Movement of Discipleship Key 2: Assess Your Church’s Need for Discipleship

Before we develop a discipleship system in our church, we need to assess what our church needs in this area. Rev Lawrence Koo shows us what we can work on.

Every caring pastor knows discipleship is essential to the development of a healthy church. But the reality is that discipleship rarely happens among most Christians. Just look around you in church. It’s obvious, isn’t it? Bobby Harrington, the co-founder of discipleship.org and the lead pastor of Harpeth Community Church, said, “A disciple of Jesus is someone who is following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and is committed to the mission of Jesus.”

I believe this is the gold standard of discipleship!

Sadly, many Christians have fallen short of Jesus’ standard in discipleship. The fact is, today, we find all kinds of Christians in churches—the professing Christians, the cultural Christians, the nominal Christians, the worldly Christians, the religious Christians, and the carnal Christians. But disciples of Christ are few and far between. That is why discipleship must be an integral part of every local church. To ignore the need for discipleship in the church is like turning a blind eye to the elephant in the room.

How then should we address and meet the need of discipleship in the church?

True discipleship in the church will never happen if discipleship is not happening in pastors and leaders.

First and foremost, discipleship must begin with pastors and leaders.

1 Corinthians 11:1 “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

Are we disciples ourselves? Do we really follow Christ conscientiously? If not, then we have forfeited the right to ask people to follow Christ. True discipleship in the church will never happen if discipleship is not happening in pastors and leaders. If discipleship is only a program in the church, we would end up doing discipleship in the church and not being a disciple in our lives.

The danger is, pastors can make discipleship into a professional task. It is a job or a ministry that we do to others. We are more concerned with the quantitative growth of the church than the qualitative life of the Christians. If our church is small in numbers, we feel awkward when we are asked by other pastors, “How big is your church?”, as though the numbers were the be-all and end-all of church.

Pastors are disciples first before they are pastors. This is our first and ultimate calling. We are called first to follow Jesus, then only are we to go and make disciples. But if pastors are not disciples, discipleship in church is not possible.

The fact is, everything in Christian life is discipleship because we follow Jesus in everything, including marriage.

Secondly, pastors and leaders must disciple others.

In the opening of Paul’s letters to Timothy, he refers Timothy as his “true son in the faith’, and ‘my dear son.’ (1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2) This speaks of Paul’s close relationship with Timothy. Paul took Timothy under his personal tutelage and groomed him to be a follower of Christ.

Personally, as a pastor, I have always been involved in discipleship. Currently, though I have stepped down as the senior pastor, I still disciple two men and two couples. I even turn pre-marital counseling into ‘discipleship’ sessions.

When I conduct pre-marital counseling, I would ask the couples why they want to get married. Invariably, their answer is, ‘because we love each other’. Then I would say to them that the real purpose of marriage
is discipleship. I can see the puzzlement on their faces. “What has discipleship got to do with marriage?”, they must be wondering.

The fact is, everything in Christian life is discipleship because we follow Jesus in everything, including marriage. When a couple truly follows Jesus in their marriage, their marriage becomes stronger and more stable.

In my opinion, discipleship is most effective one on one. It’s personal because discipleship is relational. It’s about life touching life.

The truth is, discipleship is primarily the responsibility of every Christian parent.

Thirdly, discipleship must begin and happen in the home.

One common misconception in discipleship is that discipleship is the responsibility of the church. We relegate the all-important task of discipleship to the pastors, youth workers, and Sunday School teachers, hoping that our kids will turn into great men and women of God. The truth is, discipleship is primarily the responsibility of every Christian parent. The church is only a facilitator and a partner in discipleship of their children.

2 Timothy 1:5 “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”

Before Timothy became a disciple of the great Apostle Paul, Timothy learned about Christ from his grandmother and mother at home.

As a pastor, one of my frustrations is that what I do on Sunday in church can be easily undone from Monday to Saturday by the parents at home. When parents are not showing the way and leading their children to follow Christ at home, all my efforts in church are short circuited and futile.

Therefore, to make discipleship happen in the church, it is not only about formulating an ingenious discipleship system, but fighting the systemic spiritual disease of the church, because a healthy church naturally makes and grows disciples.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of discipleship system of a church hinges on the spiritual ecosystem of the church, where pastors, leaders, and parents work together to create an environment for discipleship to blossom and become a reality.