How is a disciple ‘made?’
Book review by Peggy Hedden, The Layman, September 25, 2009
If you look at your pastor’s job description, one duty you will probably not find is “make disciples.” Yet that is the Great Commission given by our Lord Jesus for all His disciples, including and especially pastors.
Transforming Discipleship:
Making Disciples a
Few at a Time
By Greg Ogden
InterVarsity Press, 209 pages
RELATED STORY
Hear Greg Ogden speak at the New Wineskins Convocation Oct. 4-6
Greg Ogden’s work Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time not only points out why so many American evangelical churches do not produce mature disciples, he goes on to show us how to change that. Although the book is addressed particularly to pastors, the author shows us lay people how to take the initiative as well. So, read on if you want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Ogden looks at the superficiality of what passes for Christian discipleship in our country today – the large percentage of people who profess to be Christians and the minimal impact we have on the moral and spiritual climate. Ogden contrasts the Biblical marks of a disciple with the realities we see around us – passive recipients, lives with little spiritual growth, church as an optional institution, people who are ignorant of the Scriptures, people who shrink from personal witness to such a degree that we must ask – do we really believe we have something life-saving to share in the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
The evangelical dilemma
The author states the evangelical dilemma – we have an undiscipled church because its leaders have not made discipling our primary focus. He shows how pastors have been diverted from their primary calling of equipping the saints to the good-but-lesser tasks of developing and administering programs, counseling and caregiving. (As important as these other needs may be, Ogden reminds us of the appointment of deacons in Acts 6 so that the apostles could remain focused on their primary responsibility.) “Equipping the saints” includes developing leaders, teaching members how to discern the ministry to which God has called them, and managing a culture where the members care for each other and their neighbor, as well as discipling them.
So, if we see that “make disciples” is indeed the mission divinely commanded by the One who has been given all authority on heaven and earth, how should we go about it?
First, Ogden says, study the way Jesus did it, how He took 12 very ordinary followers and developed them into apostles: He selected a few “to be with Him.” (Mark 3:14) “Being with Him” entailed a relationship that grew over a period of three years from “come and see,” through “watch me,” to “help me,” then “you do and I help,” ending with the ultimate delegation of “you do and I watch.” Equipped by the life Jesus invested in them and the gift of the Holy Spirit, the apostles made disciples who “turned the world upside down.”
From Christ’s example, Ogden distills the elements for our congregations to use:
- investing substantial time in intentional relationship as peers,
- to reproduce disciples,
- who then disciple others.
From his experience over 20 years as a pastor, Ogden has found that the best group is one with three or four people who have been invited to commit to meeting weekly around the Word of God for 12 to 18 months, holding each other accountable as they grow in following Christ. Other groups – from Sunday school to small groups and one-on-one mentoring do not produce the same results. In those, people sign up, the period is fairly short, the emphasis is giving out information, one leader prepares for many recipients, the pace is regimented, and there is low personal accountability – for showing up, let alone studying and being changed.
Small groups can develop trust
Because only three people are in Ogden’s groups, the trust necessary to share real needs can develop; because each person covenants to study 2 hours a week and meet for 1½ hours with the others, understanding God’s truth is the focus. Because the members promise to be honest and vulnerable, there is an invitation and obligation to be held accountable for living like and into Christ.
These discipling triads have one added element: each member promises to seriously consider leading a group the following year. So, disciples make disciples who make disciples … At the end of five years, a significant portion of a congregation has been grounded both in the foundational truth of God and in relationships that knit the body together.
Ogden’s work answered all the questions I had, including how to begin if the congregation is in need of renewal, a new plant or one growing fast. The author’s work is Biblically sound, easy to understand and well presented. Now we have no excuse for not carrying out Matthew 28:19. Remember, that Christ with His full authority commands us: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Peggy Hedden, a ruling elder in Columbus, Ohio, is a member and former chairman of the board of directors of the Presbyterian Lay Committee.