Acts 2:42, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching…”
Disciple-making includes two rails upon which the gospel runs – evangelism and discipleship. We make disciples as we preach the gospel, as you read in last week’s article. We make disciples as we train and equip followers of Christ to be daily transformed by the power of the Spirit to think and act like Jesus.
I want you to think for the next few minutes about the one rail of discipleship. Those baptized in Acts 2:41 came along into this early church devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42). The equivalent of that for us is to be devoted to hearing the preaching of God’s Word and to the reading of God’s Word. This is where we get the apostles’ teaching today.
Many churches take the path of thinking that a full calendar is the best way to make disciples. Provide as many opportunities as possible to study, serve, fellowship, or travel. Classes, activities, groups, and gatherings for every age group fill up the calendar. Without saying it, the church is telling its members that discipleship equals activity.
But a full calendar does not equal discipleship. A better way to think about how the church makes disciples is to consider what the Bible actually prescribes. I want you to think about it this way. Be inflexible when it comes to the elements of discipleship and be flexible as it comes to forms of discipleship. What does this mean?
First, here are Biblical principles that are requisite for discipleship:
- The Sunday morning gathering of worship: preaching, singing, giving, praying, and the practice of the ordinances.
- Church membership.
- Equipping of the saints for the work of service.
- Obeying the one-anothers.
That list is not exclusive but illustrative. There cannot be flexibility on these principles. But when it comes to the forms these things take, there is flexibility. Singing in rural churches in Southern Alabama looks and sounds different than singing in churches in New England or Zimbabwe.
What ways we equip members or help people embrace membership can vary widely. Consider the one another commands. We are to encourage one another. That could happen over phone calls, over coffee, through a brief meeting, in a Sunday school group, during a weeknight Bible study, or in a home group.
Calendared activities are not the enemy of discipleship, but it does not equal discipleship. Finding out what the Bible expects us to be doing as disciples and then being creative where given Biblical freedom in the best way to do those things is how the church will effectively engage in discipleship.
By His Grace and For His Glory,
Pastor Mark
