Discipleship is all the rage at the moment. Whilst this is so refreshing – it is after all what Jesus calls His Church to focus on – I’m sometimes concerned that there is a lack of clarity around the concept. Without clarity we find ourselves taking steps in the right direction but with a vague picture of what the destination might look like. In recent years, I’ve heard people in churches use the language of discipleship, but after a little while you realise that what they are talking about is really mentoring or coaching. Coaching someone in their skills of leading a small group or singing or playing a musical instrument on the worship team, is, when done from a healthy motivation, positive. But it is not biblical discipleship.
Sometimes discipleship is framed as personal growth or as becoming more disciplined in regular spiritual practices, but this too is not discipleship. Discipleship will no doubt include the personal and spiritual growth of an individual. One would hope to grow in personal capacity, maturity, and adeptness at practicing the spiritual disciplines written into the rich tradition of the Christian faith. They are, however, markers towards our destination, not the destination itself.
The destination is Jesus.
We need to have a crystal-clear picture of what our efforts are leading us towards, and unless that encompasses that we end up looking like and sounding like Jesus living in His Father’s kingdom, doing the Father’s will, empowered by the Spirit, then we fall short. None of the above is bad – indeed, we need more of it. But we cannot confuse the process of developing in skill or deepening our reading of Scripture or even serving in church as necessarily equating with discipleship.
Discipleship in the first century was simply about being a student of another, (that’s what the word disciple meant – student or pupil), and the way that was accomplished in Jesus’ case was literally through following him. The first disciples had to reorient their entire life around him and learn from him how to do life and mission in the manner in which he did it. My favourite way to express this today is through the language of the late Dallas Willard who calls it apprenticeship – we apprentice ourselves to Jesus to learn from him how to live our lives, as if he were living it through us – which in fact according to the New Testament, he is.
The implication of this is uncomfortable. At least it’s uncomfortable for me. It calls into question every decision I make, every day. From the way that I interact with my family at 6:30am when my young girls are struggling to wake up, to what I put into my body and how I rest, to how I carry on my work, which types of work I pursue, how I find pleasure, through to what I really rely on to survive (is it every word that proceeds from the mouth of God or is it really coffee?). Everything is up for grabs when we conceive of discipleship to Jesus in this way.
Ultimately, the question that we need to answer for ourselves with brutal honesty, and that church leaders need to confront each of their congregation members with, is “whose are you”? Who do you belong to? Who is in charge? Is it Andrew (or Amelia or Jon), or is it Jesus?
A further implication of belonging to Jesus is that being a disciple is not just about my own personal holiness and how I follow him as an individual (though that is an indispensable part). Discipleship is also about how I am living that out in a community of God’s people. Discipleship in the New Testament is never a solitary affair.
It also includes how I am reaching out to those outside the community to influence them in their discipleship journey. Every commission recorded in the gospel accounts and in Acts, makes it clear that Jesus expects his followers, disciples, apprentices, to reach out beyond their circles of relationships to those who have not yet chosen to follow him, and play an important part in helping them choose to follow him. And that was not reserved for a special category of maturity – everyone was included.
Which leads us back to where we started. When we use the language of discipleship, but really mean mentoring (i.e. “Who are you discipling and who is discipling you in your leadership/preaching/creative ministry/etc.”), we are missing the mark. Disciples are not called to make others look like us. Disciples are called to help others look like Jesus – and that is a much higher and a much harder call.
Perhaps our picture of what discipleship looks like is pitched way too low. Discipleship is not a theme for a year, it is a lifestyle of complete orientation to the way of Jesus. It is forged in the company of a faith family – where we learn together, where we are both challenged and challenger, where we are on mission together, and where we make Jesus and his kingdom the orienting factor of our lives.
Discipleship might take a moment to clarify, but it takes a lifetime to grow into.
