There is no way I want the latest trend in churches to be formation – the next thing after church growth, seeker friendliness, church health, etc. There is a great deal of writing on this subject at present; it just may be that we are starting to see God’s agenda for the post-Christendom Church. But this is not about trends for churches; it is about having our theology govern us. This century evangelical theology is being re-shaped, and along with it how we train people for ministry and how we ‘do church’. This time is a watershed in our history and God is doing a new thing. I believe theology belongs in the church, so here’s a very brief, practical theology of formation.
It has traditionally been called sanctification, the theology of the Holy Spirit’s work in the believer, separating us for the work of Christ and for the process of becoming like him. The key texts are Rom 5-8, Gal 5-6, Col 1:1-17, 2 Pet 1 etc. But we need to teach and model the effort needed on our part for the power of God’s grace, by His Spirit, to transform our hearts. I have found people struggle with grace and effort, but a passage like Titus 2:11-14 supports Willard’s insight that grace is not opposed to effort but to earning. Self-discipline, regular spiritual exercise, is the key for us to teach and model.
As we teach these texts, we could provide a vision for people of what they would be like if they could automatically do what Jesus would do, rather than having to stop and think ‘WWJD’. Paint a picture for people of involuntary obedience and the fruit of the Spirit. Motivation starts with a personal vision, a glimpse of me, thinking, relating, behaving as if Jesus was me. When you read Willard, you discover his formula for teaching formation: Vision, Intention, Means. The means is spiritual disciplines, or what I prefer to call healthy spiritual habits. They are very similar to, and more necessary than, the regular exercises which we include in our physical diet and lifestyle. People do not get the value of spiritual self-discipline unless they have a vision and motivation.
They also need encouragement and support – transformation happens best in community.
Whatever expression of church you favour the goal is life change and that means formation is the focus. Forming the character of Christ within each of us must be the purpose of a local community of God’s people. This means a significant shift is probably required, to become a transformative community. There are a number of things churches do really well – building a caring community and a sense of belonging is one of them.
When we place people in nurturing small groups, the level of care will hopefully bring others into the life of the group. Some of us have moved to ‘connect’ groups, to re-engage the members in outreach, as well as praying and supporting each other. Whatever structure you have, it needs to facilitate formation. The focus for your church, in both celebration and cell, needs to be providing a structure that enables people to intentionally engage in a journey of transformation. That’s why community needs to be a safe place – not a safe place to hear a dangerous message, so much as a place safe enough to develop trust, and to be authentic and accountable. They are the keys to formative community.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
3. Preach and model making disciples (not converts)
Friends, we preach Christ crucified. Make no mistake. As pastors and leaders in his Church, we guard the gospel; we preach and live it as faithfully as we can. We are serious about evangelism and seeing others come to Christ. We have programs in our churches year after year to reach out to people. How we go about evangelism is a key question, especially now that the socio-cultural context has significantly changed.
I want to confess a significant shift in my philosophy of ministry from several years ago. There I was as part of a team making everything we did contemporary, training our people in witness and encouraging them to build relationships with others and invite them to church. Be “seeker friendly”; “invest and invite”. But the shift for me came with a gradual realization. I was privileged to see men in their forties come to Christ, but then they became totally enveloped in church life and lost virtually all other relationships they once had. Converted, but converted to what – local church membership?
To focus on evangelism can lead only to making converts not disciples. The imperative in the great commission is to ‘make disciples’ – ‘go’, ‘teach’ and ‘baptize’ are supportive participles, meaning they are part of disciple-making. I confess that I once saw the command as “go” (outreach), but there is no division in the great commission into evangelism (read conversion) followed by teaching. If the Church has very few new Christians, it may be because our church members are not serious about being disciples.
We have been doing mission without making disciples. Making disciples is about shaping people to Christ-likeness; it’s about formation. Mission follows formation. Anyone who is passionately shaping their life to be like Jesus will be seeing life missionally and being missionally active, to use some recent terminology. If we focus on getting people into heaven, we miss the mark. Rather, as Dallas Willard says, we seek to get heaven into people. If we sow formation in our church, we will reap mission.
The elephant in the western Church is formation. We are about the Father’s ‘business’ of changing lives. Arguably, conversion may be the start we require, but inner transformation produces the fruit of the Spirit’s life-changing work in us. We only have to look in the mirror to know we can have a head-full of Bible knowledge and be strongly evangelistic, but if the ungodly attitudes, words and behaviours remain, we are not being formed into the mini-Christ that God desires us to be. His plan is to have mini-Christs serving Him, by loving others, all around the globe. Mini-Christs are the result of a formation focus, not head-knowledge and involvement in local church activities and programs. Transforming the world one person at a time starts with ‘me’.
A disciple is someone who wants to become like their master, not just believe and belong. The essence of discipleship is the journey to Christ-likeness; it is transformation. That is best done in community – Paul’s use of the term “you” is almost always in the plural. Those of us entrusted with congregational formation, must pay heed to our own inner journey to Christ-likeness, and invite others with us on that journey.
I want to confess a significant shift in my philosophy of ministry from several years ago. There I was as part of a team making everything we did contemporary, training our people in witness and encouraging them to build relationships with others and invite them to church. Be “seeker friendly”; “invest and invite”. But the shift for me came with a gradual realization. I was privileged to see men in their forties come to Christ, but then they became totally enveloped in church life and lost virtually all other relationships they once had. Converted, but converted to what – local church membership?
To focus on evangelism can lead only to making converts not disciples. The imperative in the great commission is to ‘make disciples’ – ‘go’, ‘teach’ and ‘baptize’ are supportive participles, meaning they are part of disciple-making. I confess that I once saw the command as “go” (outreach), but there is no division in the great commission into evangelism (read conversion) followed by teaching. If the Church has very few new Christians, it may be because our church members are not serious about being disciples.
We have been doing mission without making disciples. Making disciples is about shaping people to Christ-likeness; it’s about formation. Mission follows formation. Anyone who is passionately shaping their life to be like Jesus will be seeing life missionally and being missionally active, to use some recent terminology. If we focus on getting people into heaven, we miss the mark. Rather, as Dallas Willard says, we seek to get heaven into people. If we sow formation in our church, we will reap mission.
The elephant in the western Church is formation. We are about the Father’s ‘business’ of changing lives. Arguably, conversion may be the start we require, but inner transformation produces the fruit of the Spirit’s life-changing work in us. We only have to look in the mirror to know we can have a head-full of Bible knowledge and be strongly evangelistic, but if the ungodly attitudes, words and behaviours remain, we are not being formed into the mini-Christ that God desires us to be. His plan is to have mini-Christs serving Him, by loving others, all around the globe. Mini-Christs are the result of a formation focus, not head-knowledge and involvement in local church activities and programs. Transforming the world one person at a time starts with ‘me’.
A disciple is someone who wants to become like their master, not just believe and belong. The essence of discipleship is the journey to Christ-likeness; it is transformation. That is best done in community – Paul’s use of the term “you” is almost always in the plural. Those of us entrusted with congregational formation, must pay heed to our own inner journey to Christ-likeness, and invite others with us on that journey.
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