{"id":272,"date":"2019-08-14T17:46:47","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T07:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272"},"modified":"2019-08-16T17:35:36","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T07:35:36","slug":"isnt-it-time-to-break-the-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272","title":{"rendered":"Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> In my early ministry at a seaside town in Queensland, Australia, I had a meaningful exchange with one of my young leaders which has remained in my memory. We were standing on a jetty, looking out at the river, when I challenged him to join me on a journey of making new disciples of Jesus. I\u2019ve never forgotten his response. How could he effectively disciple others into a meaningful relationship with Jesus when he himself had never been properly discipled? So I issued a further challenge to him: Would he use his lack of discipleship as an excuse not to join me or as the motivation to come on a journey of learning together how to disciple others well. I remember my response was something like this: <strong>\u2018<em>Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle<\/em>?\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It wasn\u2019t easy to break that cycle but it was the beginning of a lifelong journey for me and for others who have been willing to join me along the way. That was over 30 years ago and what we have learned about discipleship since then is radical, but I still find myself asking the same question today, inviting others to embark on a discipling pathway with me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The definition of discipleship behind\nthat question is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u2018\u2018Discipleship is the whole of life\nresponse of a person to Jesus Christ. Everything a person believes and does is\nan aspect of discipleship. The goal of discipleship for an individual is\ngrowing and maturing, examining and changing how they think, feel and act as\nthey become more Christ-like in every aspect of life\u2019. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The evidence suggests that the church\nin Australia still has a long way to go in seeing more of this kind of disciple\nand the sobering reality is that if we\nare not transitioning our current discipleship processes to meet the dramatic\nchanges that are already happening in the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century (especially\nin the West), we will see less and less people who are becoming\nChrist-like in every aspect of their life. We can no\nlonger respond to the current situation by simply continuing to do what we have\nalways done.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After writing our first book \u2018<em>As you go, make Disciples\u2019, <\/em>we received\na lot of feedback and a variety of responses from both ministry leaders and individual\ndisciplers. One of the common responses from readers was, \u2018<em>Colin, how did you reach the conclusions you did? What was the journey\nyou took to get to this place?<\/em>\u2019 At that point I realised that I hadn\u2019t tried\nto systematically record what I had discovered about the discipleship journey. \u2018<em>As you go, make Disciples\u2019<\/em> was simply\nwhere my journey with Jesus took me, along with others who shared parts of my\njourney. All of this was undergirded by a voracious appetite to discover as\nmuch as I could about following Jesus authentically. It was never about\nlearning for learning\u2019s sake but about applying and growing along with a\ncommunity of God\u2019s people. So for the next two years the questions people asked\ngave me the incentive to revisit the 2000 years of church history in order to understand\nthe line of discipleship that weaves its way through that history. The end\nresult was the book \u2018<em>Making Disciples in\na Postmodern Era-Reviewing and Contextualising Historical Discipleship\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What I\ndiscovered in those two years was that the Church historically has spent a lot\nof time using words that we don\u2019t fully understand.&nbsp; These include words\nlike Evangelism, Mission and especially Discipleship.&nbsp; We use these words\nto describe the activities of the church and implement them in strategic and\nmechanical ways.&nbsp; We go through the motions of trying to make them work\nwithout completely understanding what they are and how these concepts are to be\nutilised in the life of the church. Ultimately we are unsure how to measure\nwhether they are effective.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One leader put\nit this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>When I read this book I was faced with things that made me uncomfortable, truths that challenged my traditions\/paradigms that I have held without challenge for years, but ultimately it encouraged me to check my current personal commitment to making disciples. I realised I needed to take personal responsibility for my own journey to grow as a mature disciple of Jesus, be willing to confront my long-standing paradigms and view them in the light of the teaching and practice of Jesus and the historical church, and face the reality that the journey of making disciples is a costly process that I\u2019m willing to commit to. &nbsp; <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What we currently believe about discipleship and how it is outworked is influenced by the <strong>history<\/strong>, <strong>culture, philosophy<\/strong>, and c<strong>hurch belief\/practice <\/strong>of the last 2000 years. The aim of the next few blogs is to review this historical journey of discipleship to discover how we arrived at what we currently believe and practise, and then to outline the blockages to change that will hinder the practice of discipleship in the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my early ministry at a seaside town in Queensland, Australia, I had a meaningful exchange with one of my young leaders which has remained in my memory. We were standing on a jetty, looking out at the river, when I challenged him to join me on a journey of making new disciples of Jesus. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle? - Discipling As You Go<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle? - Discipling As You Go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In my early ministry at a seaside town in Queensland, Australia, I had a meaningful exchange with one of my young leaders which has remained in my memory. We were standing on a jetty, looking out at the river, when I challenged him to join me on a journey of making new disciples of Jesus. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Discipling As You Go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-14T07:46:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-16T07:35:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"229\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Colin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Colin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Colin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec11c2e974200077742bbbd1020e9f45\"},\"headline\":\"Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-14T07:46:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-16T07:35:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272\"},\"wordCount\":849,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Uncategorized\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272\",\"name\":\"Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle? - Discipling As You Go\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-14T07:46:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-16T07:35:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec11c2e974200077742bbbd1020e9f45\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":229},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=272#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Discipling As You Go\",\"description\":\"The Discipleship Journey - At the start of his ministry Jesus began the journey of discipling (John 1:35-51). He spent three years intensely working with these disciples to prepare them for what was to come. At the end of His ministry, Jesus addresses those same disciples and tells them it is now their turn to disciple (Matthew 28:18-20). Over the next 2000 years followers of Jesus wrestled with what it means to disciple as the world around them continues to change. As we enter another major historical change, we have to ask what it means to disciple in the 21st century. \u201cThe depth of discipleship in the 21st century will define the future shape of the Church\u201d\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec11c2e974200077742bbbd1020e9f45\",\"name\":\"Colin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fa90ecb2f53d6b69d6d01c1cac644a6bb529b0024ce09e7c01500a6cbd89f6b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fa90ecb2f53d6b69d6d01c1cac644a6bb529b0024ce09e7c01500a6cbd89f6b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fa90ecb2f53d6b69d6d01c1cac644a6bb529b0024ce09e7c01500a6cbd89f6b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Colin\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle? - Discipling As You Go","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle? - Discipling As You Go","og_description":"In my early ministry at a seaside town in Queensland, Australia, I had a meaningful exchange with one of my young leaders which has remained in my memory. We were standing on a jetty, looking out at the river, when I challenged him to join me on a journey of making new disciples of Jesus. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272","og_site_name":"Discipling As You Go","article_published_time":"2019-08-14T07:46:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-08-16T07:35:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":229,"url":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Colin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Colin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272"},"author":{"name":"Colin","@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec11c2e974200077742bbbd1020e9f45"},"headline":"Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle?","datePublished":"2019-08-14T07:46:47+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-16T07:35:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272"},"wordCount":849,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg","articleSection":["Uncategorized"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272","url":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272","name":"Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle? - Discipling As You Go","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg","datePublished":"2019-08-14T07:46:47+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-16T07:35:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec11c2e974200077742bbbd1020e9f45"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg","width":300,"height":229},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=272#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Isn\u2019t it time to break the cycle?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/","name":"Discipling As You Go","description":"The Discipleship Journey - At the start of his ministry Jesus began the journey of discipling (John 1:35-51). He spent three years intensely working with these disciples to prepare them for what was to come. At the end of His ministry, Jesus addresses those same disciples and tells them it is now their turn to disciple (Matthew 28:18-20). Over the next 2000 years followers of Jesus wrestled with what it means to disciple as the world around them continues to change. As we enter another major historical change, we have to ask what it means to disciple in the 21st century. \u201cThe depth of discipleship in the 21st century will define the future shape of the Church\u201d","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec11c2e974200077742bbbd1020e9f45","name":"Colin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fa90ecb2f53d6b69d6d01c1cac644a6bb529b0024ce09e7c01500a6cbd89f6b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fa90ecb2f53d6b69d6d01c1cac644a6bb529b0024ce09e7c01500a6cbd89f6b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fa90ecb2f53d6b69d6d01c1cac644a6bb529b0024ce09e7c01500a6cbd89f6b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Colin"},"url":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Isn\u2019t-it-time-to-break-the-cycle-e1565840202684.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290,"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions\/290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}