Exponential 2013 - 2 - Shift from Reaching to Making

Discipleship Shift #1 - From Reaching to Making

There has been a tent revival going on in Thomasville for a week. So many people are "getting saved" that the folks leading the meetings have decided to stay for several more days. Every day teams of people take to the streets of Thomasville with the salvation message. At last count there have been over 4,000 "salvations." While I applaud the zeal behind the meetings, have supported the effort and am praying that God will indeed be bringing people to Himself, I wonder if the focus on conversion will transform my city. Perhaps we need to shift our focus from reaching people to making disciples.

At the heart of discipleship is a journey into maturity. Making disciples is making learners and followers. Paul puts it this way, "Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ" (Col. 1:28). Proclamation for Paul included warning and teaching; its goal being maturity, not just praying a prayer. But here is a big question for most of our churches: what does a mature disciple look like?

Lifeway has developed a tool for measuring transformational discipleship. It looks at 9 areas: Bible engagement, obeying God and denying self; serving God and others, sharing Christ, exercising faith, seeking God, building relationships, being unashamed, and doctrinal positions. You can take an assessment for $9.95 that gives you some feedback about how you are doing. My lowest score had to do with sharing Christ with unbelievers - not exactly shocking news. But the question for me is, What are your going to do about it? I need to address this place of deficiency in my personal discipleship.

How does your congregation define maturity in a disciple of Jesus? What is in place to help people move towards that vision?