Is Discipleship Enough?

Is Discipleship Enough?

by | Jul 14, 2021

Is Discipleship Enough?

When it comes to church revitalization, discipleship pathway systems are touted as the answer. These systems are supposed to produce disciples such as growth and thus enable churches to fulfill the Great Commission. But is discipleship enough?

In fact, I can’t help but wonder if this approach to church revitalization is short-sighted. Perhaps even problematic.

Apostleship As Training

Let’s start with the first problem. Jesus didn’t call The Twelve or The Seventy-Two or any of the others for them to be mere followers. Followership was simply the first stage in their spiritual development. Apostleship was the ultimate goal of their training.

During the three years The Twelve spent with Jesus, they observed how he thought and how he prayed. The Twelve watched how he taught and soaked up what he believed. Moreover, they watched him engage paralyzed, hurting, desperate people and they noted the way he interacted with others. After Jesus was finished interacting with others, The Twelve listened to the way he phrased things. They were privy to his miracles and glimpsed his inner relationship with God.

But they didn’t stop there. Jesus transferred his spiritual authority, agency, and accountability to them. They were to speak, act, and heal on behalf of him, and of the Kingdom. Each of these men and women were to be active agents, stewards, of the Kingdom dream.

What’s striking to me is that Jesus never hoarded his power. He freely taught others how to exercise it. After they mastered the kinds of things Jesus had done, The Twelve, The Seventy-Two and likely countless others, surpassed what Jesus had done. Not only did they heal, preach, and proclaim the Kingdom, they gathered thousands of followers, set up communities in far-flung places, and oversaw the development of structures that allowed the church to grow and expand throughout the known world.

Discipleship Pathway Systems

That’s where we get to the second problem with discipleship pathway systems. We’re not going to be any good at making the sort of disciples Jesus made until we are decidedly better at making the kind of apostles Jesus made. After all, it is apostles who make disciples, not other disciples. You can see this shift in the Great Commission. Jesus commanding the disciples to “Go therefore into all the world,” signaled the ontological change in their status.  From this moment on, they were no longer followers. Their sending signaled they now functioned as apostles.

Yet in the church, we do not teach people, even our leaders, how to be apostolic:  stewards of the dream, agents of change.  We do not teach people that they are co-creators with God. That their words have creative, divine power.  That they are more Christ-like than they know.  Instead we teach people to give God all the glory.  I’m not sure if God wants all the glory.  Nor does Jesus.  The way I read the New Testament, Jesus expects us to surpass him, to do even greater things than he did.  The only way to do that is to own our God-given agency and our authority.  Settling for discipleship without apostleship undercuts the ultimate meta message of the Gospels.

So before we get too invested in discipleship pathways, we would do well to build apostleship pathways, too. Interested in knowing more about how to do that?

In my work with Creating a Culture of Renewal, I’ve discovered that apostleship starts with Kingdom-oriented dreams. 

When church leaders know how to dream like Jesus, align others to the dream, and realize the dream, then the dream can expand and draw others to it.  Now there’s a discipleship pathway system.

Adapted from Dream Like Jesus: Deepen Your Faith and Bring the Impossible to Life © 2019

Copyright © 2021 rebekahsimonpeter.com, All Rights Reserved.

 

Do You Have the Faith of a Mailman?

Do You Have the Faith of a Mailman?

by | May 13, 2021

Do You Have the Faith of a Mailman?

 

While I’m happily married now, and have been for almost 20 years, I fielded all sorts of unusual questions when I was a single pastor, and dating. One in particular sticks in my mind. “Do you think I’m an apostle?”

Do I think you’re an apostle? This was a first. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how to answer this guy. To begin with, he was Catholic, and I didn’t think Catholics talked about apostles; it seemed like a word more connected to Pentecostals. Second, he was a mailman. It was the first time I had heard a regular person apply the word apostle to themselves.

The word apostle seems to be reserved for the select few, or as alter egos for the disciples. Or maybe as I said for Pentecostal leaders. But mail carriers? I wasn’t sure.

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Its usage begs the question: What’s the difference between an apostle and a disciple? And is the word apostle even still to be used?

Disciples and Apostles

The word disciple comes from the Latin discipulus. It means scholar. A disciple is a student who learns from a master teacher. The disciple’s primary focus is the teacher, and their primary job is to learn from those teachings. All so that the disciples can live out the “way” or the path of the teacher.

(Recall Jesus saying: I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”) John the Baptist had disciples, the Pharisees had disciples, and Jesus had disciples. Of all three, we know the most about Jesus’ disciples. His disciples traveled extensively with him to observe and absorb all they could about his life and ethos.

An apostle, however, is an altogether different animal. Even though the word apostle sounds similar to the word disciple, it hails from the Greek, apostolos meaning envoy. While disciples are students, apostles are agents. They don’t follow the master. They’re sent out by the master.

They’re delegates, commissioned to act on behalf of another.

The Twelve functioned first as disciples and second as apostles. According to Mark: 3:13-15, Jesus went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.

The Twelve first learned from Jesus, then were sent out in his name. They were followed by many others who were also sent out in his name including Paul, Silas, Barnabas, and Junia.

In today’s language, we might say that disciples are followers and apostles are leaders. But there’s more to it than that.

Disciples and apostles have qualitatively different kinds of faith. Disciples have faith in Jesus while apostles have the faith of Jesus. Otherwise, there’s no way that apostles could do what Jesus did. And make no mistake—the apostles did.

Jesus first sent the 12 out, and later the 70, to do exactly what he did. Even while Jesus was alive, his apostles healed the sick, cast out demons, and preached the Kingdom. They had authority over unclean spirits. After Jesus ascends into heaven, Peter heals a paralyzed man. Paul and Silas sing in jail until the chains break. Mere shadows of the apostles cause people to heal.

faith of an apostle

Disciples have faith in Jesus. Apostles have the faith of Jesus. So what is the difference between the two?

Faith in Jesus

Faith in Jesus means trusting in his power, his love, his teachings, and his saving grace. This is the kind of faith we commonly teach in church—in songs and hymns, sermons and Bible studies, and children’s messages and youth curriculum. It is the focus of much teaching on salvation.

Faith of Jesus

Having the faith of Jesus takes things to a whole new level. It means trusting in what Jesus trusted in, abiding in a deep knowing that you are one with God and one with the Holy Spirit. Having the faith of Jesus means cultivating an unwavering trust in your life purpose, and entertaining a rock-solid knowledge that all things are possible. It means living with an ever-ready expectancy of miracles.

Most of all, it means living in constant communion with, and surrender to, God. In other words, having the faith of Jesus means operating in an elevated state of consciousness in which there is no separation between humanity and divinity, between us and God. This kind of faith is hinted at in church, but is often not emphasized, even though it is a big part of Jesus’ teachings (see for instance John 15). Is it any wonder that apostleship is so little known?

You may say: I’m a disciple; I can’t be an apostle. I challenge you to re-think that. You see, discipleship was always and only meant to be the first step in your relationship with Jesus. The end game was always apostleship. You’re called. Anointed. Appointed. Authorized. Accountable. You’re agents of the Kingdom.

If you’re ready to step into apostleship, then it’s time to pray the prayer of the apostles: “Lord, increase our faith.” (Luke 17:5). After all, if a small-town mailman can envision himself as an apostle, why not you?

By the way…back to that date some 21 years ago. After he asked me about apostleship, I had to question my own level of faith. After all, he was a mailman and I was a pastor. Where in the heck was my trust in God? Maybe this guy was an apostle. I prayed my own version of the apostle’s prayer: Lord, increase my faith, when the mailman eventually asked me another big question. This time on bended knee. With a ring. God showed me the right answer and I said yes.

When God speaks to you, what will your answer be to God?

When Discipleship Isn’t Enough

When Discipleship Isn’t Enough

by | Oct 28, 2019

Discipleship pathway systems are all the rage in the United Methodist Church these days. And with good reason. These systems are supposed to produce disciples, i.e. growth, and thus enable churches to fulfill the Great Commission, as well as the mission of the denomination.

But what about when discipleship isn’t enough? I can’t help but wonder if this approach to discipleship is short-sighted.  Perhaps even problematic.  The first problem I see is that discipleship as an end game can create passive followers who don’t own their God-given agency.  The second problem is that discipleship without apostleship subverts the Gospels’ meta message.

Let’s start with the first problem.  Jesus didn’t call The Twelve or The Seventy-Two or any of the others for them to be mere followers.  Followership was simply the first stage in their spiritual development.  Apostleship was the ultimate goal of their training.

During the three years The Twelve spent with Jesus, they observed how he thought and how he prayed. They watched how he taught and soaked up what he believed. They watched him engage paralyzed, hurting, desperate people and they noted the way he interacted with others. They listened to the way he phrased things. They were privy to his miracles and glimpsed his inner relationship with God.

But they didn’t stop there. Jesus transferred his spiritual authority, agency, and accountability to them. They were to speak, act, and heal on behalf of him, and of the Kingdom.  Each of these men and women were to be active agents, stewards, of the Kingdom dream.

What’s striking to me is that Jesus never hoarded his power. He freely taught others how to exercise it. After they mastered the kinds of things Jesus had done, The Twelve, The Seventy-Two and likely countless others, surpassed what Jesus had done.  Not only did they heal, preach, and proclaim the Kingdom, they gathered thousands of followers, set up communities in far-flung places, and oversaw the development of structures that allowed the church to grow and expand throughout the known world.

That’s where we get to the second problem with discipleship pathway systems. We’re not going to be any good at making the sort of disciples Jesus made until we are decidedly better at making the kind of apostles Jesus made. After all, it is apostles who make disciples, not other disciples. You can see this shift in the Great Commission. When Jesus commanded the disciples to “Go therefore into all the world,” signaled the ontological change in their status.  From this moment on, they were no longer followers. Their sending signaled they now functioned as apostles.

Yet in the church, we do not teach people, even our leaders, how to be apostolic:  stewards of the dream, agents of change.  We do not teach people that they are co-creators with God.  That their words have creative, divine power.  That they are more Christ-like than they know.  Instead we teach people to give God all the glory.  I’m not sure if God wants all the glory.  Nor does Jesus.  The way I read the New Testament, Jesus expects us to surpass him, to do even greater things than he did.  The only way to do that is to own our God-given agency and our authority.  Settling for discipleship without apostleship undercuts the ultimate meta message of the Gospels.

So before we get too invested in discipleship pathways, we would do well to build apostleship pathways, too. Interested in knowing more about how to do that?

In my work with Creating a Culture of Renewal, I’ve discovered that apostleship starts with Kingdom-oriented dreams. When church leaders know how to dream like Jesus, align others to the dream, and realize the dream, then the dream can expand and draw others to it.  Now there’s a discipleship pathway system.

Adapted from Dream Like Jesus: Deepen Your Faith and Bring the Impossible to Life © 2019 Rebekah Simon-Peter, now available everywhere online.