7 comments (Add your own)

1. Jaime Lindsay wrote:

So I'm sitting here reading this and thinking about the same difficulties you are, Jason, and not knowing how to answer those questions. But I do know that I learned a great lesson from the believers I watched in Thailand, about discipleship. One night I sat with the pastor and his wife of the house church I interned at and they explained to me how discipleship to them is not a list, not a class, not a set of "do's" but is just life. Their church family IS their family. The pastor's family has no concept of private space or time, everything they have is shared with their church family. I watched as a new believer would come to the church (house) after work everyday and spend hours sharing life with the pastor. I watched as they ate dinner together not one, but four nights a week. I watched as the pastor's wife worked a difficult job to feed not just her husband and child, but an entire group of people whom she had come to know as family. She told me of how she had cried over the brokeness of each of these people as they came to their family one by one, and how slowly, through the work of God's family, they were healed. But it was not easy. It cost her something. She desired a nice house, she desired to be free of the burden her job placed on her. But somehow she knew that these people meant something, that they were worth the sacrifice. I was humbled by her then and still am today. As Americans we are very different, socially, culturally... but I think there is something to learn from her example. I am no where close and don't really know how to get there, but pray that I might be willing, somehow, to sacrifice like she did.

Mon, January 21, 2008 @ 8:29 AM

2. Anonymous Sunday Nighter wrote:

I struggle with this too. Not just now, but for years. Knowing the things He taught is easy. Doing the things He taught can be faked easily enough. Things can be done in such an innocuous, minimalist, painless American way that we can rationalize our tiny deeds as important. But to do the things HE did? Crazy difficult. He died on the cross! He committed untold, innumerable miracles. He is God.
I tell myself this was all easy for Him. It came naturally for Him. I tell myself I can't possibly be expected to do what he did since I am merely human. I could probably pray all night for someone. God will put those people in my way though, right? Do I pick them? God will put them there, won't he? I keep waiting for him to put them there and tell me (Audibly would be fine). It shouldn't be this hard. If my life is curriculum, how do I make it worth studying?

Mon, January 21, 2008 @ 8:11 PM

3. Bill White wrote:

Jason and Jaime - thank you for your sharing.

This is nowhere close to what it should be, but on Sunday as I was struck by the same things as you guys, I committed to pray every day for the guys I mentor. I guess for me that's a start.

Tue, January 22, 2008 @ 6:48 AM

4. Lauri Van Hofwegen wrote:

Ok, the phrase that has been running through my mind is "Pray Without Ceasing". That means, to me, while I'm driving, while I'm shopping...when I wake up in the middle of the night. Pray. Pray. All. The. Time. Don't. Stop.
As far as the point that discipleship is doing the things He did...I've witnessed that in a huge way in the last 7 months since my brother in law was diagnosed with cancer. Both by the family at ERC and my family all over the country. It's not just helping out with financial gifts etc. Believe me, that is greatly appreciated. But it's also the constant support, concern and continual prayer that makes all the difference...and is a huge blessing to my family right now. These folks consider it a priviledge as brothers and sisters to help in any way they can. I am just blown away...and grateful. And hope and pray that I would do the same.

Wed, January 23, 2008 @ 2:30 PM

5. J De Bie wrote:

This whole discipleship stuff really messes with me. I feel that I get tugged both ways. I want to get on board and then I don't. (Is there a choice in Christianity?) I feel discipling someone is something that I should do but then when I start processing internally how to do it I get discouraged with all the details of how? who? when? where? Then I think maybe it would be better if for now my wife and I just focused on our marriage and discipling our two girls. But when I really think and pray about this I think God wants more out of me. When our daughters see us investing and caring for others they at the same time are learning from us, and can see disciplship lived out rather than just taught.

I think the point that Jason has above about the curriculum being me (or you) is huge, because there are certain relationships that we have that would not be open to doing DJ08 stuff but they are open to sharing their lives with us and to asking us questions about life and church, etc. and for these relationships I think it is ok to just care for them and listen. After all, this is not a race or a contest to have so many life conversions by a certain date but rather it is about investing in other people's lives and letting God do the work in his time. Other relationships we have allow us to follow more closely to DJ08 and to read scripture and discuss Jesus' life. I believe these relationships are also worth investing in and that God can work in them as well.

I am going to pray and trust that God wants me to actively invest in people's lives while I continue to love my wife and teach my children. In prayer I believe that God will show me the approach that is right for each relationship. I find comfort in Bill's sermon comment that the first disciples, and others that followed (including Bill himself) had no clue what they were doing either.

Thu, January 24, 2008 @ 6:17 AM

6. Greg Dolmge wrote:

The biggest fear I often have in starting a discipleship relationship has nothing to do with whether I I feel qualified or not. When comparing myself to Jesus, I always come up short. No, my biggest fear is that i'll be traveling a one way street. That I will invest and care, yet not receive anything back.

I'm not saying it's all about me or that I'm looking only to gain. Like my money, (if I had some) I want to be careful with my investments. Like Ken's youth pastor, I don't want to waste my time and effort with people who will treat me like a movie, a source of entertainment that requires no participation yet can be openly critiqued.

I wonder if Jesus felt the same way. I wonder if that is why he prayed about the 12 he would pick. He needed to know that these guys, with all their faults, wanted to be there.

In my experience, those who want to be there stay. Those who don't, leave. There is an odd simplicity about it, but those who have stayed have been some of the greatest blessings in my life. I don't know if I'll ever fully overcome my fears, but so far the successes have been worth the struggle.

Thu, January 24, 2008 @ 7:44 AM

7. Gil Alvarez wrote:

I don't know, maybe I'm wrong... but I feel we might be getting too "hung-up" on the word "Discipleship." To me, the word Discipleship stirs-up images of Jesus walking around in sandals and a robe with large crowds of people following Him and hanging on His every word. Or, it's an image or students giving-up everything, taking a vow of poverty, and spending every waking moment in prayer. Or, even worse, if I talk about having my "own" disciples with some "non-church" friends, it may sound like I'm starting a cult or something. I'm not trying to down-play the importance of discipleship at all. It's just that, when I read scripture, I see Jesus being Jesus: Teaching, preaching, blessing, healing, (often offending), but always loving people. And, through that, He developed a large circle of influence. And, out of that circle of influence, He picked twelve people that He would share His life with "up-close and personal." They would listen to Him talk to others about God. They would watch Him pray - in all kinds of situations. They would see His compassion for the poor and the sick, mourn with Him at the loss of a friend, experience His self-control during confrontation, see a bit of His righteous anger, and ultimately come to know true grace and forgiveness.

Discipleship is about sharing your life with others. It's about living outside of yourself, seeing the big picture, and knowing that as God continues to transform you in Christ you can also be a part of someone elses transformation. It's about loving one another. And, as Christians, there is no way around it.

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)

Thu, January 24, 2008 @ 11:59 AM

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