would love to hear what others who are exploring missional communities think and do.

When the church question misleads us

This morning I am thinking about the Church worldwide and particularly in South Africa. During the last decade I have spent many hours thinking, praying, talking and working in terms of the church. I believe the church is crucial. That she is the bride of Jesus. That the church is owned by Jesus. Any talk of “my church”, especially out of the mouth of pastors and leaders is drivel. We don’t own the church.

Because the church is owned by Jesus it is paramount that we don’t make an idol out of the church. The church is not the hope of the world. Jesus is the hope of the world. Alan Hirsch is fond of noting that your Christology will lead to your Missiology which will lead to your Ecclesiology. Jesus, mission and then church. When we move church to the front we are in the murky waters of idolatry.

It is surprising that Jesus didn’t talk about church all that much. In one of His most pronounced statements on the church he reminds us that He will build his church. One can’t build the church with any great idea,plan or management. The church is built by Someone else. When we follow that Someone our collective rhythms of love, life and obedience becomes the church. Jesus makes it happen.

When we try to build it ourselves we will find ourselves tangled in a terrible mess. I know. I have been there many times. I believe more than ever that the most important question is not, “what is church?” but “who is Jesus?”. When communities grapple with the question of Jesus’s identity and live into the answers and the questions something beautiful happens. The people become lovers. They love Jesus, one another and the people around them. Jesus leads us into a rhythm of love that becomes the mission that results in a church.

When we start with the church we don’t lock into the Energy that creates the necessary movement to change the world. The church then becomes a superstructure of our own Egos.

I don’t like it when that happens. But Jesus excites me. He intoxicates me, even scares me a bit. I am haunted by the echo of His invitation, “Follow me!” That is the invitation. What does it mean to follow Jesus here in South Africa or wherever you are? I think this is a question worthy of exploration.

originally posted here

• We just want to complain, not actually do something different
• We are lazy – they want different but aren’t willing to put in the work to help make it so
• We don’t know what to do – we know things aren’t all they can be but we have no picture of possibilities
• We feel crazy – can I think this? Do other people think this?
• We just can’t break out of the system as it is to do what’s on our heart

What other reasons can you think of? Maybe you’ve been there, or there yourself…

One hurdle that seems difficult for many to jump over is the notion that the church is the place of religious life, distinct from the rest of life. This manifests itself in church being the “place we go to be with God.” Another more subtle, but perhaps more powerfully misconception, is that when we ALL gather in Jesus’ name, that time  is more holy than when some of us gather in Jesus’ name. So, a Bible study, small group, worship time, prayer gathering, or serving opportunity are NICE, but it’s REALLY church when ALL of us get together once a week? Why do so many people think this? Do you?

We need to think of Church as spirituality for all of life. Yes, it’s us helping one another do it. Yes, we need together. But we also need to think of all the “parts” as church. It’s not just the “once a week when we are together for xyz” that is church. It’s a loving conversation over coffee. It’s helping a neighbor fetch their kids from school. It’s sharing or studying scripture with a friend. It’s all of that. And more. It’s not some religious gathering we “do.” It’s the life with Jesus we share with one another.

Church is Jesus life together.

Want people to experience God’s love in new ways? Pray. Want to grow in being a disciple of Jesus? Pray. Want to see God’s Kingdom come and people be healed? Pray. Pray, listen, do what God says. That is my suggestion for starting a church.

I can’t stand to see another church squeeze every last cent from its members to buy a new piece of land or add yet another mega-meeting hall. I don’t want to see the same old cookie cutter vision/mission/strategy statement anymore. I won’t even read that strategic marketing that is meant to be innovative in drawing someone to church. Not because buildings, visions, or advertisements are bad per se. Rather, THEY ARE TOO OFTEN DONE IN PLACE OF PRAYER.

Prayer allows God to work in the ways God knows best. God, the creator of the universe. The one who loved each and every one of us. That God. I know we all believe Jesus is the head of his Church. But are we letting him run things? Or just using his name for what WE want? Seems to me that the way to keep him in charge is through prayer.

Prayer before you make decisions
Prayer before you gather to worship
Prayer when there is someone in need
Prayer when making plans

Not “bless us as we do what we want.” Rather, prayer that puts our hearts out there and asks God for His. Dangerous prayer that just might mean changing directions or doing difficult things in response. Prayer that requires God to actually be God for it to work. Prayer that asks big. That’s the kind of prayer I want my church to be about.

If your church isn’t praying enough, add some more. One prayer gathering, regardless of size or frequency, is spiritually significant. Putting yourself into God’s hands together will do what nothing else can in making into the church God wants you to be. And if you are starting a church, start with prayer. Let God have His way from the get-go and keep listening all the time. God loves the Church and wants to see us live out our destiny.

If God is birthing a new church here in Cape Town, may it come from prayer. I pray that regardless of where it leads.

What role have you seen prayer play (or not) in churches you have been involved with? What is God stirring in your heart around prayer?

Would love to hear from you!

Sound good? That’s what we as the Church are meant to be about!
Are we?
(pause to reflect…. if not, why not???)

What do you consider critical to being a disciple of Jesus?

I ask because it’s one of those things we sometimes take for granted, yet it’s an essential question. And really, it’s a question we should be asking God, ourselves, and one another, right?

If you claim to be apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, shepherding (pastoral) or a teacher, are you equipping God’s people for works of service so that we may be built up to the fullness of Christ? That is your calling! The point isn’t achieving your own glory. You are meant to be part of the Church, to strengthen the Church. Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost make the case in The Shaping of Things to Come that these are more than gifts, they are offices/roles of the church. AND, he maintains that God has placed each of these in all of us so that He can call them forth as needed. Are you open to fulfilling these roles as needed? If not, you are robbing the Church of needed function and robbing yourself of full life.

And church – are you allowing yourself to be grown and strengthened by apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers? If not, you will not become all God desires. Christ himself has designed his Church to function with their help. Notice, by the way, that shepherd is only one role in the equation. Interesting that most churches pay someone to do this, but not to be apostle, prophet, evangelist, or teacher (though many roll shepherd and teacher into one thing). We pay someone to take care of us, but not to challenge us or lead us into new things. Or, what we call pastor is a one-person show that is supposed to somehow fulfill ALL the leadership described above. We need all these leaders to be operating. Is it any wonder we don’t reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God? We are out of balance.

I am not making this up, it’s right there in Ephesians. It is not inappropriate or rebellious to seek balanced and Christ-instructed leadership, especially when we start by asking God how he might want to use US to equip his Church.

And I know a number of people who are interested in God, Jesus, or even just what might be termed spirituality. And they’ve tried this religion and that place of worship and their hearts aren’t inspired.

In both cases, we have a case of knowing what isn’t working. What frustrates me, however, is the seeming struggle to move toward something new, something amazing. I’m pretty sure God desires and pictures the Church to be something that is life-changing for us and pleasing to God! So, what’s the problem?

Walter Brueggemann, in his brilliant book The Prophetic Imagination, suggests that when God wants to do something new, there is a need to both criticize what is and energize to what can be.  Criticism without a picture of possibilities generally ends in frustration and paralysis. I find this to be true for many who know what’s wrong with the Church, but can’t picture something different. On the other hand, simply painting continual pictures of new possibilities is so prone to fads and quick-fixes.  Further, my experience has been that people don’t NEED any new ideas if they don’t think the current thing needs fixing. To really engage alternative ideas for Church, we need to lovingly examine what is lacking and courageously experiment with what God is leading us toward.

I am also convinced that too many people don’t believe they have the ability, responsibility, or authority to want more. I’m not talking about any sort of crazy schemes or clearly man-made efforts. But if God wants people doing this Jesus-following together (and God does – more in other posts), then aren’t we compelled to be as faithful as we can to God’s heart? And if our souls are what we are talking about, don’t we want what’s right and beautiful and life-giving? And don’t we want that for others too?  I do. I want that in existing churches. I want that to re-new churches.  I want that in new churches.

I must paint these pictures of possibility with others. Are you up for a little dreaming?

Gather together – yes.
And do lots of other things for/with one another.
But what’s with the “every Sunday until we die” mentality?

In part, this is due to the idea of Sabbath.  God has told us that we need to rest. We need to take time to refocus on God.  Agreed! Take a day. I even support taking the same day as those you are in intentional Jesus-following relationship with (i.e. local church).

Does God say we need to all get together and sing and hear a sermon on the sabbath? NO!. I suppose that in the good old days, it made sense.  “Hey, we’re all not working this day, let’s get together.” But the world has changed, work has changed, how the week is viewed has changed. We don’t all have Sunday free. And honestly, I think that for some, what has become of Sunday is not much like the Sabbath described in the Bible. Yes, I just said that. If you are going to use the Sabbath justification, I recommend you do a little study of what the Bible says about Sabbath.

Do I think we should get together with people to help one another be like Jesus? Yes.
Do I think things can happen when we are gathered that can’t happen when we are alone? Yes.
Do I think it is helpful to have set days and times to help us actually do this? Yes.

But I think what we do is too often a matter of “that’s what we do” than what works best, or what God is asking of us. I think we need to live out our spirituality together in a way that integrates all of life, and that can’t be done in just one day. It needs to happen EVERY day. I think most would agree. Yet we still cram our “church” into Sunday…

So maybe in order to do this, we have to get the idea of “we must all get together every week on the same day” out of our heads. It’s not Biblical.  It’s not particularly effective for our discipleship. Let’s figure out what is!