I just finished reading a book I normally would not have read: THE ANATOMY OF A DISCIPLE, by, um, "Dr." Rick Taylor. I read it because it was handed off to me by a coworker who is concerned about her salvation and whether or not she is, in truth, a follower of Jesus, and a subject of the Kingdom of God.
After only starting to read the book she handed it to me and asked me what I think of it, so I read it.
It's not bad. It is very biblical and the only places I think it to be lacking are where it slightly underplays the radical nature of the life Jesus calls His followers to live.
Interestingly, as I read it, I found the book affirming changes that took place in my life as I abandoned the role of pastor/parish priest to live in the world as a follower of Jesus.
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When I was about two thirds of the way through the book, it occurred to me to ask myself how the lives of CGGC leaders align with the biblical definition of the life of a disciple.
And, I was startled but, after reflection, not surprised.
Now, understand that I am judging those people by the fruit they produce that I can see. Understand also, that I am only familiar enough to discern the fruit of ERC and some CGGC leaders.
Reading the book, I fear for many of the people at the top of the CGGC hierarchy.
In the ERC especially, leaders seem so involved in mending the old wineskin and developing new wines that won't tear it that they don't have time to live in the way Jesus says a disciple must live. They are so involved in attending meetings and oiling the machine of the institution that they can't be Jesus in the real world. They couldn't possibly have the time. They don't even approach the life Jesus both commands and demands. May God have mercy on them.
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Having said that about the ERC, I will say, of Lance Finley personally, that he has lived the life in the time I have known him.
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The latest big push in the CGGC these days is on disciple making.
But, unless our leaders let their lives so shine before us that we may see their biblical discipleship and glorify our Father in heaven, the push toward disciple making will be nothing more than the latest failed fad.
We must repent.
One quick note about THE ANATOMY OF A DISCIPLE: The book says nothing about disciples attending so-called worship services or attending church in any way.
ReplyDeleteIt talks about living in community with other disciples and it talks about involvement in the sort of small groups that function in our small community of gatherings.
This, I believe, is one very important reason that the CGGC push to make disciples will be a failed fad. In the CGGC, discipleship seems to serve the institution. It exists specifically in the context of the institutional church. In the Word, that is not the case.
Please don't get me wrong about CGGC leaders. I know many of them fairly well and I like them. What's more is that I love them in the Lord and I am concerned for their souls.
ReplyDeleteI know them all to be good and sincere, well, guys, but, clearly, something is amiss with them. Working as hard and as sincerely as they are, they continue to oversee the decline of our body.
The Lord is not blessing what they are doing. And, it seems to me sometimes that I am the only person who has noticed that.
In the book, a disciple is defined as someone who follows Jesus with the intent of being like him and I think that our leaders miss the mark at that very basic place--and in many ways.
Jesus didn't have an office. He never called a meeting. He never formed a Commission or a Task Force. He didn't create a Mission Statement.
And...
...most importantly, He saw Himself, not as a leader developing other leaders but as a servant creating a kingdom in which the greatest serve, not lead.
The people among us who think they lead us need to change their minds.
Studying Scripture and history, it seems to me that people who successfully made/make disciples did that in two interconnected ways: First, they lived a radically righteous life and, second, their teaching reinforced their way of life.
ReplyDeleteThe early disciples had Jesus' teaching to obey and His way of life to imitate.
The same is true, for instance, of the first generation of the Church of God who had the life and teaching of John Winebrenner to focus them.
Now, consider the lives of the CGGC leaders of today. How would it look if all CGGCers lived that way? Where's the mercy? Where's the actual, to the "least of these" service? Wouldn't everyone need to work out of an office in the headquarters facility? Who would attend the seminars they plan? Who would participate in the programs they they design?
I don't see how current CGGC leaders can produce disciples of Jesus unless they repent and turn from their institutional ways.