God has clearly given us a job to do, and we are never to give up. We are to dedicate ourselves to this task, and we must expect opposition, for we will be involved in the church’s primary and most effective task.

PROGRESS IS SLOW

Another reason disciplemaking requires faith is that it is a relatively slow process.

I personally don’t like shortcuts because they take so long and I have to keep starting over again. In no endeavor is this truer than in the disciplemaking process. If the proper product is to be developed, time will be a necessary ingredient. Christians won’t reproduce themselves in the lives of others until they are ready.

The disciplemaking road is filled with chuckholes. It is wet and slippery in places and has hairpin curves. It is like a long, tedious trip through the mountains in fog or snow, when you wonder if you will ever arrive. Our natural inclination therefore is to instead do what seems to be working well for Brother Al down the street His church has a bus ministry and a really sharp music minister, and with the help of a heavy media blitz he has built a large congregation. What can be wrong with that? you ask.

The answer is that unless Brother Al’s church is developed on more than techniques, he has accomplished nothing more than to prove that many people will attend the most entertaining church. He has, in fact, built a large spectator church which will be an impediment to the cause of Christ rather than a facilitator. A large spectator church perpetuates our tendency to become an army of sleeping giants who are spiritually obese, who are always taking in and never giving out, and whose faith is nothing more than the hoarding of blessed fire insurance.

Many lay men and women are only spectators in the spiritual conflict because there are not many pastors or Christian leaders who are committed to disciplemaking. These leaders are not willing to take the time to engage in a disciplemaking ministry. It takes too long.

This is a sad but true commentary on the Bride of Christ and it will not change until Christian leaders are willing to sacrifice fame and quick church growth in order to get serious about the job description Christ gave us.

Our tendency is to give up the cause too soon. Dieting is an everyday example. For years I tried to lose weight. I spared no expense in buying the latest dieting books and pamphlets. But each time I began a new dieting crusade, I would give up after a few weeks, telling my wife, “Honey, you don’t really mind a few extra pounds on me, do you.

Finally I got serious, and without any special books or helps except a simple calorie counter, I determined to change my eating habits. I set a goal to limit myself to a certain number of calories per day and to do it by establishing a new eating lifestyle. Six months later I had succeeded. This took time, effort, and the conviction that the system I was following would work. All this is needed in disciplemaking as well.

THE TASK IS POORLY UNDERSTOOD

Finally, making disciples requires faith also because it is difficult to understand and visualize. The easiest thing to get people excited about is something tangible such as a new building or a bus. But imagine a pastor standing before his congregation and saying with passionate conviction, “I believe our goal for this year should be to make twenty disciples. “I do not think anyone would be upset or would deny the worthiness of such an aspiration, but I am sure that few could visualize this type of product being completed. What is a disciple, and how would we know when we have twenty new ones?

One common misconception about discipleship is that it is too exclusive. The attitude that rules in some congregations is the convoy mentality�? The church makes a move when and only when the majority have agreed to do so. This is not a bad policy in some church matters, but it is not the wisest approach when the mission of the church is at stake.

Those who hold to the convoy philosophy fear a power play by the chosen few who are in control. This fear can be erased by a proper understanding of how Jesus used the process of selection in his ministry, giving the twelve time enough to learn and observe, and to consider the choices they were to make. This kind of process produces strong leadership and fewer mistakes.

Another common misconception is that discipleship requires too much structure, and therefore hinders the Holy Spirit. Quite often when objectives are brought up in a church planning meeting, a cry goes out that if we try to have specific goals for the coming year we are going to hinder the Spirit’s work. “After all,�?one champion of the faith might protest, “Jesus didn’t schedule his year, and Paul didn’t keep discipleship charts. These men turned the world upside down by the seat of their pants.�?This indicates widespread confusion on how the human and divine elements mesh in the body of Christ.

Christ’s church is a divine-human organism, in which God is in control. As he told Peter, �?I>I will build my church�?(Matthew 16:18 ). This entails his daily involvement in the church’s life and work. We should seek his perspective on every move, every decision, and every new program.

But Christ’s church is also a human-divine institution in which man is God’s instrument-his hands and feet, so to speak. We are his means on earth to carry out the mandate of heaven. He has no other plans that we know of.

Philippians 2:13 focuses on this truth: “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.�?We work out what God has worked in, and for this purpose he has equipped us with the Holy Spirit given to us freely as a result of our faith. We did nothing good to earn or deserve it. But once we have the basic tools and resources to do our job as his laborers, we must have the will to appropriate what he has given.

The Bible teaches that we are supernaturally transformed, not automatically. The Christian must obey. It is we who decide whether or not the Holy Spirit will take over and direct our existence.

If you had never ice-skated before but knew you were meant to be a skater, you could go to an ice rink, put on skates, and hit the ice-literally! You may be a potentially great skater, but you need instruction and practice, vital prerequisites for success in skating. Likewise, in discipleship the prerequisites; of faith and obedience open the door to the Holy Spirit’s having his way in our life. We work out what God has made available to us within.

We can, however, become too rigid in this work God has given us. The church must have plans and goals, but these must definitely be written in pencil, with an eraser handy. It is foolish to write them in concrete, with no allowance for flexibility. On the other hand, it is just as foolish to fly the church by the seat of our pious pants, with no structure whatsoever.

To summarize, disciplemaking takes courage, time and patience, and flexibility-and therefore, great faith.

Bill Hull is pastor of Homewood Evangelical Free Church in Moline, Illinois.