I listen to music through headphones while I work. I use it to block out the noise of the office so I can concentrate. Recently, after several years of hard service, my headphones conked out. I quickly rushed to replace them cheaply. As I cut open the impossible plastic packaging encasing my purchase, a small note fell out. This is what it said:
Some time ago, I had a dream in my sleep.
I dreamt that I was shipping millions of boxes around the world
(which is exactly what my company Sweex is doing).
And in spite of useful products in them,
I experienced an empty feeling in myself.
I sat with the dream for a while and pondered over it.
Then I realized — I needed to fill the boxes with my wish for you.... continue reading
Murmuring underneath everything we’ve seen so far is a fifth and final reason why our discipleship of others is failing so badly.
5. Our churches are ashamed of the gospel.
Not so long ago, I was invited to speak at a church just outside London. Numbers had been dropping, so the church was going to significant lengths to attract young people. They’d added another service at a more convenient time on a Saturday evening, they were getting in guest speakers from all over the country, they were spending money on marketing, and they had paid a worship band to come from 100 miles away.
I got chatting to a delightful congregation member about the reasons for their flagging, elderly attendance. “This may be a sensitive question,” I said, “but how’s the preaching of the gospel going?” His response came with a knowing and slightly embarrassed smile. “Well, we have to give people what they want.”... continue reading
Welcome to “Why We Don’t Disciple #4″. Or, as you may prefer to call it, “Biting The Hand That Feeds.”
4. Our churches are programme dependent.
Here’s a modern day parable for your delectation, told to me by a friend at seminary. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is (possibly) true.
A young man walked into a Christian bookstore in Chicago and asked where the bumper stickers were. The assistant said, what kind are you looking for?
The man said, I’d like to buy a fish sticker. The assistant said, Oh I’m afraid we’ve sold out of those. To which the man responded, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO EVANGELISE WITHOUT FISH STICKERS?... continue reading
Here’s a third reason our discipleship of others is so shallow, and may even be non-existent.
3. Our churches are less converted.
Our churches have fewer truly regenerate Christians in them, and so there are fewer people able to disciple each other.
No doubt the reasons for this are complex, but let me suggest two.
Firstly, it used to be the way that to be known as a member of the body of Christ, you had to be a Christian. That’s the assumption made by the New Testament.
But now, in many churches – even in some large, well-known evangelical churches – you can become a member of the church simply by ticking a box on a welcome card. It’s a voluntary practise. There is little or no attempt to examine the person spiritually to try and ascertain that they are truly followers of Christ.
How can we expect people who aren’t disciples themselves to be discipling others?... continue reading
Let me suggest another reason our discipleship of others is so shallow, and may even be non-existent.
2. Our churches are seeker-sensitive, but believer-insensitive.
No church has done more to research and develop “seeker-sensitive” services than Willow Creek in Chicago. They first started tailoring their church services toward “seekers” 30 years ago.But in 2008 they published the results of a four year survey on how effective they had been in fulfilling Jesus’ call to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). Their conclusion was that after three decades, they needed to shift from seeker-sensitive services, to services which focused on enabling believers to grow in their faith; from seeker-sensitive, to believer-sensitive.... continue reading
The growth of the evangelical church has been ocean-wide, but often puddle-deep. Why so shallow?
Over the next 3 days, I’m going to suggest five reasons why those of us in evangelical churches often do a poor job of discipling one another. (For the biblical reasons we should be discipling, here’s a post from earlier today).
Firstly, our churches very often teach “cheap” grace.
You’ll remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian. He defined cheap grace like this:... continue reading
Six years ago, in Christianity Today magazine, John Stott was asked for his assessment of the growth of the evangelical church. This was his reply:
The answer is “growth without depth.” None of us wants to dispute the extraordinary growth of the church. But it has been largely numerical and statistical growth. And there has not been sufficient growth in discipleship that is comparable to the growth in numbers.
Although our growth is wide, wide as the ocean, it’s about as deep as a puddle. Why is that? What is going wrong? Over the next five weeks, I’m going to suggest five reasons we don’t disciple – or at least disciple well.... continue reading
Every now and then I find myself needing to know what day it is.
I can generally cope with the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday thing. I mastered the days of the week - to a greater or lesser extent - some time ago. But I yearn to discover what animal, vegetable or other obscure aspect of life on earth is being celebrated somewhere in the world. And my search engine of choice rarely leaves me wanting!
My favourite days include: National Pig Day in March (to celebrate all things trottered); National Ice-Cream Day in July (make mine pistachio please), National Carrot Day (though sadly there seems to be some controversy over the exact timing of this exciting opportunity to focus on the fact that the average person consumes in the region of 10,866 carrots in their lifetime) and National Hug Day (which conveniently coincides with my birthday). You may like to know that tomorrow is Cherry Popsicle day. I hope you'll plan to celebrate in style!
But while there is some merit in setting aside a special day to focus with thankfulness on one aspect of God's world - and a certain amusement factor about openly rejoicing in the obscure and the mundane - it occurs to me there are some things for which one day of celebration is simply not enough:... continue reading
“I don’t know what to say…” came the plaintive text. A friend, who had known me for years, who loves me dearly and who genuinely wanted to help was stumped. In the face on my grief they found themselves strangely inert. Desperate to say the right thing. Terrified of saying something wrong. And they weren’t alone.
It can feel profoundly difficult to know what to say to someone who has lost a close family member or friend. Partly because there are no hard and fast rules about what will actually help. But saying something is important. And the reality is, what we say doesn’t need to profound, it just needs to be true and kind!
I’m no expert on grief, just someone who’s had quite a bit of practice at being bereaved this year, but here are 10 phrases that might well be of use if you find yourself struggling for words – my suggestion would be to just pick a couple that you can say naturally and go for it:... continue reading
Tim Tebow isn’t much of a name this side of the Atlantic; but in the US, he’s a star. He’s an American football quarterback. And he’s a Christian.
And in a recent interview, he makes clear that the third of those descriptions of him is more important than the first two. But, he says, it’s a “constant battle” to keep his priorities straight.
What’s interesting is that he has a Christian friend, what he calls a prayer partner, to help him to live for Christ first and foremost. And he outlines why he needs one and what one does.... continue reading
