The Great Inversion: Church, Evangelism, Discipleship
The Great Inversion: Church, Evangelism, Discipleship
The North American church has largely adopted a system of priorities that looks like this:
1. Church
2. Evangelism
3. Discipleship
The reasoning for this order is that building the church lays the groundwork and creates the ability to effectively evangelize and disciple the larger community. A growing church amasses the resources to initiate effective evangelism programs. The fact that the church is growing is evidence that the church is achieving success at reaching people and gathering them in. As they are brought into the life of the church, they are exposed to the gospel, and make decisions and commitments to serve Christ, disengage with the world and its ways, and form meaningful and life giving relationships with other believers. Most of this activity happens within the context of the local church and its authorized extensions such as neighborhood small groups. As the church grows, it is able to provide more opportunities for its membership to participate in and receive the things necessary for spiritual growth. The church begins to more and more take the place of the world in its member’s lives. The church becomes the transcendent meeting place for God and his people. The pastor become the mediator for God’s Word. Bible classes and discipleship groups become the means and measure of spiritual growth. Spiritual formation becomes the responsibility of the trained and often paid staff. Evangelism happens inside the church during the preaching of the Word of God. The church becomes central to the life of its membership who are expected to invest their time and money in keeping the church resourced and growing.
This is all backwards. Lesslie Newbiggin said that we inverted the biblical injunction to “be in the world but not of it” and have become more likely to be of the world but not in it. The gospels present a different story, a narrative of God coming to lost people with a defining and primary challenge. Jesus said, over and over again, “follow me.” The word “church” is hardly mentioned in the gospels, a total of two times, both in Matthew. Jesus responded to Peter’s declaration of faith in Matt 16:18 saying, “on this rock I will build my church.” As he never talked of building an institution and actually predicted destruction when referring to the existing religious institution (Matt 24:2), he could not possibly be referring to the visible church, especially in the form that it presently takes throughout much of North America. He was rather referring to the mystical body of Christ, the church universal, all who would join themselves to the life of God through Jesus. The other reference to church occurs in Matt 18:17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector,” where the issue is over reconciliation and restoration in this mystical body when an offense that threatens to destroy the fabric of this body has occurred and the offender is resistant to repentance.
The word “follow,” or a form of it, is mentioned approximately seventy five times in the gospels in direct reference to following Jesus. To follow Jesus is the essence of discipleship. Every disciple entered into his relationship with Jesus by responding to the call to follow him. The specific phrase “follow me,” uttered by the lips of Jesus, occurs twenty times in the gospels. While there are additional requirements for discipleship, following Jesus is primary. Following always implies choices, both to go in the direction that the one you are following has set, and to abandon the direction that you have chosen and are presently traveling. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where the word repent comes into play. We can’t begin to follow someone until we realize that we are heading the other way and are willing to stop heading the other way. Those who repent, change direction, begin to follow Jesus, become his disciples. He will teach them although they will not often “get it.” No matter, if they keep following, they will eventually begin to understand. And out of this group of followers, a community of faith will emerge. A local expression of followers who begin to meet together is what constitutes a church. This is why the Great Commandment says nothing about building a church but everything about making disciples. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20).
It is of note that the Great Commandment is not a call to evangelize or build a church. Among Evangelicals, it is common to say that our fist obligation to God is to evangelize and “win the lost to Christ.” Evangelicals question whether one can disciple someone who has not already been evangelized. This question is grounded upon an inadequate understanding of discipleship. Evangelicals tend to view expository bible study and preaching as the means and mediators of discipleship. It is also of note that Jesus never organized bible study groups. His preaching, of which we have snippets, could hardly be called expository. The Sermon on the Mount, arguably the greatest sermon recorded in all of Scripture and found in Matthew chapters five through seven, is hardly a detailed analysis of an Old Testament pericope. None the less, the impact of this sermon is noted at the conclusion of Matthew chapter seven: “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Matt. 7:28-29).
It appears that the system of priorities revealed in the gospels is quite different than the current operating system in the North American church. I would suggest that it looks like this:
1. Discipleship
2. Evangelism
3. Church
It begins and stands on the call to follow Jesus. As we do this and call others to join in the journey, they too may choose to truly join in the life of Jesus and through him the life of God. They will appropriate the gospel as their own good news. They will be evangelized. As they do so, they become joined to the mystical body of Christ, the church universal. The local expression of the church is made up of such people. Those who congregate but are not truly joined to God through Christ are not really a church, no matter what they call themselves. They may be an organization even committed to good works, but they are not really the church. And the ones that masquerade as the church but are not committed to anything greater than their own self interest are really no more than or different from a club.
It is highly questionable whether Jesus gave his life for a club, just as it is highly questionable whether he is out to build the biggest and best club around. Our obsessive interest in building a bigger and better church says more about the very human desire to achieve and succeed than anything revealed in the gospels. Especially in consumptive North America, bigger is better, whether it is super sizing your Big Mac or building a church. Jesus is in the business of making disciples, and particularly disciples who make disciples. This will always require going. Our goal should not be to build the biggest gathering in town but to go out into the world with the gospel call to follow Jesus and become disciples. It is true that Jesus came to planet earth, but he didn’t go to Jerusalem to build a church. He went out to the highways and byways to call people into following him. At the end of his earthly ministry, he did go to Jerusalem to do at least three things: 1. to prophetically speak of the destruction of institutional religion, 2. to suffer, die, and be resurrected so that a new way to enter into the life of God would become possible for all people, and 3. to delegate the work of discipleship to his followers. This is now our challenge, to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. The church, if it is to emerge at all, will emerge from the disciples who will constitute it.
What shall we do with this thing called the church? Some advocate blowing it up and starting over. There is an assumption that you’ll end up with something radically different. That may not be true, especially if you try to start something new with the same people operating with the same set of priorities. Why not attempt to cultivate a better funded and more robust culture of discipleship within the current church context? Perhaps the real church will emerge from the institution as real disciples are made. If a church can devolve into an institution, it may be that an institution can be re-purposed and renewed through discipleship and regain its identity as the body of the one who gives it life. A few bible classes and good sermons are not going to get the job done. The small group/social club experience is not sufficient either. We are going to have to get back to what it means to follow Christ. The full implications of laying down your life (Matt 10:37-39; Luke 14:26-33) need to be heard, responded to, and lived into. The truth is that we can become disciples, even those of us who are currently card carrying members of the social club that calls itself the church. We may need to become a little less religious to hear and respond to the call. Jesus had better luck with tax collectors and prostitutes than he did with religious leaders. But the way of discipleship is open to any that will follow. This is our challenge, to follow in the full meaning of the word, at the cost of our lives as we know it, in faith that a new life lies ahead and open to us. We can and must follow Christ fully if we are ever to become the real living church, and to do what he told us is now our job, to make disciples who will follow him and make disciples.
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