Discipleship Attributes: Discipleship #4

LifeWay Research has put together a great assessment tool for determining what a disciple looks like and who in your midst may be living a life of discipleship. Here are the 8 attributes that they have defined as characterizing a disciple.


What are the eight discipleship attributes?

1. Bible Engagement
2. Obeying God and Denying Self
3. Serving God and Others
4. Sharing Christ
5. Exercising Faith
6. Seeking God
7. Building Relationships
8. Unashamed (Transparency)

Link to article:  http://tda.lifeway.com/what-is-it/faq/

What do you think? Do these attributes hit the mark? What would you add? What takes further definition?

Culture is Everything: : Discipleship #3

I subscribe to a number of "newsletters" via email. It helps me to keep up with the growing world around me that I might not be aware of otherwise. Fairly often I come across articles that really speak to where I am or where my church and the leadership is at currently. This was one of those kind of articles. As a leader we must create culture in order to reinforce what ever is the main goal of the organization.

Here is an excerpt from an article on the Exponential website (a church planting group). Brian Zehr does a great job of capturing the importance of creating culture in our churches (and subsequently in our lives or businesses, I might add). Below is the list that really spoke to me with a link to the entire article after that:

Values:

• What needs to be most important NOW? In other words, what is God saying to us in this season of the church?
• What priorities must we have to multiply leaders and our congregation?

Narrative:

• How will we talk about what is most important?
• How do we engage our people in these values?
• What is the verbiage that leads our people to the intersection of faith and wisdom?

Behaviors:

• What will we do to live out our most important values?
• What are the actions our leaders must consistently take?
• What programs or processes will equip our people to live out the values of multiplication?

Exponential: Culture is Everything 

How do you create culture in your church or business? What would others say about the culture of your organization? How would your employees describe the culture? What is your main value/goal?

Disciple: Discipleship #2

What is it? What is a disciple? As a Christian, most can recite the great commission given by Jesus in Matthew 28 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” But what does it mean to make disciples? What exactly is a disciple? A disciple is one who is an apprentice of a master, learning their ways, and eventually passing it on to another disciple.

But that doesn't fully give us a picture of what is it they are or what it is they do. For this definition it may be easier to look at the characteristics of a disciple for further explanation.

Here are a couple that Jay Blackburn and I have put together with Matthew 4:19 as a starting point:
“Follow me, and I will make, you fishers of men.”

“Follow Me”

• Believes in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and is baptized (immersed) into new life in Christ.
• Loves the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.
• Seeks the Kingdom first.

“I will Make”

• Practices Prayer, a person who regularly spends time with the Father.
• Studies scripture for transformation not just information.
• Lives life in community with other believers.
• Carries out the great commission.

“You fishers of Men”

• Looks for and has the heart to address physical, emotional, and spiritual needs in others, via the Holy Spirit. (Has compassion for the hurting.)
• Shares the “good news” regularly (the gospel: that Jesus came and died that we might live).
• Helps others to become maturing disciples.
• Find men and women of peace.

What characteristics would you add? How have you seen these evidenced in your life? Looking at this list are there areas that are "gaps" in your discipleship?

Followership: Discipleship #1

Yeah, I know, followership isn't a word...but I like it anyway. In our culture today we don't have very many working ideals of what discipleship/apprenticeship is, so I created a word: followership (Just for clarity, I'm not sure I created it, but I don't remember hearing it before). From the time we're small we play a games like follow the leader and Simon says. These teach us to listen closely, to watch closely, to follow what we're being told and shown. This is how many of us work best. Tell me what to do and I may be able to get it right. Show me what to do and I'm much more likely to do what you intended. We are wired that way.

So when it comes to following in an organization, I'm going to do what my examples are doing. This often happens unintentionally. If the leader shows up to meetings 5 minutes late to meetings, employees eventually show up 5 minutes late too. Culture is created by followership. What we see people do makes more of an impact that what they say.

It works the same way in faith. If all of my examples of what a "Christian" looks like is just showing up on Sunday mornings or being a "nice person" then that is what I will assume Christian faith looks like. But Jesus called us to be disciples and to make disciples. That is something entirely different. We must look like Christ. We must act like Christ. We must proclaim the good news like Christ. We must have others that we are bringing along on this journey with us. As we follow him, others follow us. That is followership. That is what we're called to as we daily take up our cross.

I'm going to start posting articles by others on this subject of following of discipleship. I'm still learning and it's always good to look at what others are learning on their journey too.

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." Colossians 2:6-7 NIV

Waiting

Waiting:

I'm not sure I've ever met some who likes to wait. No one says, "I'm just going to wait over for as long as it takes and enjoy the waiting." Waiting is tied to patience...the nemesis of the western hemisphere...

In the immortal words of Ed Gruberman "Yeah, patience, how long will that take." (check Dr. Demento's "Boot to the Head" for reference).

On the other hand most of want what we want, and we want it now not later. The idea of waiting is completely contrary to the way most of look at life. And yet, most of us don't get what we want when we want it. We have to wait for it, or wait for the money for it, or wait to pay it off, if we do manage to get it now and not have to wait for it. That is the reality of life as we know it. But that is not the way God designed this world to work.

You get a great picture of this in Psalms. Just after what is perhaps the most famous of all Psalms, the 23rd, in which we are reminded, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." we see how difficult waiting is:

"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it;" Psalm 24:1

"To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God." Psalm 25:1

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14

Sometimes waiting is the hardest to do when we need something. When we need God to speak. When we need to know his mercy. When we are desperately trying to trust in Him for something and all we here is: wait. Just wait.

What are you waiting for? What are you waiting on the Lord for today? What do you do when you're waiting? How does your trust in the Lord determine how you wait?

"but those who hop in the Lord will renew their strength. The will soar on wings like eagles; the will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

Here we go...writing and work.

I recently came under the impression that I need to write. I need to write to get stuff out and off my chest. I need to write to release what is building up inside of me. I need to write. The problem is: I don't like to write. That's right, I said it, I don't like it. I'd rather talk. Talking is so much easier, and it's way more interactive (provided I listen at least as much as I talk).

Right now I'm in grad school, so I have to write. Sometimes I'm passionate about a subject and the words just leap from my head on to the document. But more often, it is painfully extracted from my head through my fingers into the paper. This is why I often don't like to write: I may not like what I'm writing about.

It's amazing how much easier it is to write or do something that you actually want to do. This motivation can come from deep within, or be an outgoing expression of an interest. Either way it is much easier to write when it comes flowing out naturally.

I think work is the same way. When it is a passion, work comes naturally, easily. It's still work, but somehow it feels different. You feel strangely alive while working and reaching your accomplishment. This is when you know you reached that optimum place of work with passion.

What are you passionate about? What makes you come alive? How can you incorporate that feeling into your everyday work? 

Let The Holy Spirit Move

We are currently in a series at church called Move. There are many aspects to life as a christian that we have been called in to action or to Move. However if we do this on our own, under our strength, with our own knowledge, or our own will then it is to our glory and not his. But if we allow the Holy Spirit to be in us, to guide us, to give us what we need, then we can walk, move, and be exactly who and what he has called us to be.

Here are the links to the last 3 weeks of sermons at our church. Three different voices, same subject, same Lord.

Let The Spirit Move: Presence by Carl Etchison

Let the Spirit Move: Guidance by Jay Blackburn

Let The Spirit Move: Power by Eddie Boyer

Enjoy!