The World According to Opa

There is an interesting article in the Summer 2006 publication of the United Methodist Men’s magazine.  The heading of this article reads:  “Nearly half of U.S. congregations did not receive a member by profession of faith.”  Of course, the article is speaking only of United Methodist congregations, although I remember reading somewhere else that this is true for most Christian denominations.  In this same article, it is reported that Bishop Michael Coyner, president of the General Board of Discipleship, told the Board that this situation, which is steadily growing worse, is causing all kinds of other problems, “including,” he said, “our ability to stand before God and say we are doing a good job in making disciples.”

I suspect the bishop is correct in saying this, and I fear that our own congregation is not doing too well either in terms of living up to our mission statement, i.e., Making Disciples for Jesus Christ.  Although some of you may disagree, this isn’t just me talking.  Our consultant, Tom Bandy said pretty much the same thing in his written report.  Except for one adult baptism that I recall pastor Daniel performed last year, I do not think that we had any other new members by profession of faith.  If this is a good measure of how well we are doing our mission, what then are we doing wrong?  What should we be doing to make disciples?

It seems self-evident to me that, before we can make disciples, we must first be disciples ourselves.  Scripture is pretty clear on what it means to be a disciple.  In the Old Testament, MICAH 6:8 says, “The Lord has told you, human, what is good; He has told you what He wants from you:  to do what is right to other people, love being kind to others, and live humbly, obeying your God.”  In the New Testament, Jesus Himself tells us in MARK 8:34-35, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

Hmmm… deny himself.  OUCH!

Alright, let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that I do deny myself and that I do take up my cross daily.  Although I admittedly have much room to grow in this regard, let’s say that I am a disciple, even if only a fledgling one.  How do I begin making other disciples?  What does the Bible say about this?

Well, the most obvious reference that I’ve found is in MATTHEW 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Go, therefore, and make disciples…  baptizing them… teaching them.  Hmmm… Sounds a lot like evangelism to me, something that most of us would say that we’re not very good at doing.  Of course, we do have to leave the baptizing to our clergy, but the other we can do, we can teach.  And what’s the best way to teach?  Why, by example, of course.

Making disciples, I believe, is pretty much like assuming the responsibilities of being a parent.  What I remember about that is this:

• Until they learn to feed themselves, we must make sure they are fed.
• We teach them how to feed themselves as soon as possible.
• If they get into trouble, we help them — even if it is inconvenient, because they are, after all, our top priority.
• We train them to do what they need to do.
• We teach them what we know.
• We protect them from danger until they can protect themselves.
• Last but most important, we spend time with them, because people do learn best by example.

Our goal, in making disciples, is to eventually reproduce ourselves, assuming, of course that we are already mature, adult disciples ourselves.  We produce other believers who can stand, as we do, on our own, and reproduce themselves.  Of course, few of us individually have the opportunity to be in such close relationships with others.  We touch others briefly, then we go our separate ways.  Few of us too ever get a chance to be involved in the whole process, or to even see the harvest.  All we get to do is plant seeds here and there, cultivate the soil now and again, cast a little fertilizer or give a little drink.  It does take a village, after all.  And Church of the Disciple is a village.

Some so-called Evangelists seem to think that making disciples means imposing their “Christian” morality on others through legislation.  But this, I believe, is wasting missional energy.  Christ did not impose Himself on others.  He was given all power to do so, was he not?  But, instead, He used His energy to do good works, to teach, and show love and mercy.  Then He gave His people a choice, clearly distinguishing between the secular and sacred in MATTHEW 22:21, saying, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.” Jesus turned sadly away when others, such as in the story of the rich young ruler told in LUKE 18:18-23, found discipleship too much of a cross to bear.

May I suggest to you that, to be an effective maker of disciples at Church of the Disciple, you would do well to commit yourself in a ministry or mission cell group.  An adult Sunday School class would be a good place to start.  Other cell groups at the church include:  the United Methodist Men, the United Methodist Women, Stephen Ministry, the Missions committee, the Worship committee, the Ushers, the Choir, etc.  You will find like-thinking people in these cell groups, people who will minister to you and people to whom you can minister.  Lovingly hold yourself and others accountable.  Then, invite others into your group.  Give them opportunities for service, and teach them all that you know.  Together, ably led by our new pastor, the Reverend Dr. Ouida Lee, we can all grow in discipleship.

May the Lord Himself be with you as you live out your faith, denying yourself and taking up your cross daily, that you might bear much fruit in the process of making disciples.

Amen ~

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I’ve been hearing some of my fellow parishioners say lately that they just aren’t having their worship needs met.  Others are refusing to say anything, but I can tell from their hangdog expressions in the narthex following worship that something is amiss.  Could it be that they aren’t happy with recent changes that have taken place?  I’ll try to explain…

The United Methodist Church employs a concept called itineracy in making pastoral appointments.  This means that, to serve as an ordained minister in the church, one must agree to serve where one’s bishop decides.  In theory, appointments are made according to the greater need of one’s jurisdiction.  And needs change as demographics change.

Recently, our little church in a suburban city of the greater Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, lost our pastor of four years to a “greater” need elsewhere in the jurisdiction.  For weeks after the move was announced but before his last sermon, there was great sadness, even anger among us.  We had grown to love him, his wife, and their two adopted, mixed-race children.  He was a gifted preacher, an excellent administrator, and an inspired, tireless, leader.  He did all he knew how to do… all that God gave him to do.  However, our new pastor, I judge, owing to demographic changes in our community over recent years, is more “ethnically appropriate” for our church.  She’s black.

Our little church had long prided itself for being, in the Methodist tradition, an open and accepting congregation, but even more so than most; we intentionally promoted diversity and celebrated a multi-ethnic identity.  Unfortunately, it isn’t everyone that can comfortably wear this identity.  Founding members were leaving as the church became more diverse.  People were not pledging or honoring pledges once made. The same tired ten percent were doing eighty percent of the work.  In short, the church was slowly dying.  The pastor and lay leadership tried everything.  We even hired an expensive, well-known church consultant to come evaluate things and to advise us on what we needed to do to turn things around.  He had some good ideas.  But the bishop, it seems, had a better one.  And, after just two Sundays with our new pastor, it’s already apparent to many of us that the majority is quickly becoming the minority.  Things have indeed turned around, but in a way and so rapidly that few of us anticipated.

Despite our new pastor’s pledge to honor who we are as a multi-ethnic church and to not make changes too rapidly, change is of what what we are all most aware.  Things now are less contemporary, more traditional in a way, but also more charismatic.  Some, I fear, are already beginning to look elsewhere to have their needs met.  It’s called “white flight,” folks.  But, I ask you, is having our needs met what worship is all about?  I think not.

Although I have surely enjoyed worship on many occasions, the purpose of worship is not for our entertainment, or even for our enjoyment.  Its purpose is to glorify, honor, praise, exalt, and please God in return for His having given us His Son, our salvation.

The following has been liberally borrowed from the On-line Interactive Church (http://www.bible.ca/interactive/worship-1-purpose.htm).

“The nature of the worship God demands is the prostration of our souls before Him in humble and contrite submission. James 4:6, 10 tells us, ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up’ (Interactive Church).”

Our worship of God should, therefore, be a very humble and reverent action.  “Jesus says in John 4:23-24, ‘But the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.’  God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. It doesn’t say that we can worship God anyway we want, but we must worship Him in spirit and in truth (Interactive Church).”

In her sermon today, our new pastor told us that God did not call her out of her comfort zone, a place where she had few administrative responsibilities, to fail in this new charge where she feels the weight of many great responsibilities.  Previously, she called upon us, all of us, to pull together to make manifest God’s Will for our church to to be a true place of reconciliation in a diversified community.  But we can’t do this, folks, not if we can’t get over our own comfort level issues.  We can’t do this if we’re more worried about having our needs met than we are worried about seeing others’ needs met.  So, if a more ethnically-rich worship service is what is needed to pull our African American brothers and sisters out of their homes Sunday mornings, I say, “Bring it on.”  If a more ethnically-rich worship service will help to transform seekers into committed, involved disciples who are willing to share in leadership and contribute to the many missions and ministries of the church, then I say, “Bring it on.”  Making disciples for Jesus Christ IS our mission.  Let’s get on with it.

I will be humble and reverent.  I will worship Him in spirit and in truth, and I will honor my pledge to continue supporting our Freedom to Follow capital campaign, at least until others are in place to take up the slack.  If you’re part of my congregation and you’re not exactly comfortable with the changes taking place, I humbly challenge you, in the spirit of Christian brotherhood, to do likewise.

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