More Good Discipling Ideas from Barna's Research

Last week I wrote about two of the most important discipling ideas in George Barna’s Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2001). The first was to develop a long-term strategy with observable and measurable goals, and the second was to start with children and youth. Today let’s move ahead to:

Develop a mentoring or coaching plan 

The jury is now longer out on this: discipling happens best in one-on-one relationships. For way too long, we have relied on preaching and teaching to disciple people. Note: there is nothing wrong with preaching and teaching – in fact, both of them are necessary! – but all by themselves they are not effective means of discipling. Sound doctrine is imparted in both preaching and teaching, but discipling happens in interpersonal relationships.

So Barna recommends a mentoring or coaching plan. And the absolute best mentoring or coaching plan that I have ever seen goes under the name “T4T” (see my August 8, 2014 post). T4T means Training for Trainers. Its philosophy is that we train others who train others who train others; kind of a 21^st Century spin on discipling others who disciple others who disciple others. I cannot give too high a recommendation to T4T. Check it out! J

And here is another option, With Me: Relational Essentials for a Discipleship Ethos, by Lance Ford. It is available free at https://my.exponential.org/ebooks/withme/. 

Get this book and read it. J

The congregation must emphasize personal spiritual growth.

Most of the churches that I have been in emphasize things like attending worship, coming to events, participating in small groups, giving time and money, and many other good things. But they do not emphasize personal spiritual growth. So this is the next important insight from Barna’s research: emphasize personal spiritual growth.

Now watch how this all fits together: By having a long-term strategy with observable and measurable goals that starts with children and youth, and includes a mentoring or coaching plan, every member of the church develops a personal plan of spiritual growth. Note that nobody does this on their own, as an isolated individual; each one does this under the guidance of a coach or mentor. Each one has a personal growth plan.

To support and fulfill these plans, the congregation provides tools for personal spiritual growth (that’s where materials like T4T and With Me come in!). And there is an accountability system, sort of like John Wesley’s Class Meetings (see http://www.warnerpress.org/Product/9781928915706/A_Model_for_Making_Disciples.aspx). Every week, members of the class would answer the question, “How is it with your soul?” Honesty was expected. Accountability was on the line. And discipling happened.

Don’t buy curriculum from “successful” churches

This is the final idea from Barna that I wish to share. One of the key mistakes made by pastors and lay leaders is to look for “what’s working” and to purchase curriculum from so-called successful churches. Thirty years ago, when I was a pastor, this is what I did. And it didn’t help. It still doesn’t help, so don’t do it (!). 

You can certainly use good ideas that you find in other places, but you are only going to be disappointed if you buy the latest and greatest curriculum that worked somewhere else and expect it to do miracles in your church. Forget about buying curriculum, programs, materials, etc.

A home-grown approach to discipling is best – as long as it’s a biblical approach! Develop a long-term strategy with observable and measurable goals that starts with children and youth, includes a mentoring or coaching plan, with every member of the church developing a personal plan of spiritual growth, and the congregation providing tools and accountability.

Make it so.

Read Books and Think

My good friend and colleague Merle Strege is fond of saying that a professor’s job is to read books and think. I agree with him, as far as he goes. But I think that a professor also has to do some other things, like teach, speak, and write. J

But let’s go with “read books and think” for today. One of the most influential books that I have read on discipling is George Barna’s Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2001). Written toward the end of his leadership of The Barna Group, this book presents insights gained by years of research into discipling in American churches.

On the back cover, Barna wrote, “My study of discipleship in America has been eye-opening. Almost every church in our country has some type of discipleship program or set of activities, but stunningly few churches have a church of disciples.” Wow. That statement stopped me dead in my tracks. Lord, have mercy on us for disobeying the Great Commission.

So in this essay, I will share two of the most important insights from Growing True Disciples. I hope you’ll buy the book and read it for yourself. It’s much better than anything I could write!

For a church that is ready to get serious about discipling, the first thing is to develop a long-term strategy. Do not rush out and buy “the latest and greatest” program or ministry kit that promises to be the answer to your discipling needs! You’ll be wasting your time and money, and the only thing you’ll accomplish is enriching the clever entrepreneur who marketed that program to you.

Develop a long-term strategy.

This means that, among other things, you will set observable and measurable goals. In doing so, you will want to include some of the things that I wrote about on July 18, 25, and August 1. Figure out, in your ministry setting, what a disciple should know, feel, and do. And set some appropriate goals. Make sure those goals are things you can see and count. For example:

1.      A disciple will give evidence that they understand the content of the Bible.

2.      A disciple will disciple others.

3.      A disciple will worship God regularly.

4.      A disciple will give generously to the work of God.

5.      A disciple will ____________.

See? Observable and measurable goals.

The second piece of your long-term strategy should be to start with children and youth. Why? Because all of the research indicates that if we don’t reach people while they are young, most likely we never will. So start young. Begin teaching Kindergarteners who Jesus is, what the Bible is, how to tell others about Jesus, how to worship, how to give, and so on and on.

Start young. As a child grows up, she should be loving God and loving people. And discipling others. She won’t really be a disciple until she disciples someone else. Nurture and encourage your young people to disciple others who disciple others who disciple others. That is God’s plan, and He has no “Plan B.” That is how I came to faith in Christ. That is how you came to faith in Christ. That is how every Christ follower ever came to faith – someone discipled someone who discipled someone who discipled someone who discipled you!

And oh – By the way, this is exactly what Paul told Timothy to do: “What you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well” (2 Tim 2:2). Notice that there are five generations of believers there:

1.      Paul, who discipled

2.      Many witnesses, who discipled

3.      Timothy, who is instructed to disciple

4.      Faithful people, who will be able to disciple

5.      Others

Well, that’s enough for today. Let’s pick up here next week. Peace be with you.

Love God. Love People. Reject Religion.

Last time, I mentioned the Freedom From Religion Foundation, whose tagline is “Protecting the constitutional principle of the separation of state and church.” I value the separation of state and church – even though it is not a constitutional principle; the Constitution only says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” it never says that state and church must be separated.

The idea of “separation” comes from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."

And herein lies my intellectual quarrel with the FFRF: it seems to be quite religious in opposing religion. It declares freedom from religion, but its words and actions seem very religious. Consider the following evidence:

1.      FFRF’s tagline sounds like a creed. But it’s not based on historical reality; it’s a canon of faith, declaring “separation of state and church” constitutional even though it is not. The tagline is more emotional/religious than intellectual/cognitive.

2.      FFRF’s website states, “The history of Western civilization shows us that most social and moral progress has been brought about by persons free from religion. In modern times the first to speak out for prison reform, for humane treatment of the mentally ill, for abolition of capital punishment, for women’s right to vote, for death with dignity for the terminally ill, and for the right to choose contraception, sterilization and abortion have been freethinkers, just as they were the first to call for an end to slavery.” That paragraph is so full of historical errors that I hardly know where to start. History records that most of the “social and moral progress” cited was introduced by the people of God – disciples of Jesus (which is what this blog is all about). I’m content to allow FFRF to take credit for the “right to right to choose contraception, sterilization and abortion,” because Christ values life in all its forms, as do Christ followers. What I want you to see in this quotation is FFRF’s emotional, fanatical, religious devotion to a canon of faith.

Well, that’s enough of that. No use wasting an entire blog entry “bashing” somebody. I only want to point out the irrational nature of a group that claims to be completely rational. They religiously reject religion.

And I reject religion, too! See my last post for a brief explanation. For an example of the kind of danger produced by religion, watch this short video of Katie, who describes herself as “an out of the closet atheist.” Part of her testimony is heartbreaking; she says, “When I was in grade school I had to go [to church] five days a week and once on the weekends.” And I say, “NO WONDER she turned her back on Christ!” As a young child, she was not introduced to Jesus, she was introduced to religion – and it had a deleterious effect on her. This is only one example of why I reject religion.

And I can’t think of any better stance to take than that taken by Jefferson Bethke in his popular YouTube video, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” He says it all. Amen, brother!

Love Jesus. Love people. Reject religion.

Freedom From Religion

Bruce McGarvey is a friend from my high school days. We keep in touch via social media and have met up a couple of times in recent years just for fun. He introduced me to the greatest Western ever made – Lonesome Dove – and we’ve explored some of its qualities and characteristics.

Bruce is an atheist. He used to work for Madalyn Murray O’Hair. And at one time he was a member of the board of directors of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which was incorporated in 1978 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization. It has around 20,000 members and an annual budget of about a million dollars.

What might surprise you is that I, too, prize freedom from religion! When I was a student at Anderson College (1968-75), we had an annual “Religious Emphasis Week.” And by the time I returned as a faculty member, somebody had seen the problem with that and it had been changed to its current name, “Spiritual Emphasis Week.” A much better designation, in my humble opinion.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines religion:

·         “the belief in a god or in a group of gods

·         “an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods

·         “an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group”

What the dictionary leaves out is that religion is a human construct – a manmade thing. God doesn’t create religion – people do! People choose to believe in a god. People organize systems of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules. People develop interests, beliefs, and activities. And in an interesting sort of way, I believe that Jesus himself proclaimed “freedom from religion.”

If you remember, the historical setting in which Jesus appeared was heavily religious. His own people, the Jews, were highly religious, with elaborate systems of belief, ceremonies, and rules. The Jews were subject to Imperial Rome, which had itself become a religious system, proclaiming that Caesar was a god and requiring Roman subjects to burn a pinch of incense once a year and utter, “Caesar is Lord.”

And it seems to me that Jesus was teaching and preaching against religion. Not against God or spirituality, but against religion. Listen to his words (Matthew 23:1-33 NRSV):

"Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 'The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi . . .

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves . . .

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.'”

I for one am deeply thankful to be free from that kind of religion! And, as a matter of fact, I’m glad to be free from all kinds of religion! For religion is a manmade thing. And history teaches us that all religion, however well intentioned, eventually becomes corrupt. Just look at history – most wars have been waged in the name of religion. Google “religious wars” if you’re not aware of this sad fact.

And so I call 21^st century disciplers to declare their freedom from religion and to swear loyalty only to Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. The Church of God-ers reading this will recognize the teachings of Daniel S. Warner when he declared his freedom from manmade religion and swore full allegiance only to God (sadly, I think the Church of God has followed the course of all other well-intentioned movements and has become little more than another religion, another denomination – but that’s a different topic!).

Hold onto these thoughts, because next week I’m going to continue exploring this important issue.