Making disciples... oft repeated dead ends

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..."

It amazes me how often we forget what is really important.  I know I do it all the time!

Instead of being patient in traffic, I get impulsive and pass people.  I hate being stuck in traffic, so I move between lanes for a quicker travel time.  Of course it doesn't work!  What has happened?  My real goal while driving is safe travel, but I make it more unsafe by not being patient.  There is way too much Boston in my driving style!

I really could go on and on.  I often forget what is important because I focus on what appears to be the immediate problem or on what I feel like at the moment.  In addition, so much of what I believe and do is shaped by how I was raised or past experience.  

Make disciples...

It sounds so easy and so obvious.  Jesus did it.  Paul did it.  We should do it.

But we don't.  When was the last time you personally helped make and shape a disciple of Jesus?  I think for many church folks, the answer would be telling.

Why?

We have misunderstood what it means to make a disciple.  While we might think somewhere within us that making a disciple is following what Jesus does, we have been trained to believe that making a disciple means:

1.) Getting someone to make a profession of faith.

2.) Getting someone to go to church.  A mature disciple goes to church regularly.  They also might attend other church events such as bible study or small groups.

3.) Getting someone to give to church.  A mature disciple should give.

4.) Getting someone to help give leadership in the church.  This illustrates the commitment necessary for a growing disciple.

And we wonder why we have huge numbers of nominal professing Christians who are not interested in church and who don't walk closely with God.  Why would they have or do either?  While these four ideas could be helpful for someone growing as a disciple, they surely do not follow Jesus' model of discipleship.  In my experience, they also don't lead to maturity in the vast majority of folks who have bought into this method of growing in the faith.

There has to be something better.  Maybe we have forgotten something that should not have been forgotten?