Wow, ok, a blog. Now I must be really hip and cool, right? Not really. I just have several friends in different aspects of ministry who have chosen to create their own blogs as another avenue of the answered prayer of 2 Thesselonians 3:1, which inspired the URL for this blog, which says, "Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you;" (2Th 3:1 NASB). It seemed to me that I have something to share from the lessons we have learned from two years on the field that might be of some interest and benefit to believers elsewhere.
What is the purpose of the Making Disciples blog? Well it occurred to me that many of the lessons we are working so hard to instill in believers at the ends of the earth are lessons that I am not sure many believers back home, or even many who serve in ministry, quite grasp. I know before we came ot the field and started living out the book of Acts in real life, that I certainly didn't understand them. There is a great, theorhetical barrier which exists between our lives and the Scriptures in practical, day-to-day living. It remains so strong a force in our lives because we find it a warm and comfortable wall of protection and don't actually see it as a barrier at all. That warm and comfortable feeling is exactly what Satan wants us to have in our lives when it comes to obeying God's commands. If we are warm and comfortable in our little nest, why venture out in obedience to the Great Commission?
The Great Commission. That sounds pretty scary to most Christians, and in many minds it is a high calling reserved for those in ministry or those holier-than-thou individuals who actually are crazy enough to sell everything and move overseas and share the gospel to the ends of the earth. I had to say the first and greatest eye-opening revelation on this journey of ours was to get to the training center and meet hundreds of others who were called to the ends of the earth. I felt going in that we would be the least qualified, most unfit people there and my whole family and I expected to walk into a room full of people whose halos were already glowing from their diving calling. Man was our bubble ever burst. Those going to the field, and serving there, are the same flawed, imperfect, not-always-the-Christians-they-should-be people that fill pews in churches everywhere. We are no different than the folks back home save the fact we have chosen to hear and obey the clear call to make disciples.
Truth is that there is no different between those who are going and those who are staying home other than a willing and obedient heart. I like the quote from William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, which starts, "'Not called!', did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say". If we truly believe the Bible is the Word of God to us, we need only open our Bibles to Matthew 28:18-20, or Acts 1:8 to know we are called. Many, however, are waiting for the heavens to open up and a booming audible voice accomanied by choirs of singing angels to call out their name and tell them specifically that God wants them personally to make disciples. It doesn't happen that way.
It is the expectation of our Lord that every believer be actively involved in making disciples. The problem is, most of our churches don't do a very good job of teaching people HOW to "make disciples". The focus, even in solid, biblical, mainstream churches like our home church back in the States, is on how to BE disciples, not how to MAKE disciples. The pastors and ministers can't be blamed, though, because all they were ever taught in church was likely the same thing, how to BE disciples. Even our Seminaries fall woefully short here (I'll save that for another blog post).
The point is, even those believers at home who have an obedient heart, who are humble and willing to obey, they don't know how. Beyond just not knowing, they don't know who can even show them or teach them how. I hope, in the coming months, to use this blog as a tool of instruction and help to those who know they are commanded by Christ to make disciples, but who haven't the beginnings of an idea how to go about that. I will try to keep a committment to do at least one blog per week in this forum and will start with the next blog post which will be about the difference between "making disciples" and "making converts". Until then, thanks for reading and may the Lord bless you and open your eyes and heart even more to loving and serving Him.
David J
