Sara DeVol
Box 161
Discipleship in the Church
February 7, 2011
There Are More Christians Than Disciples In the Church
The tragedy in our churches today is the lack of disciples being raised up from the multitudes of christians. Even more disheartening is that those believers in Christ, who had never been truly discipled, are content to bask in the glamour of the gospel; they accept Jesus into their hearts and take advantage of God for all that He can do for them. These believers have not yet captured the intensity of the great commission, and have yet to empty themselves to be used as God’s vessels. How sorrowful it is that so many believers listen to sermons week after week and are still like the newly born babes in Christ that are described in 2 Peter; they are seeking and longing for the nourishing milk of the Word, but have not put away their hypocrisy, deceit, and slander. Who will feed them if we have no disciples ready to meet the spiritual needs that new christians require?
The hundreds of congregations that meet every sunday are full to the brim with worship leaders, pastors, youth workers, evangelists, ushers, deacons, and board members, women’s ministry leaders, children’s clubs, and other ministries. These churches give altar calls, hold revivals, and pass out conversion cards and Bibles and reap a harvest of new believers. They have the workers, they have the means, and they even have the message of Christ and the power of His sacrifice, but the church today lacks trainers and mentors willing sacrifice the precious time it takes to invest in new believers.
An article recently written titled “Where Have All the Converts Gone?” states that of the new converts to christianity, less than one out of ten of them will stay in church. These new christians have not only heard of the gospel message, but have responded positively by accepting Christ into their hearts. Half of the battle has already been won by then! Where church members need to step up next is in truly involving these new believers into their lives. Jesus himself simply called his twelve disciples to just follow Him; and although he taught them many things, he mostly taught them with his actions. The disciples learned the love of God by being followers of Him. In the same manner we are to show new christians how to “follow” us. This means more than pointing out a reading plan for new believers; this means that we make one on one connections with them. This means taking time out of our busy schedules to learn their names, the struggles they go through, to pray for them, and to show them how to live righteously so that they might be effective in discipling others some day.
It is to the distress of the kingdom that these new believers are not sought after with diligence to be discipled in their new faith. They need to be taught more than the salvation message. They need to be closely guided and mentored through the storms that lay directly ahead of them. They must learn how to thoroughly search the scriptures and to defend their faith. They need to be filled with the holy spirit, and to receive the baptism of the holy spirit. They to learn to seek after God, to humble themselves before him and to pray for his provision and protection. They must learn how to fast and pray. They have to learn the love of the Father, and how to share their faith with others. They have to be baptized. Properly trained disciples are the fruit of the church. They are the testament to the faith that we believe in. When they learn to abide in Christ, their will be full, and they will be spilling out with the love of Christ. When a true disciple of Christ is living the faith set out before them it creates a powerful reaction: more people will be interested in having changed hearts, and even more lives will be changed.
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