Thoughts on Making Disciples 1

In about four months, I'll no longer be the main voice in these weekly emails. I thought with some of these last ones, I'd like to contribute some thoughts on disciple making. My experience with it -- the things that keep me going, specific things that have helped. A series of emails is not quite training, but I hope it helps.

Disciple making is not done much these days. I think that's safe to say. That's not to say disciples aren't made. But if we're honest, we'd have to admit that, today, they are more happy accidents than fruits of focused, intentional labors.

Why?

One of the more obvious answers to me is that although most of us have a nagging suspicion that it is something we have been told to do, we don't much want to do it.

When our youngest, Allie, doesn't want to do what I say, she pretends she doesn't hear. She hopes, of course, to plead ignorance. This unsophisticated maneuver is what we Christians do with commands we don't like.

I've read that we Christians give about 2.5% of our income. Most of us know about the 10%, but we don't much like that number. So we try not to think about it. If we ignore it long enough, we can almost pretend we never heard it. I think we do something similar with God's command to go make disciples.

So, here's lesson number one: You have to decide. Set the command to Go make disciples before you, and decide. Make a commitment.