We were grateful for the opportunity to be the hosts of a Regional Roundtable of the Rebuild Network from Blueprint Church in Atlanta on October 25th and 26th.
Here is the description of the Regional Roundtable as told by the Rebuild Network: “Rebuild Roundtables bring together 15-20 men who are multiplying leaders in the urban context—Pastors, church planters, artists, and urban leaders—to gather with others from the same urban region to connect, share, inspire, and equip. Experienced leaders will provide exceptional teaching and equipping at each roundtable, and in a gospel-centered environment you will speak to each others’ ministry needs, best practices, and connect with a network of leaders just like you.”
The topic of this weekend’s roundtable was “Discipleship in the Local Church.” We were blessed to hear on the subject from Dhati Lewis, pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta. The discussion focused mainly on the urban church but could be applied to all churches around the country and the world. For the Rebuild Network, “urban” is defined by density and diversity.
I had two big takeaways from the event: 1. How we approach God and 2. Creating a culture of discipleship.
Dhati spoke wisely on the difference between how the church tells us we are supposed to approach God and how in reality we approach him. The church we have grown up in says that to come to church we must first bring sacrifice. Our sacrifice leads to obedience. And our obedience leads to love. Sacrifice –> Obedience –> Love. It is the idea that we come to God owing something, a sacrifice for falling short. We can only begin to obey God once we have brought this sacrifice and are made right with him. Then this obedience to God brings about love from him and for him.
This may sound like wisdom but could not be further from what the Bible teaches. The Bible tells us that we literally have nothing we can bring to God. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that even our most righteous deeds are like filthy rags in front of the majesty and perfection of God. Because of this, there is nothing that we can bring before God to justify ourselves in his sight.
The only thing we bring before God is need. When we draw near to God realizing that all we have is need, his presence is made known to us. His presence brings about gratitude in our hearts, which upon realizing our unmerited favor in his eyes brings about love for him. This in turn conforms us to his image in obedience and we begin to sacrifice things for him—not to justify ourselves but out of the gratitude of his love for us.
So instead of Sacrifice –> Obedience –> Love, the real way that we approach God is this: Need –> Presence –> Gratitude –> Love –> Obedience –> Sacrifice. And that is an incredibly freeing thing. God doesn’t require us to come to him with anything but need.
The second big takeaway I had from this weekend was that a church doesn’t fulfill the Great Commission by just talking about discipleship or saying it is something we value. In order to see disciples made through the local church, we have to instill a “culture of discipleship” throughout our church body. Discipleship, as defined by the Rebuild Network, is “our capacity to lovingly embody and transmit the life of Jesus through our lives as followers.”
This culture begins with the realization that it is not just the job of the pastor to disciple people. If anything, his role is to equip disciples of Christ to go out and disciple others. Jesus didn’t teach just so that his disciples could have more knowledge. He taught them so that they could go out and teach others.
If an entire congregation of people jumps on board with this vision of discipleship we truly could see amazing things happen as the Kingdom of God comes to this earth. Just as Jesus’ 12 went out and flipped the world upside down (Acts 17:6), so we are called into this culture of discipleship to flip our world upside down.
The beauty of being a disciple who disciples others is that it can happen in our every day life. We all know Matthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” But what we may not know is what the word “go” implies. The Greek word there is poreuō. One can translate this word as “go”, but elsewhere in Matthew 2:9, the same word is translated as “went on their way.” So putting this other meaning into the Great Commission we can see that discipleship, or making disciples, is not just for the missionary, the one who is sent, the one who “goes.”
The verse can be read as this: “In going (or on your way), make disciples of all nations…” So it is not in the scheduled one-on-one over coffee, or weekly bible study that discipleship happens. Disciple making happens in the everyday of life. It happens with the people that God places around you. It happens within your house with your spouse and children.
This is freeing to know that we don’t have to go out of our way to be a disciple maker. We do not have to be a missionary in a foreign land to fulfill the Great Commission. However, the phrase “in going” does not relieve us of our responsibility to tell and teach others about who God is and what he has done. We can’t use it as an excuse to say that we will just go about our normal lives and change nothing.
The truth is, we do not naturally desire to “go and make disciples.” We have to be intentional about seizing the opportunities that God has put around us in order to show the love of Christ to people. It is in that moment when your two sons start fighting over a toy that you can step in and tell how the love of God frees us to share with one another. It is in that moment when your boss yells at you because he is having a bad day that you can simply receive his tongue lashing without complaint. It is in that moment when your friend who does not know God asks a question about why your life looks different than other people.
In our going we make disciples but we have to be intentional in order to do so.
These messages that the Rebuild Network brought to us this weekend were truly a blessing. Thanks to Dhati Lewis and all the Rebuild Residents for coming to New Orleans to help train and equip us to be more faithful disciples and to more faithfully disciple.
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