Reflections on Discipleship: Craig Dykstra

Matthew’s version of the Great Commission calls us to “make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:16-20). Traditionally, churches kick-off their programs for children, youth and adult in the fall – an interesting blend of sacred religion (devotion to Christ!) with secular religion (football is back!) – and it has become common place to call such ministry “discipleship formation” rather than “education.” I applaud the change in nomenclature, as I believe it is more biblical both in phrasing and as a holistic, full-person description of Christian growth. But even the phrase discipleship formation still begs the question: how do we help form discipleshipwithin people?

            Craig Dykstra, in Growing in the Life of Faith, names fourteen practices that support discipleship growth:

·         Worshipping God together

·         Telling the Christian story to one another

·         Interpreting the Scriptures and history of church’s experience together

·         Praying

·         Confessing sins to one another

·         Tolerating one another’s failures and encouraging one another

·         Carrying out specific acts of service and witness

·         Giving generously

·         Suffering with and for one another and all our neighbors

·         Providing hospitality and care

·         Listening and talking attentively to one another

·         Struggling together to become conscious of and to understand the world in which we live

·         Criticizing and resisting powers and patterns that destroy people and corrode community

·         Working together to maintain and create structures and institutions that sustain life

An interesting spiritual exercise would be to use Dykstra’s list, gathering in groups of two or three to “examen” one’s maturity and the directions needed for growth as a disciple. Or, perhaps, the above list could serve as the template for a Session retreat to discern the areas of ministry in which your congregation is (and is not) empowering folks to move toward mature discipleship:

·         What are the areas of greatest strength and deepest need?

·         What are the Christian practices to which we give lip service but do not immerse ourselves in Christ?

·         What are the vital behaviors that encourage discipleship in each particular area of ministry?

·         What are we doing that (unintentionally) limits growth in each particular area of discipleship?

·         What practice is heard as if coming from a prophet calling in the wilderness?

·         What one practice calls to us to seek the mind of Christ today, as we “kick-off” this new “season” of making disciples?

Grace to you today and always,

Brad Munroe