On Mature Disciples of Jesus Christ

Recently, as we gear up for the program year and as I continue to learn about where Arden is, where it has been and where God may be calling us, I’ve been thinking and discussing discipleship a lot. Now, few of my conversations have begun as ones to focus on this. Instead, we’ve talked about Sunday School, missions involvement, serving as leaders in the congregation, and pondering our financial commitments and care of those. All of this really does, though, come back to discipleship. The mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This primarily happens through the local congregation (ministry candidates, memorize this…and repeat it a couple times during your BOOM exam).

But what do we mean when we talk about making disciples? And thinking of our journeys of faith as, well, journeys—progressions? Where are we headed? What does a mature Christian look like.

Any discussion of TACTICS must be secondary to getting an idea of what we’re trying to get TO. Because only from that frame of reference can we gauge what we ought to be doing—and even further—later assess whether we’re doing what we intended to do. There are tons of churches just doing STUFF with no idea of what they hope to accomplish. Take, for example, Sunday School. There are a lot of churches doing it to do it—because that’s just what churches do. Some churches have stepped away from Sunday morning Christian education—but have found other ways to provide for the Christian education and development of children, youth and adults. That said, many churches also still find that time of Sundays as a key time for Bible study, discussion and growth in faith. After all, what time during the rest of the week is going to be more convenient? Whether a church has a program of not, it ought to be guided by what it’s trying to accomplish. Once you’ve figured that out, start thinking of all the ways you could get from point A to point B. And they look at your list and think through what works best in your context. What works for your congregation may not be what works for the church down the street, or for the big church who pastor’s books you read.

In fact, it may be that one program won’t appeal to all the people at your church. While you can’t please everyone, there may be creative ideas that reach more people that just following one path in isolation.

In the coming months, we’ll begin having some discussions about discipleship. In that vein, the first question I hope we’ll consider is this: What does a mature Christian look like?

Let’s think both about generalities but also specifics. For example, we might say a mature Christian disciple prays regularly (maybe we’d give more specifics) and is growing constantly in their understanding of the Bible, traditions of the faith, and theology. On a more specific level, think of the “snapshots” of mature faith in the people whose faith you admire.

The next question is this: How does a person become that?

Then: What should we be doing to help a person along that path?

I invite you to begin thinking about this. Look for examples. Ask others. I’m excited to see where our discussions (both formal and informal) take us.