The Jesus Model of Discipleship

Over the centuries writers have puzzled about how Jesus made disciples.  Before departing this earth he gave the believers their marching orders: Make disciples of every people group everywhere.  Since that time the Church has had a mixed review as to achieving this end.  It is apparently much easier to make converts that disciples.  If we define a disciple of Jesus as one who is becoming more like Jesus while fulfilling the mission of making disciples of every nation, then we have had only moderate success through the ages.  Maybe it is time to revisit the Jesus Model of Discipleship.

Virtually every book written about Jesus and discipleship has been done from the limited vantage point of trying to discern what Jesus did rather than why Jesus did it.  When analyzing the "what" we have very little room to maneuver around the "why."  The emphasis is on the method that Jesus used rather than the principles that he used.  This is an important distinction as it limits our recognizable options.  The methods of Jesus are fairly straight forward:

• He made disciples while pursuing a higher vision
• While many disciples chose to follow him, his core team was hand picked.
• Rather than pouring over Biblical texts the disciples listened to Jesus
• Rather than an event, they experienced a major life style change by joining his team
• While interacting with Jesus the disciples spent a lot of time interacting with one another
• The disciples did not stop at listening, Jesus sent them out to experience ministry by doing
• Jesus was a master at taking experiences and turning them into learning opportunities

As a theological educator I am very concerned that we have swallowed a model of education that flows out of the Enlightenment and its emphasis on rationality and the scientific method.  While both play an important part in helping us understand our world they also lead us down a path dead end when it comes to developing virtues and values.  

We need to return to the Jesus Model to discover the principles.  Jesus understood that discipleship is a process and he developed a model that was culturally appropriate for the time in which he lived.  We need to return to the model and discover the underlying principles so that we can develop methods that are compatible with theological education and the time in which we live.  We MUST incorporate into our current methods of theological education teaching and training that transforms our students and makes them transformers for their churches and communities.  I am reminded of a short poem by Rick Warren

Methods are many
Principles are few
Methods change often
Principles never do

Let's go beyond the methods and find the principles from which to construct new methods that achieve the mission to make disciples of all nations.

Phil

Garden of Eden Discovered

It is true, no hoax.  I know “about” where the Garden of Eden is located.  Ok, ok, it may not be exactly, but definitely the neighborhood.  After a thorough search and a lot of study we have been able to narrow the possibilities down to one key region.  In the past it was thought the Garden may have been located in what is now Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. There is still speculation that this area may have been the site of the building of the great tower that led to a “babel” of languages.   But we now know the truth!  Let me explain.

The story of man is written in the code of our genetic makeup. All humans carry genetic features that help us track where they have come from and where they went (such as the Y chromosome known as M168).  More and more evidence is stacking up that through genetic tracking we now know that man

originated in Africa.  While there is some doubt as to the exact location (some are holding out for South Africa while others agree that it was probably East Africa) there is a growing consensus that we are all African in origin.

God gave the command to Adam to go and populate the world shortly after his creation (Gen. 1:28).  It was evident that God had a mission for His creation and that it called for us to be busy about His work.  While there was some hesitation and delay, Adam and Eve’s dependents began to head out of Africa to populate the globe.

Once again God is calling on Africans to go forth in maturity to fulfill a mission.  Matthew 28:19,20 (the Great Commission) gives us the clarion call of Jesus to Go and be about the Father’s business of making disciples.  Just over a decade ago the continent of Africa was called the “Hopeless Continent” .  But now across the web and across the world Africa is being viewed as the continent of hope and potential.  Global Christianity is also seeing something new and fresh.

Africa On Mission 

Just a few weeks ago I had the privilege to participate in a missions conference in one of the state capitals of Nigeria.  What made it a bit unusual was that it was organized and paid for by a local church.  Over 1,500 leaders from 15 countries joined together to work out strategies for completing the Great Commission in their generation.  Most of the speakers and workshop leaders were African.  It was an encouraging time of witnessing what has begun in Africa.

Once again God is calling on the children of the new Adam to move out of Africa on mission to complete what so many others have contributed to but failed to complete: fulfilling the Great Commission.  It is poetic that as the first Adam moved out to physically populate the earth now the representatives of the last Adam are going forth with the message of a new birth to populate heaven and bring forth a people from every tribe, tongue and nation to worship our God (Rev. 7:9).

1 Corinthians 1:27 (NLT)
²⁷ Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 

Wisdom vs ???

What comes to mind when I ask, "what is the opposite of wisdom?"  The first thing that came to my mind was foolishness. But I have had to back track and reconsider.  The first thing we need to do is define our terms.  Wisdom has different uses and different meanings in different parts of the Old Testament.  What we are most interested in is the wisdom discussed by Solomon and mentioned in Proverbs and Psalms.  This has been defined as -"the art of reaching one's end by the use of the right means" (Smend).  Godly wisdom would be "achieving the purposes of God in God's ways."  Foolishness can be defined as a "Void of understanding or sound judgment; weak in intellect; applied to general character."   

Frederick Herzberg was a psychologist who did a lot of work on motivation.  He developed research on what motivates us and what can demotivate us.  What he discovered was that what motivates us does not necessarily demotivate us in its absence and visa-versa.  For instance (see chart) having a sense of achievement can be very motivating, but not having a great sense of achievement is not necessarily demotivating to the same degree.  Which brings us back to wisdom.  The absence of wisdom is not necessarily foolishness.  In fact I would argue that the vacuum left by a lack of wisdom leads to rules and regulations (see previous post).  If we cannot count on people doing the right thing then we need to put into place rules to ensure they will do the right thing.  The problem, of course, is that we will never be able to put enough rules into place to ensure the right thing is done.  When rules replace wisdom the absurd replaces the obvious (see Barry Schwartz).  Decisions are no longer guided by common sense and wisdom but by fear of the consequences for not keeping the rules.

Christian ministries need to be guided by wisdom not an abundance of rules and regulations.  If we have staff who are not wise and do not understand the difference between wisdom (focusing on God's interests) and poor judgement (self-interest) then we need to do some major training or find new staff.  Godly living and holiness can never be the by-produce of rule keeping.  This was proven over and over by the experience of Israel through the ages.  Jesus came not to set up right conduct by an abundance of rules, but to change hearts so that the natural choice would be to live wisely in order to glorify God with all that we say and do. Christian organizations need to focus on developing wisdom in their staff to guide Godly decisions. Rules are designed to provide standard responses to situations and is a sure way to kill creativity and initiative. I still like the Nordstrom's rules for their organization:  
Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. No other rules!
I think will rewrite the ICM rules:

Rule #1: Use Godly wisdom in all situations.  There are no need for any other rules!

Rules Rule!

The origin of the word bureaucracy is interesting.  It is a French word that means "rule by desk."  According to some sources the word came into being when a German business man complained to his French partner the frustration he was experiencing in shipping products to France.  The response was simple:  we have a government that rules from their desks through rules."  We are constantly seeing this in the world around us, including our ministries.  If something bad happens our rule makers spring into action to make a new rule. Rules have a purpose as Scott Simon points out:
"Scott Simon,  NPR said, “Rules and procedures may be dumb, but they spare you from thinking. "

The counter point to rules is the virtue of wisdom.  Practical wisdom is the combination of moral will and moral skill (Aristotle), according to Barry Schwartz.  Rather than being rule makers theological institutions need to be wisdom developers.  This is not lost on businesses that have huge employee handbooks that cover everything they can think of to cover...themselves against unhappy employees suing them.  Of course developing wisdom, as with all virtues, takes a lot more time and energy...and has a lot more long term value.  Any country that bases its well being on rules will end up ruled by autocrats, bureaucrats and eventually dictators.  We do not want nonthinking people who follow the rules, we want spiritual mature people able to listen to their God and carry out their tasks with passion and compassion.  

Take a few minutes to listen to Barry Schwartz at a Ted Talk:  Recorded

Or read his comments at: Transcribed talk

My friend, Greg, pointed out (more than once) the value of simplicity when he shared with me Nordstrom's Employee Handbook:

Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

What is Holistic Training?

One of the key concepts that underpin ICM's approach to training and ministry is systems.  This is a science of wholeness or holism.  Instead of breaking the different parts into ever smaller parts (reductionism) we look for emergent properties that come as the individual part work together.  People are greater than their individual parts.  Their "person hood" is an emergent property that comes out of all the various parts working together.  If you took the person apart the emergent properties would disappear (see further explanation below).

One of the weaknesses of current models of church development is to view the church as separate from its environment.  We do the same thing with theological institutions like Africa Theological Seminary.  We view the seminary as a whole when learners come to campus but we seldom view it within the context of its community.  In ICM that is changing.  Our major input is learners from around Africa.  While our output is graduates our desire outcome is changed communities.  This is forcing us to see ICM/ATS as more than a "school."  We are changed agents that focus on leaders AND churches as our target audiences.  We see that our work is not complete without engaging communities for change.  As part of the goal we are blessed to have Renita Reed leading the charge to make market place businesses part of the call of the church.  Our goal is to build into the church its critical role to help equip business people to develop for effective and efficient businesses.  This is done as these business owners are recognized as special ministers to the community through their businesses and lives.

Here is a quote and a challenge from Scottish theologian Dr. George MacLeod (1895 – 1991)

“I simply argue that the cross be raised again, at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves, on the town garbage heap, on a crossroad so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek, or shall we say, in English, in Bantu, and in Afrikaans—at the kind of place where cynics curse and soldiers gamble, because that is where He died, and that is what He died about, and that is where Christians should be and what Christians should be about.”          

Our goal is to once again make the church whole in its approach to train and equip all people helping them to see and understand that we are all part of the glorious call to make disciples in the church and in the community...

Read the latest from Renita Reed: http://www.reedsinthewind.blogspot.com/

Systems and Holism (from ὅλος holos, a Greek word meaning all, whole, entire, total), is the idea that natural systems (physical, biological, chemical, social, economic, mental, linguistic, etc.) and their properties, should be viewed as wholes, not as collections of parts. This often includes the view that systems somehow function as wholes and that their functioning cannot be fully understood solely in terms of their component parts.^[1][2]

Reductionism is often viewed as the opposite of holism. Reductionism in science says that a complex system can be explained by reduction to its fundamental parts. For example, the processes of biology are reducible to chemistry and the laws of chemistry are explained by physics.

Social scientist and physician Nicholas A. Christakis explains that "for the last few centuries, the Cartesian project in science has been attempting to break matter down into ever smaller bits, in the pursuit of understanding. And this works, to some extent... but putting things back together in order to understand them is harder, and typically comes later in the development of a scientist or in the development of science."^[3]

Myth Buster

There is a television show or was called Myth Busters.  It would take some commonly accepted ideas and reveal them that our common knowledge is often wrong.  What we fail to understand is that what we believe to be true often guides our behavior.  It has been noted that "it is not what we do not know that hurts us the most.  But what we know that is not true."  This has led to a number of books showing that we really are irrational about many things around us.  Part of our problem is that we never ask, "is there any quality research done on this?"

Education is going through a major shake up as our understanding of how we learn increases.  Some bemoan the fact that we are raising children with less and less motivation to do serious reading and writing.  All of the TV and video games are taking time away from serious literacy learning...or maybe not.  Perhaps we are simply following the path of least resistance. We are designed as learning machines.  The key is finding out how we most easily learn and then design our learning and teaching methods to follow these paths where possible.

There are basic learning methods (we are designed to learn certain things in certain ways) that enable us to learning the information and knowledge that will protect us and enhance our ability to live and work in our world.  We have built in mind apps (heuristics) that help us navigate the world around us.  And we have added learning methods, such as reading and writing and programming.  These secondary methods enable us to do much more than our native programs permit.

It is time to understand that while we may be less literate in the future we will become more knowledgeable and capable to face the future.  Read this article by Cisco:  Read Now

Don't be too disappointed to find out that our oft quoted pyramid of learning is not quite what it seems:

We remember

10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
etc.

Here is another shocker for some: There is no validated research showing the validity of basing teaching on Learning Styles.  In fact the validated research shows that the whole premise of Learning Styles is on very shaky ground.  See Learning Styles Debunked.

Post Literacy or Hyper Literacy?

When we speak of a post literate era we do not mean no literacy.  It is like speaking of Europe as post Christian.  It does not mean there are no Christians, it simply means that Christianity is no longer central to life.  Statistics can be right and yet very misleading.  Recent headlines on NBC News Website  states: "More than 50 percent of students at four-year schools and more than 75 percent at two-year colleges lacked the skills to perform complex literacy tasks."  Depending on what you read it gets much, much worse.  "How can it be that, between 1982 and 2007, reading declined by nearly 20% for the overall U.S. population and 30% for young adults aged 18–24, or that 40 million Americans read at the lowest literacy level?" (see the whole article).

But maybe there is another way of looking at it.

We are moving into an era where literacy as we know it is no longer the main or only way to amass knowledge and information.  This might be a good thing.  God did not create us with the means to read and write.  We cannot simply watch someone else do it and automatically pick it up.  It is a skill alien to us and must be learned through rigorous study.  That is not a bad thing but it may not be the best thing.  With the advent of the digital age (and beyond) there are more ways to learn that are more akin to how we were created to learn.  The following link will take you to the new business book.  It has all the information of the traditional business book but is designed to more easily flow with the natural way we learn: Book Yourself Solid.  



Imagine if textbooks were written like this.  Well the day is here.  More and more information is being passed on and processed visually (which is far more efficient).  The question is "how important is literacy for the future?"  The answer may be "not very important."  This will come at a price but it is not a matter of choice.  The future is already here.  In the next decade more and more of the world will absorb information more than read it.  If you are interested read this book/blog: Beyond Literacy is a thought experiment about the demise of literacy and the rise of other capabilities, capacities or tools that will effectively and advantageously displace reading and writing.