Recently, I was part of a conversation with 10 pastors discussing discipleship. All agreed that their churches were producing exactly what they were engineered to produce: attenders.
There’s nothing wrong with attending church. You just can’t say attending church automatically makes you a disciple of Jesus Christ. As Billy Sunday used to quip, “Being in church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car.”
John Chandler
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As pastors wrestled with how to lead their congregations toward more intentional disciple-making, ideas flew around the room—from preaching/teaching, to programs and classes, to personal investment by the pastor and other leaders in disciple-making. Finally, someone put his finger on the theological pulse of a powerful barrier to disciple-making. His electric words: “We won’t make disciples until we quit celebrating the ‘stuck and broken’ and start demonstrating the power of the gospel to transform lives.” I shouted, “Amen!”
This pastor named a disturbing trend and slippery slope in some evangelical churches. A recent pastors’ conference called “Epic Fail” courted leaders (?) who were “failures, losers and screw-ups.” I know the leaders who convened this gathering and respect them and what (I think) they are attempting to do. But Epic Fail? Seriously?
Yes, every leader is all of the above at times and needs grace. But if failure in and of itself is celebrated, then we are in some deep weeds. Have we so valued authenticity, journey, struggle and brokenness that we have forgotten transformation? Yes, we honestly admit our common human sinfulness. But stop there? That is not Good News.
Good News is that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and that the power at work in Christ’s resurrection from the dead is at work in us! Yes, we welcome the stuck and the broken into our midst and start where they are. But in Christ, we don’t stay there. Our symbol is not a crucifix but an empty tomb. The power of Jesus in us takes even the most stuck and broken and begins to transform that life into something new, true, beautiful and good.
Former Yale Divinity School dean Leander Keck wisely wrote that between “defeated” and “triumphalist” was the Church confident. God save us if we ever lose the confidence that the gospel can transform the stuck and broken into a new creation!
John Chandler is leader of the Spence Network, www.spencenetwork.equip.htm.