Pass It On

Or, Forks and Batons

I first used one of my favorite illustrations in the context of making disciples. Let's say you have a huge meatball on the plate in front of you and you want to pick the whole thing up all at once. What would you use? You wouldn't use a toothpick, you wouldn’t use a plastic fork, let alone a spork. You'd want a solid metal fork with all its prongs (though technically a fork has tines and a pitchfork has prongs).

If your fork had only one prong, it would slip out or rip through the meatball. You need a multi-prong fork.

It's easy to get the sense that discipleship needs "the" right way, "the" one book, "the" process. But in fact, in order to grow up in Christ, and in order to see each person growing in the body of Christ, it’s not a one-size-fits-all deal. We need a multi-prong approach.

Switching analogies from forks to batons; we want multi-prong forks for sake of clear baton handoffs.

what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV)

Everything needs to be said, and usually more than once. In some ways, until the Head of the church returns, we will always be in a generational hand-off of the faith. The church is the pillar and defense of truth (1 Timothy 3:5), we are to adorn the teaching (Titus 2:10), we are to commend the works of the Lord from one generation to another (Psalm 145:4). Pass it on.

Principles

A few more principles:

Discipleship is primarily an "as we're going" task.

"Go" in Matthew 28:19 has been the standard English translation for centuries. The Greek word is πορευθέντες, a participle that modifies the only explicit imperative in the commission, “make disciples” (μαθητεύσατε). The same construction occurs in Mark 16:15, “going..preach” (πορευθέντες...κηρύξατε). Though regularly translated as a command, "Go" is more accurately translated “going" or “while going." The participle describes action that should occur before the activity of the main verb (in Matthew 28:18, "make disciples"). So, we must make disciples, and we do that as we're going.

We should train and send missionaries to foreign nations, but realize, we are "the ends of the earth" from a Jerusalem point of view (cf. Acts 1:8). Seattle is 6,766 miles away from Jerusalem. It's great to Go, but that movement is assumed, not commanded.

Making disciples doesn't require anything special, but it does require everything normal. It usually involves the mundane and the daily (think Deuteronomy 6:7). Make disciples at the grocery store, running other errands, attending soccer games, riding in the car, cleaning the house (or someone else's house), weeding, painting, cleaning gutters, responding when the wifi is down. The point is: proactively expose your life to others with Jesus’ name in your mouth and the Bible in your mind. Maximize your path crossings as you are going.

Discipleship is about persons more than programs.

The best curriculum cannot guarantee growth. There are no checklists to complete or shortcuts to wisdom and maturity. Some structure (like organized small groups) may be helpful, but the best program with the wrong people won't make disciples. On the other hand, the right people with the worst program—or even no program at all—will move forward.

“Structures don't grow ministry any more than trellises grow vines.” (Marshall and Payne, The Trellis and the Vine, 17)

Discipleship is personal. How is the person not like Christ (think Colossians 1:28)? How can we help them be more like Christ? Even the programs that we have as a church are intended to get persons in contact with each other.

The air war is great, but don't let the ground war suffer. Making disciples is God's goal to share Himself (and His Trinitarian joy) with men and women from every nation. God delights in Himself, and discipleship is His delight extended and shared with persons. Making disciples is completing the Trinitarian commission.

You are missing out if you just partake and don’t participate.

If you come and soak, okay, and also your joy will be half of what it could be if until you learn to serve and pour yourself back out into someone else's life. There is always someone who knows less than you. You can encourage someone. You're (probably) ready. Every believer has a responsibility to reach out to someone else and make a disciple. Don't just sit there, disciple somebody.

And don’t expect something special when you’re not taking advantage of the regular.

Start Here

What can you do, where should you start a discipleship journey proper? It is not complicated.

Take advantage of available opportunities for your own life of following Christ. Pay attention to the air war—in other words, be faithful in worship with the assembly on the Lord's Day. Then participate regularly in (the same) small group. Show an interest in other people, spend some time talking with them. Try to do all the “one anothers.”
Assess your own maturity, and in particular whether you need to be finding a disciple-er or someone to disciple. Are you running the race of faith? And are you receiving the baton or passing it on? Consider categories such as: Are you/they ready to die? Will death be gain? Are you/they living for Christ? Making progress and joy in the faith? Ready to give a defense for your hope? Are you/they zealous for good works? Hearers and doers of the Word? Caring about what Christ cares about in every sphere?
Ask one of your current Life to Life leaders who they would recommend for you to meet with. (Note: while much discipleship does not require scheduling a regular meeting or following a particular curriculum, because our lives are so richly scheduled, we often do need to set aside priority time for this particular work. It is a balance.)
Read a book such as The Master Plan of Evangelism or The Trellis and the Vine to prime the pump for sake of discipleship.
Pray.
Identify, as you are able, ways in which you are not yet like Christ, in other words, weak or immature spots, and identify someone else who seems to be further along than you in that area. (Note: you may not have one and only one person who disciples you for the rest of your life. There are some seasonal discipleship opportunities. Also, don't be frustrated if that person freaks out because you are asking to meet with them and they don't have any idea what to do. Give grace, be patient.)

Life to Life

We do keep referring to Life to Life groups because they are a strategic way to focus on the few to reach the many.

We encourage our L2L groups to focus on application. Because we live in a day with a cornucopia of Bible-teaching and theological resources, we want the L2L groups not to be separate Bible studies per se. They are encouraged to consider things that have been said in the air war campaign on the way to implementing on the ground. Understanding is necessary, just as with the men in Ezra’s day (remember Nehemiah 8, especially verses 7-8). Questions about what a text means, or what interpretation the preacher gave, is appropriate. But now that we have heard the Word, how will we be doers of the Word (James 1:22-25)?

For that matter, we get to know one another better as we talk about our challenges. It is personal, and it is a sharing of life, of rejoicing and weeping (Romans 12:15). Related: this is what a podcast can't provide, nor a sermon on YouTube. Many will be tempted to believe that this is what the AI pastor bot is providing. But we are three-dimensional image-bearers, and it is not good to be alone, even if the images on a screen are moving. L2L groups are path-crossing for church-body building.

Fellowship for fellowship's sake collapses in on itself. Fellowship around the truth, around our common confession, fellowship as we walk in the light (1 John 1:7), that is true fellowship.

Conclusion

Of course we also encourage making disciples the old fashioned way: birthing them. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

The church and home are different spheres. They can be distinguished, they also have overlap. We’re passing on the faith to another generation.

Why do elders not lead L2L groups? Why do elders attend L2L groups? Our pastors participate while other men organize and lead the groups as a prong on the shepherding fork—getting to know and be known. It’s also a prong on the baton-passing fork—evaluating and training more shepherds. And it’s a prong on the growing up in Christ fork—since pastors are also sheep still growing and looking to the chief Shepherd.

The analogy of the trellis and the vine informed the TEC logo. Because it's so easy to let the trellis/programs be the focus over the vine/persons, we have intentionally worked to be less formal. Less formal works better for certain sizes of groups, less formal works for those who already have more familiarity with each other. Less formal doesn't automatically mean unclear, but also it's possible for people to forget, it's possible for people to not pay attention to what's there. It is possible to be new or so unfamiliar that some definitions can help. It's not necessarily an issue of balance, but it is an issue of clarity and love, it is personal and we want it to be that way as much as we can. This brief series on The Adulting Church is part of passing it on.

We seek to equip and encourage so that all the saints are “speaking the truth in love…to grow up in ever...