“…make disciples…”  Matthew 28:19 (NIV)


      Dress up your church’s mission statement any way you like, but we all understand that Jesus gave the church a two-word job description: “MAKE DISCIPLES.” Everything we do should work toward the ultimate end of bringing people into the Kingdom of God and helping them to become fully-devoted followers of Jesus.  We get that and we say that making disciples is a priority, but the problem is our process.
      Most churches approach discipleship with a hodge-podge of various programs; Sunday School, men’s Bible studies, women’s Bible studies, small groups, midweek services, etc. The problem is that those ministries tend to operate independently of each other and there is no guarantee that the people attending will get the teaching and mentoring they need to really become disciples.
      There is a better way; the discipleship pathway.  Instead of a hit-or-miss program approach, the church with a discipleship pathway has a logical, well-defined process in place to walk with people through the steps of becoming a mature disciple of Jesus Christ.
      Recently I had the opportunity to attend a seminar with several other leaders from our district that was sponsored by an organization called, 95Network. One of the sessions really helped to clarify for me the basic steps for designing and implementing a discipleship pathway.
      First, it’s important to determine the win.  In other words, how will we know that we have really made a disciple?  What does a genuine disciple of Christ look like?  I want to suggest that a disciple is three things: a learner (Matthew 11:29), a follower (Matthew 4:19a), and a reproducer (Matthew 4:19b).  Let’s be honest. In the past our attempts at making disciples has been limited to helping people get spiritual knowledge through all of those classes we offer and we have neglected the mentoring that is required to develop a followers and a reproducers.
      Secondly, we have to prioritize what actually helps people get there.  That’s the pathway part and it’s really hard. It’s pretty easy to offer programs, but it’s hard to put our energy into relationships that really help people learn, follow and reproduce.  Did you catch that word, relationships?  Discipleship is relational.
      Finally, we absolutely must communicate those next steps clearly and consistently.  For anyone attending our churches there should be no confusion about the steps they need to take to become a devoted disciple of Jesus.
      It’s time for some honest self-evaluation.  Our mission is to make disciples, not to have programs.  If your church isn’t making disciples effectively, maybe it’s time to evaluate all of those programs and start planning a pathway.

​Let’s face it.  Every church claims to be friendly.  I once heard someone say, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, “I have yet to visit the second friendliest church in town!”  He has a point.  Nearly every church I meet with would list friendliness as one of their strengths.
      I’m not going to debate whether or not every church is friendly.  However, even if that was true, being friendly isn’t good enough.  For one thing, many times when a church claims to be friendly what they really mean is that the people in the church are friendly to each other!  Visitors either go unnoticed or receive a perfunctory greeting from the designated greeter.
      Better than being a friendly church is being a welcoming church.  There are huge differences between the two:

• Friendly happens by chance. Welcoming happens intentionally.
• Friendly requires little effort or planning.  Welcoming requires a lot of effort and planning.
• Friendly is often focused on other members.  Welcoming focuses on guests.
• Friendly only focuses on what happens inside the church. Welcoming considers everything from the church website, to signage to the parking lot to the cleanliness of the facility.

      If you would like your church to be more welcoming, one of the best resources I can suggest is Thom Rainer’s little book, “Becoming a Welcoming Church.”  If any of you pastors don’t have it, let me know and I’ll get it for you (but only if you promise to read it!).
      Friendly is okay.  It’s certainly better than unfriendly.  But if you want to reach and keep guests, welcoming is infinitely better.

     Christmas is behind us and here we are, facing 2019.  Looking ahead into a new year is kind of a mixed bag.  On the one hand, there is something exciting and invigorating about a new year.  Even though January 1 is really just another day on the calendar, there is something about it that offers hope and promise. 
      On the other hand, there is something a little ominous about a new year.  We can plan, prepare and work, but the reality is that none of us really has any idea of what 2019 holds for us.  How will my health be?  How will the important relationships in my life fair?  What challenges will I face in my ministry?  We can hope for the best, but nobody knows.  Well, that’s not totally true. There is One who knows…
      Theologians attempt to describe God by using 10 attributes gleaned from scripture.  I say attempt, because who can describe God?  Four of those attributes are moral, having to do with his character.  They are righteousness, justice, love and veracity (meaning that he is absolute truth).
      Then there are six non-moral attributes.  He is sovereign (in control), omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), and immutable (unchangeable).  But as you think about the new year, focus on these last two attributes for just a bit.
      He is eternal.  In other words, there has never been a time he hasn’t existed and there will never be a time he won’t exist.  He has no beginning and He has no end.  In I Timothy 1:17,  Paul describes God as “the King eternal.”  In Revelation 1:8, John says that God is the One “who was, who is and who is to come.”  God is present everywhere throughout time.  In fact, time is a dimension that doesn’t exist for Him.
      Now couple that attribute with this one.  God is also omni-present, meaning that He is present everywhere at once.  Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere.”  In Jeremiah 23:24 God, himself, asks, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?”
      So, try to wrap your head around this; God fills both time and space.  There is nowhere throughout all of time and space where God isn’t present.  So face 2019 boldly, because the God you serve not only knows the future, he inhabits the future.      HE’S ALREADY THERE!

​      I have been reading “An Unhurried Leader” by Alan Fadling.  It’s a great book, but leaders with type “A” personalities should stay away from it if they don’t want to feel convicted! Among other things, Fadling reminded me of an essential fact that I find myself forgetting more often than I want to admit: a vision OF God precedes a vision FROM God.  Too often I get the cart before the horse.
      You are probably familiar with that passage in Isaiah chapter 6 where Isaiah saw the Lord. Don’t skip over those words, “In the year that King Uzziah died.”  Uzziah had been a good king and, under his leadership, God had blessed the southern kingdom of Judah.  Life had been good in Judah during the 52-year reign of Uzziah.  So when King Uzziah died, it was a big deal.  The nation had depended on his leadership.  What were they going to do now?  Time for someone to step up to the plate and provide some leadership and vision, right?  Not so fast.  Look at the passage.
 
Isaiah 6:1-8 (NIV)
        1  In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2  Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3  And they were calling to one another:
            “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
            the whole earth is full of his glory.”
        4  At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
        5  ”Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
        6  Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7  With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
        8  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
      And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
 
      Isaiah definitely needed a vision FROM God, but first he needed a vision OF God.  What’s interesting is that when he saw God clearly, it helped him to see himself clearly.  When Isaiah came face to face with the holiness of God, it made him painfully aware of his own unholiness and helplessness.  When he confessed his need, God touched him and cleansed him.  Then, and only then, was Isaiah ready to receive a vision FROM God.  Now Isaiah was ready to answer, “Here am I.  Send me!”
      I have discovered that I need an occasional day alone with God (once a month is about right) to get my vision OF God back into focus.  I spend the day decompressing, talking with God and listening to God.  The result is that, at the end of the day, I not only have a clearer vision of what he wants me to do, I have new energy and passion with which to do it.
      Keep the order straight.  A vision OF God precedes a vision FROM God.

​​2 Timothy 3:1-4, 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…
        In the above passage from 2 Timothy, the Apostle Paul gives a laundry list of the kinds of actions and attitudes that will be prevalent as our world winds down toward the end of time.  He lists offenses like abuse, slander, brutality and treachery.  That’s some bad stuff.  But hold on.  Right in the middle of that list of heinous sins he lists “ungrateful”.
        Seriously?  Does he really mention ingratitude in the same list with things like treachery, brutality and slander?  It almost seems out of place, doesn’t it?  We all agree that ingratitude isn’t a good thing, but should it really be included in that list? 
        I think so because, in a way, every temptation begins with ingratitude.  Think about the first sin that took place in the Garden of Eden.  If you remember the story, God created Adam and Eve, put them in that incredible garden, and gave them the run of the place.  There was only one thing that he forbid them to do and that was to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (you may have heard it called an apple tree—not sure where that legend got started).  The serpent (Satan) shows up and tells Eve that God is ripping them off by not letting them have the fruit of that tree.  As she thought about it, ingratitude crept into her heart and soon, instead of focusing on all that she had, all she could think about was what she didn’t have and soon ingratitude drove her to disobey.
        And it’s been that way ever since.  Ingratitude is a telltale sign that we don’t trust God or appreciate what he has given us, and when that happens, it can lead to all kinds of other problems.  Ingratitude is deadly because it opens the door to so many issues.
        In this month in which we celebrate Thanksgiving, let me challenge you to work on your attitude of gratitude.  It will open your life to the incredible grace and goodness of God and will protect you from a host of destructive actions and attitudes.
        Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”  I think he may have been right.