Discipleship for Effective Christians
When I was a newlywed, my husband and I lived between two large cities in an area that still retained its near-rural characteristics. Our little enclave of small cabins was surrounded by a busy two-lane highway on the west, a quiet apartment complex on the south and fields on the east and north.
After we had lived there a few months, the quiet field on the north became a hive of activity as earth movers, backhoes, and other construction equipment moved in and began the preliminary activities that foretold the coming of some new building or complex. Within six months, a new church surrounded by a paved parking lot stood where a field of Queen Anne's Lace and wild grasses had been.
The sign by the busy highway announced it to be, "Our Savior Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod", and informed the passerby who was fast enough to read it that "Rev. Aiden Kildeen" was the pastor there. Although we lived there for another six months, we never met the good Pastor. Nor were we ever invited to visit the church even though our neighbors who visited told us they felt very welcome there and the parking lot soon began to fill up every Sunday with cars from the surrounding area.
Did we feel as if we weren't wanted because the Pastor never "came calling" to invite us to the church? Of course not! This was "the way it was done" in America at the time. A church would be built in a neighborhood that didn't have a local church and the people of the area would begin to attend. The Pastor didn't have to visit the neighbors, introduce himself, or send out "invitations" to gain a congregation. It was assumed that the people wanted the church and would attend the church without all the "Pastoral Outreach" required nowadays.
What's the difference? Why must a Pastor work so hard to gain a congregation now when it was never that way before?
The difference is simple. In the 1960s most people had been raised in the church. The schools still had "Christmas Break" and "Easter Break". Children pledged allegiance and a Scripture was read and a prayer was prayed at the beginning of every school day in most schools. God (or at least the "concept" of God) was active in the lives of most Americans to one degree or another and most Americans acknowledged their need of God. Then prayer and Bible reading and (in many cases even the Pledge of Allegiance) were removed from the schools and more and more, God was removed from everyday life.
Now, fifty years later, people no longer have an inward knowledge of their need of a Savior. They know there is "something" missing in their lives but they cast about, trying different things to find out what satisfies that inner itch, what fills the "God-shaped vacuum" Blaise Pascal described within every human being.
After we had lived there a few months, the quiet field on the north became a hive of activity as earth movers, backhoes, and other construction equipment moved in and began the preliminary activities that foretold the coming of some new building or complex. Within six months, a new church surrounded by a paved parking lot stood where a field of Queen Anne's Lace and wild grasses had been.
The sign by the busy highway announced it to be, "Our Savior Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod", and informed the passerby who was fast enough to read it that "Rev. Aiden Kildeen" was the pastor there. Although we lived there for another six months, we never met the good Pastor. Nor were we ever invited to visit the church even though our neighbors who visited told us they felt very welcome there and the parking lot soon began to fill up every Sunday with cars from the surrounding area.
Did we feel as if we weren't wanted because the Pastor never "came calling" to invite us to the church? Of course not! This was "the way it was done" in America at the time. A church would be built in a neighborhood that didn't have a local church and the people of the area would begin to attend. The Pastor didn't have to visit the neighbors, introduce himself, or send out "invitations" to gain a congregation. It was assumed that the people wanted the church and would attend the church without all the "Pastoral Outreach" required nowadays.
What's the difference? Why must a Pastor work so hard to gain a congregation now when it was never that way before?
The difference is simple. In the 1960s most people had been raised in the church. The schools still had "Christmas Break" and "Easter Break". Children pledged allegiance and a Scripture was read and a prayer was prayed at the beginning of every school day in most schools. God (or at least the "concept" of God) was active in the lives of most Americans to one degree or another and most Americans acknowledged their need of God. Then prayer and Bible reading and (in many cases even the Pledge of Allegiance) were removed from the schools and more and more, God was removed from everyday life.
Now, fifty years later, people no longer have an inward knowledge of their need of a Savior. They know there is "something" missing in their lives but they cast about, trying different things to find out what satisfies that inner itch, what fills the "God-shaped vacuum" Blaise Pascal described within every human being.
And this is where Discipleship comes in. First, people need to learn about that "God-shaped vacuum". That the emptiness they feel within can be filled only by God and that nothing else can ever satisfy that hunger they feel for the "something" they can never define on their own. Discipleship isn't just about teaching Christians how to be faithful Christians, Missional Christians, or even just informed Christians ... it is first and foremost about teaching NON-Christians why they feel as if, in the words of The Preacher, "All is vanity". Most of this section of this site is devoted to helping YOU help Christians become all those things I mentioned above ... but Missional Discipleship means bringing the answers so many of the unchurched don't even know they have! Check out the section on Missional Discipleship to find out more about reaching out to those who wonder why they are so empty.