{"id":322,"date":"2019-10-10T16:37:38","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T06:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=322"},"modified":"2019-10-22T09:21:16","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T23:21:16","slug":"the-discipleship-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=322","title":{"rendered":"The Discipleship Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A few weeks ago I was helping a\nministry team define their view of discipleship. I always find this process\nfascinating because the conversation usually start with \u2018our model is Biblical\u2019\nand then they go on to explain what they do which is almost always historically\nbased not Biblically based. This is not unusual because most of us are\nentrenched in our thinking and we consider what we think and do to be the correct\nway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">To bring some clarity to the discussion I introduced the words of Jesus in Matthew 28:16-20 (the Great Commission) and highlighted the key descriptors that are not obvious in most modern translations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the\nmountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped\nhim; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, \u201cAll authority in\nheaven and earth has been given to me <strong>and I have given that authority to\nyou.<\/strong> Therefore <strong>while you are going about your normal life<\/strong>, make\ndisciples of all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the\nSon and of the Holy Spirit, and <strong>walk, talk, listen, ask, experience life\ntogether and help<\/strong> them to <strong>just<\/strong> obey everything I have commanded you.\nAnd surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The Church intentionally practised this commission\nfor the first three centuries but, in the\nearly fourth century, the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity\nand his son Emperor Theodosius established Christianity as the state religion\nin A.D. 380. These historical events saw the beginning of what is called Constantinian\nChristendom, a term popularised by the theologian John H. Yoder. Constantinian\nChristendom introduced a period in which: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Followers\nof the Way (Jesus) were no longer persecuted by the state.<\/li><li>Gatherings\nof believers moved from being highly relational and meeting in small groups to\nbeing highly institutionalised and meeting in sanctified buildings.<\/li><li>The\nChurch and its people lost their missional intent.<\/li><li>The\npractice of intentional discipleship was gradually watered down. <\/li><li>The\nChurch was accommodated into society and became central to society. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Even though it has been in decline for\na long period, Constantinian Christendom (especially in the West) is said to\nhave finally come to an end at the beginning of the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century\nwith the emergence of the post-Christian culture and values.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">To actively disciple today I believe\nthe Church in the 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century will have to become more like\nthe pre-Constantine Church.\nDiscipleship will have to be an\nunfolding relational process that naturally introduces individuals to Jesus,\ncommunity, worship and ongoing spiritual growth and reproduction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus spent\nthree years intensely working with his disciples to prepare them for their\nfuture. He didn\u2019t have to make major adjustments to their view of God because\nthey were Jews. He didn\u2019t have to work on their moral behaviour because this\nwas clearly set in place from childhood. What he had to work on was their\nworldview. This is seen in Peter\u2019s response to the vision recorded in Acts 10.\nAs a Jew, \u2018<em>Get up, Peter,\nKill and eat<\/em>\u2019 was all wrong because his worldview told him that this\ncouldn\u2019t be God.&nbsp; So what made the\ndifference? I suggest it was Peter\u2019s recollection of Jesus speaking to the\nSamaritan Woman at the well (John 4), or his memory of Jesus relating to the\nCenturion and commending him on his faith (Mathew 8), or perhaps the response\nof Jesus to the Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">What changed\nSaul from being a persecutor of the \u2018Way\u2019 to being Paul, the advocate of the\n\u2018Way\u2019 and a successful Church Planter? Why did it take so long for Paul to get\ninvolved in ministry? As a Pharisee he obviously had a good understanding of\nGod from a Jewish worldview. I believe the stronger your worldview, the longer\nit takes to break down the blockages to seeing the future through the eyes of\nJesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">I am thankful\nthat my worldview has been continually challenged and influenced by open,\nbalanced and honest people who have been willing to consider, discuss and\nadjust their worldview in the light of what Jesus is doing in the world today. The\naim of my time with ministry teams is to help them review their current worldview\nand face the blockages that prevent them from discipling effectively in a new\nera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:18px\"><strong>Invitation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">If you are interested\nin looking at how best to engage potential disciples in our current cultural\ncontext you might find this blog site helpful. Just go to the URL below and\nregister to receive regular blog notices via email (click on Blog Subscription).\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\">https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">If the blog\nspikes your interest, we would also encourage you to pass the URL on to friends\nwho are also looking at how best to engage potential disciples in the 21<sup>st<\/sup>\ncentury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few weeks ago I was helping a ministry team define their view of discipleship. I always find this process fascinating because the conversation usually start with \u2018our model is Biblical\u2019 and then they go on to explain what they do which is almost always historically based not Biblically based. This is not unusual because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-322","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>The Discipleship Journey - 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=322\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Discipleship Journey - Discipling As You Go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few weeks ago I was helping a ministry team define their view of discipleship. I always find this process fascinating because the conversation usually start with \u2018our model is Biblical\u2019 and then they go on to explain what they do which is almost always historically based not Biblically based. This is not unusual because [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=322\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Discipling As You Go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-10T06:37:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-21T23:21:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/The-discipleship-journey-e1570688591972.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"245\" \/>\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=322#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Colin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec11c2e974200077742bbbd1020e9f45\"},\"headline\":\"The Discipleship Journey\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-10T06:37:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-21T23:21:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322\"},\"wordCount\":819,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/The-discipleship-journey-e1570688591972.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Uncategorized\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322\",\"name\":\"The Discipleship Journey - Discipling As You Go\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/The-discipleship-journey-e1570688591972.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-10T06:37:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-21T23:21:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec11c2e974200077742bbbd1020e9f45\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/The-discipleship-journey-e1570688591972.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/The-discipleship-journey-e1570688591972.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":245},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/?p=322#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/disciplingasyougo.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Discipleship Journey\"}]},{\"@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). 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