DESTINED TO DISCIPLE

by MICHAEL MURPHY

I love the Church and those who pour their lives out pastoring God’s people. But I hate the fact that recent research indicates that over 40% of pastors would consider leaving the ministry, if they could; and that between 70%–80% of churches have flatlined, or are in decline.

The great news is that discipleship is most definitely making a huge comeback! It crops up in the conversations of an increasing number of pastors and their teams.

And yet, for all the interest and aspiration, there are still too few examples of churches effectively nailing the 'making disciples' thing, particularly in the western world.

The question I have asked many pastors over the past twelve months is: Where is discipleship happening in your church that is intentional, scalable and reproducible? Answers range from reflective silence to responsive stories of someone named 'Reggie' in their church who is a 'gifted discipler'. Still a few others mention that they 'have groups'. Groups are a great start but they are not the goal – they are merely a tool.

If you think I am saying that the active, aggressive, authoritative and anointed shift toward making disciples who make disciples is the answer…you would be absolutely correct!

Since the pandemic, I’ve been encouraged by the deep desire of most to actually make disciples through their local church. They really do want to make Jesus’ last command their absolute first priority. (Matt 28:18-19) And why wouldn’t we?

There is nothing more thrilling than being part of a person’s journey to becoming a fully devoted disciple of Jesus. This is in many ways, the pinnacle of our faith mission.

Disciple making always was and still is at the core of our destiny. When effective discipleship wanes, the frustrating spinoffs are many and painful: • The infrequency of church attendance post-pandemic with between 20% and 50% staying away (for some a sunny day or a footy game is enough to keep people away!) This, rather than being cultural or societal is a discipleship issue.

• The lack of peoples’ desire to get back on teams and to serve. A discipleship issue.

• The levels of giving, leaving churches just able to “get by”, let alone able to take new visionary ground. A discipleship issue.

• The lack of missional passion in the lives of many believers, who rarely ever think about even inviting someone to church, let alone share their faith. A discipleship issue.

• The relative impotency and lack of reproductive effectiveness of many small groups. A discipleship issue.

• The depressing numbers of our congregation who don’t even read their Bibles daily, let alone hear from Heaven and experience His presence regularly.

Again…. a Discipleship issue!

RESOURCES Michael Murphy has a selection of resources that have been gleaned from experience of almost a decade of consulting with key churches around the world in these very areas.

40 Question Diagnostic Discipleship Checklist : developed to give you an Assessment about how you are doing in your disciple making journey as a church.

4D Discipleship : 30 minute signature training how to get very intentional about shifting the Discipleship gauge in your church. Comes with a complete template of the notes to use to teach your team.

MICHAEL MURPHY is the chairman of the Alphacrucis Board. For more information: www.theleaderscape.com