An Interview on Discipleship
By Jonathan Dodson | August 2nd, 2010 | Category: Missional Church | 3 comments
Joe Thorn was kind enough to interview me on the topic of discipleship. I’ve included an excerpt from one of the questions below.
What is the biggest mistake the church is making when working to make disciples?
I can’t answer that question definitively. However, the dearth of suffering, the absence of hope, the trivialization of the Spirit, and the lack of mission among disciples of Jesus is terribly concerning. We have tried to minimize suffering through convenience, eliminate hope through self-made retirement, reduce Jesus to redeemer of the past, and surrendered any sense of discipleship as a call to die to ourselves that others may live. Instead, discipleship has been reduced to having a good marriage, handling finances well, raising good children, securing a future, and knowing your Bible. Our mission is very different than Jesus’ mission, our lives very different than Jesus’ life. This should scare us.
Read the rest of the Interview
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I like your answer and I think it’s a wake up call. I’ve been swimming a little in 1 Peter and the themes of suffering and mission and hope are all over the place as normal realities for the Christian. Having said that I did want to give some pushback to your comment about discipleship being reduced to (you said first) a “good marriage.” I personally think we don’t stress this enough in our discipleship holding up models of men who are great leaders in the church but poor leaders at home. I know you would agree, but I think we underestimate the testimony of a good, grace-centered marriage in our discipleship. In addition I think there are seasons in life where more focus must be placed on our family. Paul himself said there would be a tension for those who are married and doing ministry. Our interests will be divided.
Stacey,
I love you thoughts and they present both a challenge to me as well as express my own frustrations well. I don’t think you’d disagree that having a good marriage and managing finances well are important. The key to what you said is the last sentence. It’s mission. Too many Christians see their relationship with Jesus as part of the equation for comfort and security. Their mission is provide comfort and security to themselves and their families rather than the Great Commission. The sad truth is I can have a good marriage, children that obey, a secure financial future and still not be alive in Christ. The problem is we have boiled discipleship down to just those things. I agree with Doug in saying there are seasons where we focus more on our family. In fact discipleship, should start in the home. But what are you discipling them to is the question: The American Dream or The Cross of Christ.