Today's Greatest Discipleship Challenge

While the Greek term "disciple" appears in Scripture, the word "discipleship" does not, as one of my friends point out. And when we say that term, we usually mean something along the lines of "the art or craft of becoming a disciple." As a result, the word almost always leads one to think in terms of strategies and tactics, dwelling on the tasks we might be doing rather than the one we are now following. To put it another way, we may be specialists in discipleship, but never be disciples.

Dancing the Joyful Music

Consider a dancer. She's dancing gracefully, joyfully, all in time. When you look closely, you can see what's behind all of this lovely movement: she's wearing her earbuds, listening to the music she likes most in the world, and it's transporting her. It has her captivated and enthralled. It's almost as if she can't seem to restrain herself from dancing.

Now assume that a second person enters the building. “I'd love to be able to dance like that!” She exclaims as she observes the actor. However, she is unable to hear the music. As a result, she attempts to imitate the movements. The approach! It seems to be successful, at least for the time being. The dance is clumsy, tentative, and self-conscious because she doesn't hear any songs. She doesn't seem to love dancing as much as the first dancer. She's tired before long, although the first dancer is still going higher.

What if a large part of our well-intentioned discipleship teaching simply forces people to be the second dancer? Telling them to do all the right things — read their Bibles, pray, go to church, love others, spread the gospel — but doing nothing to make them “hear” the glorious music that must underpin it all: joy in Christ.

Mastering the Technique

What would it be like if disciplining someone was more of a case of "turning up the music" instead of "teaching technique"? What if it wasn't so much about mastery as it was about being mastered? What if our primary goal was to captivate and enthrall potential disciples with the music of God's unfathomable love for us in Christ?

Of course, none of this is intended to suggest that the Christian life is devoid of real “doing.” One scholar correctly compares the Christian life to sailing, and sailing requires a lot of preparation. You burst out in a cold sweat. You must maintain your focus. You can't just lie there doing nothing.

On a sailboat, though, there are two things you can't manage that make all the difference: the tide and also the wind.

The Music

We begin to concentrate on the movements we are expected to execute as disciples. The "quiet hours," like prayer sessions, Bible study, evangelism, and other activities. These are excellent and necessary activities for a Christian to engage in. But without gospel music to propel them, they become hollow — all technique and artifice, like a dancer's step, but without the excitement, energy, or grace of a dancer.

Our Bigger Problem

Much has been written about the danger that an increasingly secular culture poses to Christian disciples. Without a doubt, this is right. Though it is true that a major danger exists within the church as well, as a result of the way we disciple others and ourselves. Let us do whatever we can to crank up the gospel music while we make disciples for Christ. Let's rediscover our first passion and learn to dance again.