Dynamic disciple making is as demanding in 21st-century America as it was in first-century Israel. Jesus said his disciples must be cross-carriers who give up everything to follow him (Luke 14:27, 33). But I have to admit I sometimes hesitate to call people to demanding, authentic Christian discipleship because I am afraid to seem like a stereotypical religious fanatic.

Greg Ogden, in his book Transforming Discipleship (InterVarsity Press, 2003), identifies “leaders unwilling to call people to discipleship” as one of the eight root causes of the discipleship malaise, the gap between the dynamic discipleship of Jesus and the watered down version for which I sometimes settle. I need to ask myself and encourage others to ask me questions that will prevent these root causes from creeping into my ministry. Let’s look at three churches of various sizes, locations, and congregational ages to see how they are asking challenging questions: of the individuals transforming from spiritual infants into disciples, of the disciple-makers who nurture those being transformed, and of the ministries which must be accountable for making disciples.

Looking Forward at Liberty

Christ’s Church at Liberty (Liberty Township, Ohio) is only two years old, a daughter plant of Christ’s Church at Mason (Mason, Ohio), but new senior minister Mike Clark is excitedly looking forward to what the Spirit will do through the 140 people at Liberty. Mike brings to his new role his experience as minister for discipleship at Buckeye Christian Church (Grove City, Ohio) and his reading partnership with The Lookout editor Shawn McMullen. As Mike and Shawn discussed books like Donald Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (NavPress, 1997) and Richard Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor (Kessinger Publishing, 2006), they realized that “if no one ever sits across the table from you and asks ‘How are you doing in your walk with the Lord?’ most Christians will rarely think about it.” At Buckeye, Mike wrote “Twenty-five Questions to Ask a Disciple,” which he used to challenge people to reflect on their spiritual growth.

At Liberty, Mike began sharing his passion for adult discipleship with his first sermon series, “Getting Fit For Life,” on spiritual disciplines like Bible study and serving. Using his preaching to energize the congregation, he will focus on three areas of church life in which they can set goals, culminating in a leadership retreat for vision seeking. He is pouring himself into Liberty’s shepherding team. While he acknowledges the benefit of small groups, Mike looks forward to Liberty striving for more intentional discipleship and question-asking accountability than the kind for which many small group leaders settle.

Climbing Together at Pikes Peak

Pikes Peak Christian Church (Colorado Springs, Colorado) is both five and 50 years old, having seen growth from 600 to 1,400 since relocating from the Christian Church of Security five years ago. Jim Herzberg, LifeGroups minister at Pikes Peak, highlights the adaptation of North Point Community Church’s connection strategy for Pikes Peak’s discipleship program. “The living room represents the large group experience that draws us toward intimacy with God, the kitchen represents people sharing life together in what we call LifeGroups, and the work room represents ministry teams working at our campus, in the community, and around the world.” Answering the question, “Who are the people in our community?” Pikes Peak is reaching out to families with children at home. Jim encourages husbands and wives to be in LifeGroups together, even if it means stepping back from a men’s or women’s group. Pikes Peak’s family-oriented LifeGroups tackle issues like childcare by asking leaders and groups to work together so that families don’t have to pay a babysitter every week. Because Colorado Springs is home to many military families dealing with the crises of wartime separation, LifeGroups integrate them into a close-knit spiritual community to help them cope.

Jim focuses his ministry on the 14 LifeGroup team leaders, who in turn are caring for typically three LifeGroup leaders. Pikes Peak has begun using a tool called “LifeGroup Wins,.” which includes questions Jim asks team leaders of themselves and the LifeGroup leaders for whom they care, and that leaders ask of themselves and of the people in their groups. The questions such as, “How are you developing relationships with your LifeGroup outside of group time?” are not a righteousness quiz, but a discipleship tool to stimulate growth by accountability. Jim tells the story of a Pikes Peak family in which the wife started coming, brought her mom, then mother-in-law, and eventually more than 10 adults from her extended family from different generations and spiritual backgrounds—and all are growing in community life and in service.

Walking Upward at Mountain

At 182 years old, Mountain Christian Church (Joppa, Maryland) is the senior citizen among this article’s congregations, but the church’s mission statement, “Make Disciples—More and Better Disciples,” drives Mountain to keep growing to 3,000 in Sunday participation. From the beginning the church communicates the expectation that every member will be a disciple-making disciple. The three-hour “Welcome to Mountain” class, offered monthly on a Sunday afternoon, is the first step for someone becoming part of Mountain. The class, led by senior minister Ben Cachiaras, always includes a question and answer time on the nature of discipleship. Ben focuses on the definition of a disciple as apprentice, asking the 40 to 60 participants if any of them has been an apprentice at work, leading them to the conclusion that “the apprentice learns under a master with the goal of becoming a master so that he or she can in turn take on an apprentice—that’s a reproducing disciple!”

The “Welcome to Mountain” class has been the congregation’s first step in disciple-making for nine years. Recently Mountain introduced The Walk, an eight-week small or midsize group curriculum consisting of a group study guide, daily devotionals, and teaching DVD, crafted by spiritual formation minister Ethan Magness and others on Mountain’s staff.

Any church, no matter the size, engaged in dynamic disciple making in 21st-century America confronts the challenge of both unchurched and churched people who are strangers to the Bible and its balance of Jesus’ demanding call to discipleship and the Father’s loving gift of grace. Ethan identifies this dilemma: “In the churched culture, disciple making was adding passion to their [Bible] knowledge. In the unchurched culture, we are adding knowledge and trying to properly direct their passion.” He observes, “As we continue a small group model for disciple making that emphasizes relationship, we must ask questions about the content being taught.” This desire for Bible-rich teaching, balanced with the disciple-making community found in group life and accountability, led to the creation of The Walk. Like “Welcome to Mountain,” every member of the church will be expected to experience The Walk.

Getting Started

Women’s discipleship is a dynamic part of disciple making at Mountain. Women’s small groups director Susan Owens highlights the rich depth of the studies: year one is Navigators’ 2:7 Series, year two is Jan Johnson’s Spiritual Disciplines series. Enhancing the solid curriculum is the requirement for all discipleship group leaders to experience the material as students prior to teaching. This addresses one of the other root causes Greg Ogden identifies in Transforming Discipleship, “that most Christian have never been personally discipled.” Susan summarizes the story of a woman who demonstrates the cycle of reproducing disciples: “Through [Mountain Christian] school, I met a single mom dealing with some tough life issues like substance abuse. I wanted her in my discipleship group, but because she works at night, I placed her with one of our wonderfully mature Christian ladies who led her through discipleship and has continued to disciple her. Now she is leading a first year women’s discipleship group.”

“Are We There Yet?” is the title of the last session of Mountain’s The Walk. Participants prepare by taking the Growth Assessment Profile (GAP). Each person answers the extensive series of questions privately, but small group members share with each other what the assessment reveals about spiritual areas in which they are growing or lagging. As with Christ’s Church at Liberty, Pikes Peak Christian, and countless other dynamic disciple-making congregations, life transformation demands that disciples hold one other graciously and lovingly accountable. Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8). When it comes to making disciples like Jesus did, the answer to “Are we there yet?” is “We’re just getting started!” |L

Alex Lozada is Minister of Adult Small Groups at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland.