As the title suggests, my thoughts have been continually turned to the topic of discipleship lately. As I read Scripture, a book I have been reading, and a discussion or two in the blogosphere has turned my attention to discipleship. I am thinking primarily along the lines of how well a maker of disciples I am and notice myself coming up short. Plus, I'm asking some questions, more basic and fundamental than anything relatively deep right now.
- What is a disciple?
- How do I make disciples?
- What does the Scripture say about discipleship?
- How important is discipleship?
- How can I lead the folks in the church I serve to become disciple makers?
In my Bible reading today, I read from Matthew 10. Verse 24 was especially convicting.
A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
This tied in really well with the
slave/master thoughts I posted a few days ago to further lead my thinking. If I am going to make disciples,
I myself need to be discipled.
5 comments:
Hmmm. Seems like I've helped stir something up a little, here :)
Maybe. :)
So, Tony, how does a pastor receive discipleship? Where does he turn?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on that...or have I missed them from an earlier conversation?
I probably should have teased that thought out a bit further. I put it in italics to set it apart, without really elaborating.
If as I have written before, a pastor should not be considered any "better" than any other believer, simply a more mature Christian seems to be the way to go. Sure, it bespeaks of an incredible level of humility on the pastor's part because the office itself demands he be the most spiritually mature in the congregation, right?
But I think it also would assume a level of spirituality in the part of the congregation as well--they virtually expect the pastor to be perfect in every way.
The "normal" place, I would surmise, would be an older pastor. But, some of the older pastors I have met have habits worse than an unbeliever.
For instance, I used to go to a pastors' breakfast every first Monday. The overarching attitude was one of "We need to be able to get together and say da***t when we need to." The conversation tended to be as lewd as a high school boys locker room and the constant bashing of "their people" just annoyed me.
I think I would be willing to come under the wing of a more spiritually mature man and not necessarily a pastor; someone with a humble servant's heart and desire to see me grow and learn to serve God's people more effectively for him.
Perhaps God will lead me to that man.
A pastor being discipled would be a good thing. Often overlooked or deemed unnecessary, but still important.
As for the rest of us, I'm anxiously waiting to learn, sensai.
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