Making disciples who make disciples is the central thing that we are called to do in terms of our mission. It is a task given to every believer and to the whole church. Discipleship is something that we have often talked about and tried to implement. However, we have failed to address the issue of multiplication based on the principle of sharing the Gospel in a transforming and transferable way (T2).
I’m not sure how I missed the importance of this over the years. I suppose we assumed that Biblical preaching, or a well-ordered church that emphasized evangelism and discipleship as part of its message would be sufficient. The reality is that preaching, alone, does not produce disciples, and even a small group ministry, whether it is home cell groups or Sunday School classes, misses the individual’s personal responsible ministry of making disciples as a way of life.
Our focus on spiritual transformation and the spiritual maturity of the believer, while absolutely essential, has resulted in an unbalanced approach that has unwittingly been fueled by the self-centeredness that is at the core of our human nature. Our standard for healthy growth has been focused on how much we have grown spiritually, and if we are leaders in the church, on whether or not the people we are ministering to are maturing spiritually. But we have missed the key element of making the truths that we teach fundamentally transferable in nature.
By transferable I mean we are learning and maturing for the sake of others. I must find others with whom I can teach and share the life and truth of Christ that I am enjoying. The whole key to a growing organism is the multiplication of life. Of course that multiplication needs to be healthy, but if otherwise healthy cells are not multiplying we have a sterile situation.
We have been engaged too long in a kind of mule Christianity. The mule looks a lot like a horse and has many features that are similar to the horse. It can even do many of the same things a horse does, but it is not a horse. And one of the key differences is that the mule is sterile and does not reproduce.
Don’t be a mule Christian. Make sure that you are allowing the Gospel to transform your life in such a way that it leads to transference of that Gospel message and life to others (T2).
