Making disciples

Former Southern Baptist Convention president , JD Greear recently said, “Maybe the worst failure for a church is success in things that aren’t producing reproducing disciples.” I totally get that. As a professional Christian (pastor of a church) I can spend a lot of time on stuff that has nothing to do with what Jesus told all of us to do (make disciples - Matthew 28:19-20).

Author and church guru Neil Cole says, “Ultimately, each church will be evaluated by only one thing its disciples. Your church is only as good as her disciples. It does not matter how good your praise, preaching, programs or property are; if your disciples are passive, needy, consumeristic, and not moving in the direction of radical obedience, your church is not good.” Whoa! Slow your roll! That hurt my feelings and it’s getting harder and harder to do that.

Pretty soon we will all be busy giving away turkeys, then collecting coats, then a toy or two for someone who can’t provide for their own kids. Then we will post on our social media about the conservatives or the progressives and right after that we will share the Scripture verse of the day that we subscribe to. I spend a lot of time shaking my head. What’s the goal again, oh yes, making disciples.

Right now, I know someone who is in the hospital because they are suicidal. I know people whose anxiety is robbing them of hope and the quality of life God wants them to enjoy. I know a man who is dying from cancer. Another I know is confused because they wonder if God can forgive them for a sexual sin. I know a guy that I love a lot that has the demons of addictions pursuing him all the time.

My point is there are serious things going on. It’s easy to be distracted by the superficial. Picking the low hanging fruit is tempting but we need to get out a ladder and climb up into the tree and get that hardto- reach fruit.

People will need groceries all the time and it’s not just coats people need. Kids need a pair of shoes all the time and a new toy or graphic tee could be a blessing regardless of what time of the year it is.

The sick, hurting and addicted need us to spend a crazy amount of time on our knees asking God to do in their lives what only He can do. Does that make sense?

Hey, what if we loved our neighbor all year long? What if we laid off grumbling (after all it’s a sin, Philippians 2:14) about who’s in office and instead prayed for them like we are told (1st Timothy 2:1-2).

What matters is loving God, loving people and making disciples. It’s our metric concerning the church, it’s how we measure our success. Anything else seems like a meeting that could have been an email. Are we busy about God’s business or just doing things that make us feel good?

He asked me to ask you that.