When we talk about God’s call on His Church we are speaking of believers since God’s Church is the sum total of every one of His followers. God’s first word to man was: “Be fruitful and fill the earth” (Gen 1:28). After the flood, God’s first command to Noah was: “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 9:7). Among the last words, Christ spoke to His followers was: “Go and make disciples” (Matt 28:19). God’s call on His Church is to be fruitful and multiply or otherwise stated the Church is called to make disciples and go.
Disciple making is the core purpose of the Church. Just like the multiplication of a biological family provides a new context for the addition of individuals, each multiplication of a church provides a new context for addition via disciple making at the local level. This is God’s call on each and every one of us.
We can understand God’s call in two tiers that we need to keep in alignment. We have our primary call or common calling. We are to be disciples, who make disciples, wherever we are (see: Matt 28:18-20). Then, we have our secondary calling. Paul writes, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10). A believer must keep his or her unique secondary calling aligned to his or her primary calling to make disciples who make disciples. (2 Tim 2:2) This is true whether we are pastors, teachers, students, clerks, moms, and dads…you get the picture. Every believer in a church has the capacity and call to participate in the multiplication movement of God.
Jesus modeled this call by first, investing time alone with the Father. Then He poured into a few of His closest followers in transparent relationship. Jesus developed the twelve apostles in the context of personal relationship. He also invested in seventy followers in a social relationship. Lastly, he ministered to the crowds in public relationship. We discover that Jesus invested in His own relationship with the Father and had a multifaceted discipleship strategy that moved from greater intimacy and more profound impact to a broader capacity of each. Unfortunately, the problem is that many churches and believers are trying to grow in Christ using Christ’s model inverted expecting weekend worship experiences to do the lion’s share of disciple making. Although the public worship serve is an important spiritual practice, it is not the most effective form of discipleship, and this does not even take into account that approximately 60% of those who consider themselves regular attenders in American churches attend only once or twice a month. Of those who consider themselves regular attenders, only 16% participate in a small group, and less than 20% spend time alone with God on a regular basis. No wonder the church in America is suffering from spiritual anemia and impotence.
I believe a healthy discipleship pathway will encourage believers to spend time alone with God (TAWG) daily. Such a path will also encourage one-on-one discipleship as well as small groups participation. Then, there is serving inside and outside the church and participation in a weekly weekend worship experience. This may seem like a heavy investment, but of the 168 hours each of us get a week we are only talking about five to six hours a week or about three to four percent of a believers week to grow as a disciple an help others do the same. Our going occurs as we ordinary people live sent lives as everyday missionaries used by God in extraordinary ways on the everyday mission fields of our home, neighborhood, workplace, school, and community.
How does this discipleship pathway practically look? Well, Every believer ought to have a person pouring into his or her life. Also, every believer ought to have someone they are pouring into. Then, every believer ought to have someone they are sharing the love and message of Christ with the hope they will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. This leads us to two crucial questions. First, as a disciple multiplier, what is your next step on your discipleship journey? Second, as a disciple multiplier who is your one (who is pouring into you…who are you pouring into…who are you reaching out to with the love and message of Christ)? These three crucial relationships will change your life and bear the transformational power of God on our society.
It is a privilege doing life with each of you. Let us encourage one another to make disciples and go as we continue to embark of the discipleship pathway where we truly know God and make Him known. Let us each live sent lives as everyday missionaries on our everyday mission fields. Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)!