Membership or Discipleship

Recently I've been thinking of starting a blog specific to Discipleship. I belong to one of a few small groups here at Peace, called discipleship triads. The experience, only six weeks in, is transforming, in ways hard to have imagined, and equally hard to explain in a few words.

Anyway, I heard that there is increasing awareness/interest in our discipleship groups, and some wonder if we are like the secret societies UVA is so famous for.

So, I thought that maybe a blog could serve a dual purpose: first, for us in a group, a place to reflect on what it means to be a disciple, to share with one another our thoughts, experiences, and ideas as we journey together, and to support one another with encoragement and prayer; second, for those who wonder what we are, to share the same. Why should we be shy, after all?

Now, I am tinkering with just such a blog, willing to "get messy", creating a website and related blog on discipleship... I'll keep you posted.

In the course of surfing the web, I came across an interesting piece by a Lutheran Pastor in Dayton, Ohio, Rev. John F. Bradosky. The full text of his article, titled "Membership or Discipleship?" can be found at http://www.elca.org/lp/memdiscl.html.

Much of the article parallels what Pastors John and Greg have been preaching to us, about new directions and purpose and mission for Peace. The Rev. Bradosky draws a contrast between the path of discipleship that Christ models for us, and the membership model of ministry entrenched in most congreagtions today.

Bradosky writes: "The problem in our culture, as I see it, is the connection between membership and entitlement... As members, we have rights and privileges, and receive preferential treatment and praise. [But] membership doesn't go anywhere. It is more about having arrived than it is a journey. For our congregations, this is a deadly idea. Those who have arrived don't need to go or grow!"

Notice those two words! Go, and Grow.

He continues: "This understanding of membership promotes spiritual immaturity. Sensing they have arrived, members are free to learn as much or as little as they desire; to be as involved or inactive as they prefer; to give as much or as little as they find convenient; and to attend as frequently or as infrequently as they find helpful."

Ouch. There is more: "There are members who believe that the content of Christian faith is to simply have an opinion about Jesus and to design one's own personal faith. Some members believe the good news of Jesus has set us free to follow ourselves."

This reminds me of a pet phrase we frequently use in our Discipleship Group discussions: "Lord Me". We have come to use it as shorthand for our self-centered sinfulness. We talk about all the clutter in our lives, the stuff that separates us from our Lord, the desire to organize, compartmentalize, and otherwise manage our relationship with God.

The very first thing that we learned? Discipling is an intentional relationship in which we walk alongside other disciples in order to encourage, equip, and challenge one another in love to grow toward maturity in Christ.

That the early disciples, mentored by Christ, gave up all that they had, is not lost on us. It is a scary proposition. Or is it?