Discipleship 5

One more post before I start my summer "blogbatical."

Discipleship is an iterative process. One that starts with an idea, belief, or truth, progresses to action, moves on to feedback, which, in turn, adjusts our thinking, will, and action, and so on. Think of it as a loop that keeps circling around. Maybe a progressing spiral might provide a better visual.

A biblical example would be Jesus sending out his disciples in pairs to preach the good news of the kingdom. They were taught. They went out and practiced. They came back and discussed it with Jesus who provided feedback. The loop was complete.

Contrast this with a bible study, a discussion group, listening to a sermon, or going through a book. These activities lack many of the other component of this loop. As a result, they are ineffective for the most part (except for those that intentionally include the other parts of the loop) and are not discipleship. They certainly can be, but most are not set up that way and practically do not do it.

The bunk bed project tried to provide more of the components of the loop. Remember I strongly encouraged the youth to "throw yourself into" the project? We were trying to do the whole loop thing. Not sure it worked like I wanted it to or it had the potential to, but it was an attempt. At least it got us past the sitting around discussing phase.

So, for my last comment on the process of discipleship. It has to be an iterative process. If you leave out any part of the loop, you have something else. Discipleship is about learning and changing in a dramatic way. You can't do this without actually doing something, and doing it in a way that provides feedback, and then going back with that feedback and doing it again.

Example: We do a study on prayer. We actually practice a specific type of prayer. We come back to report on the results of our practice. We listen to the master teacher comment on this report. We take that feedback and practice it again...and so on. Ever been involved in something like this offered through the youth program or church. I rarely have.

Same thing can happen in our relationship with God. We listen for and to Him. We practice walking with Him. We use something like prayer of examen as a feedback mechanism. And we try again.

Make any sense? See how those other things are not discipleship? Yes, they can be part of the process, but if you stop there, which most of us do, then it is something else and not discipleship.


With so many opinions about how discipleship ought to be done, why do I say I don't know how to do it or have not been very successful at it? I have not figured out a way to have that type of relationship with others in a formal way, especially in the context of activities that commonly pass for discipleship, like life groups, bible studies, church, and youth.

I would have to say, however, that I have experienced this process in my own life with God and it works for me. I have also seen it has work with others.