Discipleship at 3abc
By Keith Goad September 22, 2008
All Christians are called to be watchful for other church members and to be watched over by other church members. We call this disicpleship. What that actually looks like from relationship to relationship can be quite different. Some folk want to talk about their lives with others, some want to discuss the latest theological trends, and lets face it, some people want to talk about other people (not discipleship). An issue we have at our little church is that there are not that many seasoned folk. Most of us are close in age (the difference is typically no more than 10 years) and are in the same stage of life. Ideally, the talking about your life scenario would have someone who is beyond a certain point of life who can reflect upon it and give advice to the young buck right in the middle of it. Likewise, the young buck would encourage the older with zeal and enthusiasm. It would be a win-win-win.
I think what our church needs is to be willing to wrestle through stages of life with one another so that failing with one another is acceptable and forgiving one another is a routine part of our life. The point being that often times we need the accountability of others to fulfill the commands of Christ and there is no better way than to do them together. I can look back and see how many different Christians modeled either love, boldness, zeal, or something else that I lacked and gave me the courage and strength to obey Christ because I saw them do it. Our long lost brother Aaron Menikoff (see Atlanta’s Who’s Who) was a great model for me over the past few years. I thought about him in a particular situation Ifound myself in recently. We had a single person visiting our church and he/she wanted to join but was concerned about how few singles their were in our church. I asked myself, what would Aaron do in this situation. I actually sat this person down and explained to him/her that we needed the singles to be brave enough to join so others would have someone to join with. I would have never done that 2 years ago, and many are saying I shouldn’t have done it then.
Aaron and I never met in any official capacity and had no organized structure for our discipleship. It was, however, the a very influential relationship for me because we simply lived life together and I got to watch him do things I lacked the courage to do. So what am I saying? Aaron, you complete me.
Our lives are busy and the idea of sitting down to coffee weekly with a Joe or June in light of all our other commitments seems too difficult. Therefore, I propose we think about discipleship as more informal which will require being more transparent and actively doing something for the kingdom together. This would be inviting others to be in your home with you while you go through your routine, inviting to go run errands with you, and most of all, asking others to come with you when you are going to go share the gospel or care for another brother or sister. The latter is where I want to give a strong challenge to our members. Fulfill the great commission together. I believe this will prove to be the most blessed discipleship relationship you could have.