Does your church have a discipleship pathway? If you're wondering, "What is that?" then you might not, and you would have plenty of company. Thom Rainer of Church Answers estimates that only 5% of churches in the United States have a discipleship pathway. According to research by Rainer and Eric Geiger in their book Simple Church, churches that have a clearly defined discipleship pathway tend to be healthier and more vibrant than those without. Given that an estimated 80 to 85% of churches in the United States have plateaued or are in decline, perhaps it is time that we collectively revisit the idea of a discipleship pathway.
So, what is it?
A discipleship pathway is simply the strategy or plan a church has to take people from being young Christians and new church members to maturing Christians who are fully active and committed church members. As such, a pathway is not a program. Instead, it is the framework around which we shape our ministries and programs.
Churches are to be about making disciples of Jesus who love God and others and make more disciples of Jesus who love God and others. That is the focus of the Great Commission and Great Commandment. As disciples, we are to pursue maturity, realizing that we have not already reached our goal but pressing on in our sanctification (Philippians 3:12-14). As disciples who make disciples, we want to help others do the same.
All of us can be impacted by unhealthy habits that stifle our spiritual growth. We can become stuck, still needing milk like an infant, when we should be chewing on solid food (Hebrews 5:11-14). A lack of personal communion with God, poor fellowship with others, inconsistent worship involvement, and failure to prioritize serving others can all hinder our growth. Just like eating junk food, not drinking enough water, avoiding doctor checkups, and making minimal effort to exercise will stifle our physical health.
A discipleship pathway is not the magical B12 shot that guarantees good health, but it is an intentional strategy by a church to encourage health in its members.
When you look at the ministry of Jesus, you see a pathway in what he did. In Mark 1:14-15, Jesus went around preaching the Gospel to the masses. Then, in Mark 1:16-20 and 2:13-17, he called a few to follow him. As the disciples grew in number, in Mark 3:7-19, he selected twelve to spend the most time with and train more deeply. Jesus spent time with the twelve, showing them how to do ministry as he taught them various truths. Then, when he was ready, he sent them out to do ministry on their own in Mark 6:7-13. This pattern would continue until finally, after Jesus's resurrection and before ascending into heaven, he commissioned the twelve to continue to take the Gospel into the world in Mark 16:15.
Jesus's pathway was to preach, call, train, and send. At the same time, the twelve followed, learned, served, and obeyed. When Jesus told them in Matthew 28:18-20 to make disciples and teach these disciples to obey all he commanded, he commissioned them to a replicating strategy that followed his ways.
I use the following pathway: Commune, gather, connect, serve, and disciple. Church members are encouraged to commune with God as individuals (personal devotions centered on scripture and prayer), gather with other followers of Jesus for worship, connect in a small group (fellowship, prayer, and learning), serve needs, and disciple others (evangelizing the lost and helping young believers mature). On the church side of this, gather > connect > serve > disciple, each phase is a step of deeper commitment and greater maturity. One hundred people might gather for worship, while eighty are in a small group. Fifty might partake in ministry teams to serve others, and thirty might be active disciple-makers who help others to commune, gather, connect, serve, and disciple. The goal of the pathway is to eventually lead the members all the way through from communing and gathering to discipling, so that a fully committed church member is a person who loves Jesus and involved in each step.
The idea of a discipleship pathway has been around for a while. Thirty years ago, Rick Warren wrote about it in The Purpose Driven Church (think of his life development process illustrated by a baseball diamond—knowing Christ (committed to membership), growing in Christ (committed to maturity), serving Christ (committed to ministry), and sharing Christ (committed to missions)). Rainer and Geiger also wrote about it in Simple Church, initially published in 2006. Simple Church took a slightly different focus by tying the pathway directly to a church's purpose statement and aligned ministry structure.
Yet, as stated above, few churches actively deploy a discipleship pathway for a guided approach to spiritual growth. It is time to rethink that. Too often, we offer activities and programs in a scattershot way, with no real connection between programs and each step of growth. We hope that our members catch on to something and grow. Developing, talking about, and organizing around a pathway provides a structure to produce healthy spiritual habits and encourage growth.
Photo by Jens Johnsson: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-wooden-arrow-signed-66100/
Mike Bergman has served as a pastor for 20+ years and owns and consults for Ozark Hills Consulting, a church consultation firm.
No comments:
Post a Comment