Getting the Most from Discipleship Essentials

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE CHURCH of Jesus Christ if a majority of those who claim to follow Christ were nurtured to maturity through intimate, accountable relationships centered on the essentials of God's word? Self-initiating, Christlike disciples would be the result.

Discipleship Essentials is specifically designed to implement small, reproducible discipleship units. The vision that stands behind this tool is an ever-expanding, multi-generational discipling network. This tool brings together three elements which allow the Holy Spirit to bring about accelerated growth in a believer. The first element is the unchanging truth of God's Word.

We have moved into a post-Christian era in the Western world. Previously, when Christendom reigned, it was generally assumed that there was such a thing as a revealed truth or at least scientific, objective truth that was true for all. But now in these post-Christian times relativism prevails, especially in the realm of morals and lifestyles. Live and let live is the byword that reflects today's highest value--tolerance. It is assumed that all lifestyles and moral convictions are of equal value, because all truth is personal. In the midst of this morass of relativism, each of these twenty-four chapters is built around a core truth that is true for all, because the source of this truth is a God who is the same for all.

For many, the Christian life seems like a mishmash of disconnected tiles. Having taken truth from sermons, private study, wisdom of fellow believers, insightful books and so on, they find it difficult to discern the relationship between the tiles. One person who participated in a discipleship group using this material described her discovery process as being like seeing a mosaic forming before her eyes. The lessons are carefully laid out in a sequential fashion so that a picture of the Christian life emerges in totality.

Yet for the truth of God's Word to be released in its transforming power, it must be pursued in the context of trusting, intimate and lasting relationships. The second element in the Holy Spirit's laboratory is transparent relationships.

The individual has replaced the family or community as the basic unit of our society. Serial and discarded relationships mark our era. The prevailing philosophy is personal fulfillment based upon what feels good or right for me now. Many have not even witnessed the health of long-term, loving commitment. At the core of every human being is a need for deep and satisfying relationships because we are created in the image of God. A small discipleship group is a place to learn how to be intimate and self-revealing in a safe place over time. God made us for relationship, first with himself and as a consequence with each other. What we will ultimately have when all is said and done is the people we love.

Transformation occurs when we grapple with the truth of God's Word in the context of transparent relationships. It is a biblical axiom that the Holy Spirit will have free sway in our lives to the extent to which we open ourselves up to one another. Honesty with God is not enough. We give God permission to reshape our lives when we risk self-revelation and confession to others. We can't grow in Christ alone. We are people made for community.

There is a third element that allows for transformationmutual accountability. Accountability is taking the relational context of discipleship to another level. Accountability means giving your discipling partners authority to call you to keep the commitments you have made to one another. You will convene your discipling relationship around a mutual covenant (see p. 14). A covenant is a shared agreement whereby you clearly state your mutual expectations. In so doing you are giving each other permission to hold you to your agreement.

In summary, when the truth of God's Word is at the heart of self-revealing, intimate relationships rooted in mutual accountability, you have the ingredients for Spirit-motivated transformation. This tool provides the structure for these three elements to come together. Add to this discipling unit a vision for equipping followers of Jesus to pass on the faith from one generation to the next, and you have the components to renew a ministry from the bottom up.