Discipleship

These are the notes Max took at a discipleship seminar. . .

Many churches believe that the only way to do discipleship is through small groups or programs, but what about "organic" discipleship? 

At CHBC they want to create a culture of discipleship, and that means that members naturally disciple one another.

You do this in many ways.  First of all, it begins with the pastor and elders.  What they do either helps or hinders the creation of the culture.  They want every member to understand that it is his/her job to disciple others.  How to create this culture?

1.  Meaningful membership, where we shatter the consumeristic mindset that people enter with.

2.  Try to promote one-on-one vs. small group discipleship.
 Oftentimes, small groups displace and replace the corporate gathering.  They would much rather their members have a discipleship partner than be in a small group.  The pastors at CHBC lead by example and are always out to lunch with men in the church and discipling them.  They also set expectations when people join the church that they want them to get into a discipleship relationship.  They are encouraged to get involved in the lives of others, and they are told that by joining the church, they are signing away isolation.

Some obstacles to discipling are

1. I'm too busy (and a lot of them are, so they are encouraged to drop something in order to grow as a christian.)
 2.  It's not that important
 3.  The desire to "save face" and wear a mask to others in the church
 4.  They don't want to get involved in a mess
 5.  They are too quick to pass off a problem to pastors or counselors

Biblical counseling is one part of the umbrella of discipling in the church.  It deals with the "thorny" problems, such as suicidal thoughts, depression, etc.

The weak and difficult sheep are going to take most of our time, but do we spend most of our time putting out fires?  Instead, we should be pouring into others proactively so that the congregation pours into one another.  In the short term, it won't bear too much fruit, so we will have to train and teach the members to disciple one another and, in the long run, it will bear a lot of fruit, and will make our job a lot easier.