by Edmund Chan

A widely influential Singaporean pastor and author, in 1995 Edmund launched the Intentional Disciple-Making Church (IDMC) Conference. Started as a seminar with 320 participants, it has become a sold-out conference teaching disciple-making to 2,500 participants from 20 countries.

2.  From Single-Level Discipling to Multi-Level Discipling

Surely there is a difference (at least in time commitment if nothing else) between discipling a college student who is single and discipling a mother of three young children. As such, to cater to the varying needs in the life of the church, there is a movement from single-level discipling to multi-level discipling.

In the past, discipling was done primarily outside the church, through the para-church organisations, and it was more or less homogeneous in nature. Today, there is an emergence of church-based discipling, which is broader in scope and commitment levels. Unlike homogeneous units, disciples now come in all shapes and sizes, from different walks of life, with different levels of commitment, and different depths of spiritual maturity.

In such a context, many are also discovering the cell group as a great discipling vehicle. It builds a discipleship community.  It is also an effective platform for grooming emerging leaders. A cell group is thus an excellent vehicle for the multi-level discipling as it builds not on individuals but on community. We must build discipleship cell-groups!

3. From Program-Oriented Discipling to Person-Oriented Discipling

The focus must shift from valuing successful programs to valuing spiritual maturity. Effective discipling in the twenty-first century starts with the question “who are you” rather than “what is to be covered”.

The discipleship syllabus is dependent on the disciple’s needs – both felt and real needs. There is a growing appreciation that each person is different. Thus, the discipling process is not to be merely centred upon a particular program. This calls us to major on the major. It is not enough to disciple someone by just completing some pre-set materials. There is a need to know and apply basic life principles in all arenas of life!

The shift from program-based discipling to person-based discipling is congruent with the quest of identity in the urban world. As a guide for such person-centred discipling, the younger the disciple is, the more structured the discipling program. Conversely, the more mature the disciple is, the less structured the discipling program. In any case, the focus is on the needs of the person, not the dictates of the program!

4. From Classroom-Discipling to Real-World Discipling

People tend to compartmentalise their lives because of the “privatisation” of religion. So what is taught in the classroom remains in the classroom. What is taught in the church remains in the church. Unless there is a deliberate attempt to integrate what is learnt into the real world, nothing significant happens in the discipleship journey!

Things are not just to be taught in a classroom setting. They must be integrated into all arenas of life. One example of real-world discipling is to train the disciple to learn how to master life’s transitions. It develops the disciple to be holistically effective in the school or workplace, in the home and in Christian ministry. There is a critical need for holistic discipling that is relevant to the “real world”.

The “With Him” principle, popularised by the Navigators, is helpful. It moves discipling from the classroom into the real world. Real-world discipling resonates with the emergence of integration in the contemporary world. Knowledge is not isolated from life but integrated to it. The focus must thus shift from making disciples in the church to making disciples in the church, family and workplace. This is where the rubber meets the road!

by Edmund Chan

A widely influential Singaporean pastor and author, in 1995 Edmund launched the Intentional Disciple-Making Church (IDMC) Conference. Started as a seminar with 320 participants, it has become a sold-out conference teaching disciple-making to 2,500 participants from 20 countries.

The church is losing ground.  Sure, in some quarters, she is gaining ground.  But in radical discipleship and in spiritual depth, she is losing massive grounds. It is almost proverbial that the church in many places is “a mile wide but an inch deep.” Worse still, many so-called Christians are no different from the world in their core values and moral choices!

Unless we reverse the tide, we lose our sense of identity and destiny. Unless we come back to the fundamentals of a radical New Testament discipleship to Jesus (cf. Luke 9:23; Luke 14:25-33) we lose sight of the authentic key to true revival and world evangelization!

The problem lies not in the Great Commission. Church history indicates that it is a commission destined to flourish, not one doomed to fail! The problem lies not in the massive needs of the mission field. The fundamental need of humanity is spiritual; and this has not changed one bit! The problem lies not in the ability of God to empower his Church to fulfil His commission. The power of God is the same yesterday, today and forever!

So wherein lies the problem? Why is intentional disciplemaking so difficult in the contemporary world?

In any generation, the fundamental principles of disciplemaking remain unchanged. The focus of the Church must radically shift from merely making converts to that of making disciples! Disciplemaking is the process of bringing people into right relationship with God; and developing them to full maturity in Christ through intentional growth strategies, that they might multiply the entire process in others also.

Nonetheless, the post-modern world presents a new set of challenges to the call of making disciples today. To be effective, each generation must understand its own mind-set, meaningfully exegete its own culture, and masterfully adjust our approach to be relevant and effective in disciplemaking.

There are at least seven major paradigm shifts we must make for effective discipling in the twenty-first century. The term “paradigm shift” was first used by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). It has since come to denote a radical change in the basic assumptions or belief systems, replacing former ways of thinking with a radically different way of thinking. Here then are the radical shifts in thinking we must make on discipling the next generation.

1.  From Spiritual Exhortation to Spiritual Direction

Discipling without spiritual direction is a contradiction of terms. Yet the missing link in discipling today is spiritual direction. In his book Working The Angles, Eugene Peterson calls the ministry of the Word, prayer and spiritual direction the “trigonometry of pastoral ministry”. These fundamentals apply to discipling as well. What is true of pastoring is true of disciplemaking.

The art of spiritual direction is the ability to point a disciple of Christ towards God; and in Him, towards the right direction of life. Spiritual direction thus presents discipleship, not as a program, but as a way of life.

A lot of mentoring today is centred merely upon spiritual exhortation and not on spiritual direction. Pious exhortations like, “you must do your Quite Time” or “you must have (more) faith” abounds. But few are instructed on how to do it, nor inspired to do so!

People know what they ought to do. The regimental do-lists abound. But the problem is getting it done; and getting it done in a manner which pleases God.

Two generations ago, when people came to be discipled, they were ready for the “serious stuff”. The modern generation is not. They come with too much baggage. Wise spiritual direction is much needed in contemporary discipleship!

by Tom Adleta

Rev. Tom Adleta, BBA MA, is the  founder and executive director of Global Christian Network, Inc., also now Minister-at-Large with Mission to Unreached Peoples, and recently has joined the staff of SVM2. From a diverse foundation of military experience and entrepreneurial business enterprises, Tom and his wife ministered in their local churches and eventually 30 years in missions from Central America, across Asia, now through Africa, Europe and Latin America, as he and his wife homeschooled their 8 children. 

Jesus is our example. God sent Jesus as our example to complete God’s vision to demonstrate the kingdom of heaven in his teaching and by his lifestyle. Jesus reproduced disciples that reproduced disciple-makers, who would continue His ministry on earth. “……As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  (John 20:21). God can only accomplish His plan if we followed and obey God and Jesus’ commands, His Word, and His example and knowing Him intimately, not doing things our way. God has a plan that you can be part of…… if you will run the race God’s way He will reveal His Plan step by step through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that he would build His church within our hearts. We are His church. Based on the revelation that Peter had from the Father in heaven, His plan will be accomplished through His Church. “…….and on this rock (spiritual revelation) I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

We want to see what Jesus has commanded us to do in His Word and how to do it successfully through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist said, “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Acts 1:8 continues, “…but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

He will start a fire in each of our hearts like the disciples at Pentecost with the filling of the Holy Spirit. That fire will burn with revival to be bold witnesses all over the world sharing the truth of the Word of God with power. “How to Run the Race God’s Way” is God’s plan for us to be successful in completing the race that God has set before us. His Way is for everyone to hear the gospel and have a chance to accept Jesus as their Savior and to experience life now in knowing and walking with Him.

There are still 6,000 unreached people groups, one fourth of the world’s population that has little access to the good news. These groups are dying apart from Jesus Christ; it is our destiny to join God in bringing the good news of the gospel to their hearts and lives. We will be successful in being watchmen and raising up a new generation of student mobilizers, but only if we walk by faith and follow His way–He never fails. God clearly gives us the examples in the scriptures of how we are to follow and execute all of His commandments. We can join hands with Him and one another accomplishing His plan and purpose for the world.

Do you want your eyes to open and experience the resurrection power of Jesus? The feeling that will burn in your heart as the scriptures opened to God’s Plan and the Kingdom of Heaven invade your whole being, putting this burning fire within your heart to serve Him who has called you for this very purpose? The challenge is for you, and is available now. Don’t miss God’s calling and anointing. He is giving you the opportunity to grow in maturity, knowing God and accomplishing all of what God has planned for you. Catch the power and fire and ignite the world with love for Jesus Christ. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Rom 11:29)

by Tom Adleta

Rev. Tom Adleta, BBA MA, is the  founder and executive director of Global Christian Network, Inc., also now Minister-at-Large with Mission to Unreached Peoples, and recently has joined the staff of SVM2. From a diverse foundation of military experience and entrepreneurial business enterprises, Tom and his wife ministered in their local churches and eventually 30 years in missions from Central America, across Asia, now through Africa, Europe and Latin America, as he and his wife homeschooled their 8 children. 

God’s eternal plan is for all peoples to be around His Throne worshiping. From the beginning of eternity, God had the end in mind that every tongue, tribe and language on earth will be represented around his throne at the end of the age as we read in Revelation 7: 9, “After this I looked up and there were before me great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe people and language, standing before the throne in the Lamb.” God said, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  (2 Peter 3:9)

Each generation must be reached by his own generation. The Student Volunteer Movement 2 must reach their own generation by being radical, Holy Spirit filled disciples. They must go to all the nations and mobilize students and young people from every country to gather those who respond and disciple them in small fellowships at every university, college, or wherever students gather, teaching them how to multiply themselves to the end of the earth.

In order for this to happen, there must be a fellowship (small group) within reach of every person geographically, in their heart language, and incarnate in their culture and society. Message bearers must be mobilized to go to the students and universities to raise up volunteers.  Jesus will not return until everyone hears the gospel.  “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.”  (Matthew 24:14)

The generation is reached as Message Bearers are sent out. In Romans 10:14-15, 17, we read that they can only believe through faith in hearing the word from someone who is sent. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.’”  v17 “…..so faith comes from hearing and heard through hearing the word of God.”

The generation is reached as Message Bearers obey His commands. Jesus sent his disciples to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8), to follow and to obey his commands to make disciples. “…and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20)

You have to be a disciple to make a disciple. His desire is for you to become disciple-makers that would be fruitful and multiply, gathering those who respond, and discipling them in small groups. “For when two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst” (Matt 18: 20) In This is “His church,” small fellowships–not buildings.

The result of working God’s way is evident fruit. The results of everyone going and making disciples were evident in Acts 19:10: “This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” The reason was that every believer was going and sharing the gospel daily. “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”  (Acts 2:47)

Trying to do God’s Plan our own way, always fails. The Task for all disciples is still there today because we, His Church, have not been doing what Jesus commanded us to do. (Matthew 28:18–20) The earthly church has been trying to do it their own way for over 2000 years and have failed. Each believer has not been going and sharing the good news daily or even at all like the New Testament Church did. However, you can see in Acts 19:10 “And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”

Why were the disciples so successful? Because each of the disciples was going daily and making disciple-makers. God has chosen to accomplish His Plan through us as we follow and obey His Word, His commands, knowing Him, His examples, which were not man’s ideas or plans, but God’s Plans.  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8) “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.” (Mark 16:20)

by Tom Adleta

Rev. Tom Adleta, BBA MA, is the  founder and executive director of Global Christian Network, Inc., also now Minister-at-Large with Mission to Unreached Peoples, and recently has joined the staff of SVM2. From a diverse foundation of military experience and entrepreneurial business enterprises, Tom and his wife ministered in their local churches and eventually 30 years in missions from Central America, across Asia, now through Africa, Europe and Latin America, as he and his wife homeschooled their 8 children. 

I was drawn toward God even from my earliest childhood but didn’t come to know Jesus personally until I was in my late 30’s. A persistent real estate agent finally dragged me to lunch and managed to share the Four Spiritual Laws with me afterwards. God moved in my heart and I yielded to Him. I can still remember the feeling of warm oil flowing over my head down into my body as He came into my life.

My addictions to alcohol and gambling fell away without effort under His control, though other areas of my life required greater seeking of God and His power over time to set me free. Yet, as I discovered the joy of yielding my life to Him, I longed to grow closer and to know Him more and more. He provided opportunity to pray for greater filling of His Spirit and yet again I experienced an even greater overflow of His presence and power in my life as I asked for this gift.

I discovered that the more I yielded and asked of Him, the greater His outpouring and empowerment would become. Early on, my efforts seemed a great struggle of my own will; later, His Spirit seemed to enable me to soar forward, almost effortlessly as I yielded and learned to obey. Gradually, He’s been teaching me how to be set ablaze by God, how to run the race His way. Let me share more….

God often employs the ignorant and unlearned to confound the wise. “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13) And, again in Acts 5: 38-39, it was not the ignorance of Peter and John that convinced the Sanhedrin. It was done in spite of their ignorance. It was their boldness and their honest conviction of truth.

Besides, though not learned in the schools of the Jews, they had been under a far more important training – under the personal direction of Christ himself – for three years. Now they were directly endowed by the Holy Spirit with the power of speaking the truth and the truth will set the captives free.

We can also see Paul’s reliance upon the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5 “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”

God is able to use you and me, not because of our skills or great wisdom, but simply to show forth His glory and power through frail human vessels.

by Edmund Chan

A widely influential Singaporean pastor and author, in 1995 Edmund launched the Intentional Disciple-Making Church (IDMC) Conference. Started as a seminar with 320 participants, it has become a sold-out conference teaching disciple-making to 2,500 participants from 20 countries.

2.  From Single-Level Discipling to Multi-Level Discipling

Surely there is a difference (at least in time commitment if nothing else) between discipling a college student who is single and discipling a mother of three young children. As such, to cater to the varying needs in the life of the church, there is a movement from single-level discipling to multi-level discipling.

In the past, discipling was done primarily outside the church, through the para-church organisations, and it was more or less homogeneous in nature. Today, there is an emergence of church-based discipling, which is broader in scope and commitment levels. Unlike homogeneous units, disciples now come in all shapes and sizes, from different walks of life, with different levels of commitment, and different depths of spiritual maturity.

In such a context, many are also discovering the cell group as a great discipling vehicle. It builds a discipleship community.  It is also an effective platform for grooming emerging leaders. A cell group is thus an excellent vehicle for the multi-level discipling as it builds not on individuals but on community. We must build discipleship cell-groups!

3. From Program-Oriented Discipling to Person-Oriented Discipling

The focus must shift from valuing successful programs to valuing spiritual maturity. Effective discipling in the twenty-first century starts with the question “who are you” rather than “what is to be covered”.

The discipleship syllabus is dependent on the disciple’s needs – both felt and real needs. There is a growing appreciation that each person is different. Thus, the discipling process is not to be merely centred upon a particular program. This calls us to major on the major. It is not enough to disciple someone by just completing some pre-set materials. There is a need to know and apply basic life principles in all arenas of life!

The shift from program-based discipling to person-based discipling is congruent with the quest of identity in the urban world. As a guide for such person-centred discipling, the younger the disciple is, the more structured the discipling program. Conversely, the more mature the disciple is, the less structured the discipling program. In any case, the focus is on the needs of the person, not the dictates of the program!

4. From Classroom-Discipling to Real-World Discipling

People tend to compartmentalise their lives because of the “privatisation” of religion. So what is taught in the classroom remains in the classroom. What is taught in the church remains in the church. Unless there is a deliberate attempt to integrate what is learnt into the real world, nothing significant happens in the discipleship journey!

Things are not just to be taught in a classroom setting. They must be integrated into all arenas of life. One example of real-world discipling is to train the disciple to learn how to master life’s transitions. It develops the disciple to be holistically effective in the school or workplace, in the home and in Christian ministry. There is a critical need for holistic discipling that is relevant to the “real world”.

The “With Him” principle, popularised by the Navigators, is helpful. It moves discipling from the classroom into the real world. Real-world discipling resonates with the emergence of integration in the contemporary world. Knowledge is not isolated from life but integrated to it. The focus must thus shift from making disciples in the church to making disciples in the church, family and workplace. This is where the rubber meets the road!

by Edmund Chan

A widely influential Singaporean pastor and author, in 1995 Edmund launched the Intentional Disciple-Making Church (IDMC) Conference. Started as a seminar with 320 participants, it has become a sold-out conference teaching disciple-making to 2,500 participants from 20 countries.

The church is losing ground.  Sure, in some quarters, she is gaining ground.  But in radical discipleship and in spiritual depth, she is losing massive grounds. It is almost proverbial that the church in many places is “a mile wide but an inch deep.” Worse still, many so-called Christians are no different from the world in their core values and moral choices!

Unless we reverse the tide, we lose our sense of identity and destiny. Unless we come back to the fundamentals of a radical New Testament discipleship to Jesus (cf. Luke 9:23; Luke 14:25-33) we lose sight of the authentic key to true revival and world evangelization!

The problem lies not in the Great Commission. Church history indicates that it is a commission destined to flourish, not one doomed to fail! The problem lies not in the massive needs of the mission field. The fundamental need of humanity is spiritual; and this has not changed one bit! The problem lies not in the ability of God to empower his Church to fulfil His commission. The power of God is the same yesterday, today and forever!

So wherein lies the problem? Why is intentional disciplemaking so difficult in the contemporary world?

In any generation, the fundamental principles of disciplemaking remain unchanged. The focus of the Church must radically shift from merely making converts to that of making disciples! Disciplemaking is the process of bringing people into right relationship with God; and developing them to full maturity in Christ through intentional growth strategies, that they might multiply the entire process in others also.

Nonetheless, the post-modern world presents a new set of challenges to the call of making disciples today. To be effective, each generation must understand its own mind-set, meaningfully exegete its own culture, and masterfully adjust our approach to be relevant and effective in disciplemaking.

There are at least seven major paradigm shifts we must make for effective discipling in the twenty-first century. The term “paradigm shift” was first used by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). It has since come to denote a radical change in the basic assumptions or belief systems, replacing former ways of thinking with a radically different way of thinking. Here then are the radical shifts in thinking we must make on discipling the next generation.

1.  From Spiritual Exhortation to Spiritual Direction

Discipling without spiritual direction is a contradiction of terms. Yet the missing link in discipling today is spiritual direction. In his book Working The Angles, Eugene Peterson calls the ministry of the Word, prayer and spiritual direction the “trigonometry of pastoral ministry”. These fundamentals apply to discipling as well. What is true of pastoring is true of disciplemaking.

The art of spiritual direction is the ability to point a disciple of Christ towards God; and in Him, towards the right direction of life. Spiritual direction thus presents discipleship, not as a program, but as a way of life.

A lot of mentoring today is centred merely upon spiritual exhortation and not on spiritual direction. Pious exhortations like, “you must do your Quite Time” or “you must have (more) faith” abounds. But few are instructed on how to do it, nor inspired to do so!

People know what they ought to do. The regimental do-lists abound. But the problem is getting it done; and getting it done in a manner which pleases God.

Two generations ago, when people came to be discipled, they were ready for the “serious stuff”. The modern generation is not. They come with too much baggage. Wise spiritual direction is much needed in contemporary discipleship!

By Dr.  David Bjork

After thirty years of missionary service in France, Dr Bjork and his wife are now ministering in Cameroon, Africa. Dr Bjork who holds Masters degrees in Missiology, Pastoral Theology, and History of religions, and Doctorate degrees in Religious Science and Theology, is professor of Religious Science at the state university of Yaoundé. 

Mark’s gospel informs us that Jesus appointed the twelve – “that they might be with Him and that he might send them out …” (Mark 3:14, emphasis mine). Disciple-making does not happen in a classroom or in a conference. It does not take place without lots of time spent person-to-person, life-to-life. Where are the committed followers of Christ to find the time and energy to do the demanding and exacting work of learning with and from each other at the deepest level?

My hunch is that we are, in reality, more committed to recruiting lay men and women as members who support our church structures, programs and activities, than we are to discipling, empowering, and releasing them as ambassadors of Christ outside the confines of the church (kingdom work).

Several decades ago the veteran missionary to Europe, Bob Evans, had this to say about the importance of making disciples:

Discipleship both inside and especially outside the institution should be taking place on all levels. The question to be asked of the missionary is, “Where are your disciples?” (emphasis mine)[i].

I have been a missionary for 32 years. But I must admit that I have a hard time promoting missions as we have been doing it for so long. Do we really think that people will be motivated to pray for, support financially, and give their lives for missions that have been emptied of their essence?

Who wants to spend the rest of their lives planting churches and promoting programs that do not result in the deep transformation of lives that is Christian discipleship? Frankly, I am amazed that we are so committed to our endeavors that we won’t ask the question : “Where are your disciples?”

One year ago, in the December issue of Missions Frontiers[ii] the editor, Rick Wood, stated:

The dirty little secret of missions is that we are sending missionaries all over the world who have not demonstrated the ability to make disciples who can make disciples. Most have not seen or participated in effective models of church-planting or discipleship at home, but we send them out in the hope that going cross-culturally will turn them into effective church planters and disciplers. This is wishful thinking at best, and it has to change.

If I didn’t believe that we can reach our world for Christ I would have abandoned long ago! I fully believe that if we are willing to change our focus, so that we concentrate our energies on intentionally making disciples of Christ who will make disciples who will make disciples … etc., then, we can reverse the tide.

I am equally convinced that if we continue to do what we have always done, we will continue to get the same results we have always gotten. It is not in doing the same thing better, or with more intensity, or by employing greater means, that the results will change. It is time that we quit talking about disciple-making and begin focusing all our energies and ministries on doing it. We need to put disciple-making back into missions! It is the essence of the Great Commission.

By Dr.  David Bjork

After thirty years of missionary service in France, Dr Bjork and his wife are now ministering in Cameroon, Africa. Dr Bjork who holds Masters degrees in Missiology, Pastoral Theology, and History of religions, and Doctorate degrees in Religious Science and Theology, is professor of Religious Science at the state university of Yaoundé. 

It is widely held that the most definitive statement of the mission of the Church is found in the risen Christ’s commissioning of the disciples:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV)

Unfortunately, for historical reasons we have interpreted this mandate to mean that we are to go into all the world to plant the church,[i] and the church will make the disciples. But that is not what Jesus said! He specifically gave us the job of making disciples, and He explicitly promised that He would build His church (Mt 16:18). Our task is to make disciples, His responsibility is to build His church.

This reversal of roles is the primary reason we are failing to win our world for Christ. Associated with it are many understandings of our mission that hinder us from actually doing what Christ sends us into the world to do.

Nearly forty years ago I read an exposition of Ephesians 4:11-13 that greatly impacted me. That study demonstrated that this scriptural text teaches that God has given Spirit-gifted leaders to the church with the sole purpose of discipling (mentoring, training, equipping, coaching, and releasing) God’s people (i.e. lay men and women) so that they can do His work in the world.

If it is true that the communication of the Christian faith is primarily the work of Spirit-filled laity and that God ordained leadership serves fundamentally to facilitate, strengthen and empower lay men and women in that task, then we must reconsider much of our current practice. I am convinced, for instance, that the professionalization of the witness of God’s people has silenced much of their communication.[ii]  So too has church programming that dominates the schedules of members to the point that there is just no time nor energy left for them to do the very thing they were created for – to really share the same environment as their neighbors in a manner that allows the recognition, familiarity, and “relational endurance”[iii] necessary for authentic and challenging life-transforming encounter.

By Dr.  David Bjork

After thirty years of missionary service in France, Dr Bjork and his wife are now ministering in Cameroon, Africa. Dr Bjork who holds Masters degrees in Missiology, Pastoral Theology, and History of religions, and Doctorate degrees in Religious Science and Theology, is professor of Religious Science at the state university of Yaoundé. 

Discipleship and disciple-making are buzzwords today in all kinds of Christian circles.[i] Unfortunately, on its journey to fame, someone forgot to ask if we are in fact making disciples. There are good reasons to doubt that we are! If truth be told, a quick glance at the state of the Church around the world leads me to think that we have somehow emptied the Great Commission of its essence. Three places where I have lived and ministered: the United States, France, and Cameroon illustrate what I mean.

According to a study done in 2009 by the Barna Group, although most Americans consider themselves to be Christian and say they know the content of the Bible, less than one out of ten Americans demonstrate such knowledge through their actions.[ii] Given this fact, it is not surprising that the Evangelicals of the United States – in spite of their mega-churches, material resources, and church growth strategies – are among the slowest growing in the world.[iii]

In reality American Christians are silently slipping out of church to the extent that the unchurched are becoming the common religious component of American society.[iv] Even the many student ministries have been unable to stop the hemorrhage of Christians who “fall away” during their college years.

In France, where I ministered for thirty years, the religious scene illustrates the evolution that has taken place all over Western Europe in recent years. In 1986 eighty one percent of the French who were 15 years of age or older considered themselves to be “Catholic”. That number had dropped to 69 percent in 2001.[v] In 2002 only seven percent of French adults (18 yrs of age and older) regularly practiced their faith and 44 percent of French adults who identified themselves as Catholics stated that they never attend church services.

In a study done in 2003 which asked the same questions of the French that had been asked ten years earlier, all of the indicators of Christian belief had dropped[vi]. That survey revealed that fewer of the French believe in the existence of God and in the primary Christian beliefs than was formerly the case. They attend church services less, pray less, and fewer of them claim that Christian faith plays an important role in their lives than was true ten years earlier.

Today, I find myself in the African country of Cameroon where, although recent decades have witnessed rapid growth of the churches, observers say that nominal Christianity is a bigger problem than in most of Africa. Much of the Church leadership in this country has been described as proud, domineering, often immoral and greedy. The lay believers are often shallow, biblically ignorant, syncretistic, tribally biased and missionally insensitive.

In short, they reflect the same kinds of imperfections that we find in the churches of the West that mothered them.

These rapid portraits of the church in the USA, in France and in Cameroon reveal symptoms of an illness that has reached pandemic proportions. We have obeyed Christ’s commission to go into all the world, but we have been ineffective in making disciples.

We have evangelized and made converts. We have baptized and made church members. We have established schools and seminaries and produced pastors. We have founded hospitals and orphanages and cared for the needy. We have trained missionaries and fashioned church planters. But when all is said and done, the bottom line is: Where are the disciples? If we were effectively making disciples would the Church look like it does in the USA, in France, and in Cameroon?