In my adult discipleship class, we had to write an essay on some research from George Barna. In it, Barna shares principles which have shown to be the best practices
for discipleship in local congregations. He lists nine: Leaders have a passion for making disciples, Depth, Maturity, Practice, Process, Interactive, Multifaceted, Lifelong, and Christ-like. I believe the three most
critical principles are Practice, Process, and Christ-like. I believe
these three fit the New Testament profile of what a discipleship process
should look like.
Barna defines Practice as, "The repeated
acting of the will created habits and therefore, character." I believe
the emphasis on belief in our churches has alleviated some (at least in
their minds) of actually living out their faith. Let's examine Barna's
definition. First he describes it as an act of the will. We must
literally turn from our sin to a living God who can rescue us from those
sins when we are tempted. The successes of being delivered create in us
a reliance upon God to deliver us from temptations and sin. Even in our
failure, the forgiveness given to us is a chance for growth. Next, it
is a repeated act. When we struggle, we must keep trying to live out our
faith. The forgiveness offered to us (1 John 1:9) should motivate us.
The next is linked with Practice and it is Process.
Process is
defined as being a lifelong journey of faith. Discipleship in itself is a
means, not an end. Regardless of the amount of failures in our lives, I
have personally learned that the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance. In other words, when God calls, He will never revoke that
calling, nor the gifts He has given to carry out that calling. We must
see the end goal and that is becoming like Christ. In Lifelong, Barna defines it as, "Every day of life for all of life. Don't think program, trust the process." We look to our programs in churches and consider them a success when we have many people show up. Rather than the process of submitting ourselves to God and allowing Him to change us (James 4:7). This leads us to our next principle and that is: Christ-like.
Barna
defines Christ-like as, "The marker is Jesus, being formed into His
image; all else is a waste of effort." Romans 8:29 says that those whom
God foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of His son.
That is the goal of being a Christian. That is what being a Christian
means in its entirety. That is what we are called to. That's it. All the
things we push in our church programs should be designed to accomplish
that goal. We should not strive to be like a preacher, Sunday school
teacher, or any other church-related personality. If we do anything other than encourage people to be like Jesus Christ, we as a church have failed. In our culture, we tend to push our personalities in the church. Billy Graham, Rick Warren, or any other pastor or personality who has gained mainstream prominence are the ones who are held up as people to emulate. We need to push our savior, Jesus Christ. We need to lift Him up as the goal, standard-bearer, marker, and the only one worthy of emulating. Let us fall in love again with our savior.
I believe these
three to be the most critical because I believe that they are closest
to the heart of what all the New Testament writers taught. I believe as
you read the gospels and epistles these three characteristics stand out
as central to their faith, and should be central to ours as well.
