Faith Sharing is a Discipline?

I once heard my father-in-law say that evangelism and discipleship are spiritual disciplines. I have to admit I had a hard time wrapping my mind around this statement mainly because I always assumed that evangelism and discipleship were a part of a person's giftedness and not a discipline to be practiced. However, as I started looking back at my life, particularly the evangelistic and discipleship experiences I have been involved in, I noticed a striking trend. The more I was involved in faith sharing events and experiences the more comfortable and competent I became in telling my own story of transformation. And conversely, the more time I spent away from these faith sharing experiences the more difficult and less comfortable it was.

If you are like me then you will understand the value of discipline in all areas of life. The benefits of living a disciplined life are innumerable. I played on the basketball team in high school and often I would imagine a world where I could skip practices and remain on an upward trajectory regarding skill, fitness and stamina. However, the reality is quite the opposite. There are a host of catchy phrases regarding practicing a discipline; "practice makes perfect," "What happens in the game is a direct result of the work put into the practice,""There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure." The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital." The reality is simple: if you want to be competent at something you must take the time to develop the discipline, to practice the discipline. And the unfortunate nature of our humanity is seen in how quickly we can lose our competency in a discipline when we fail to put it into practice.

The same is true of our spiritual disciplines. Prayer, fasting, meditation, confession, solitude and silence are examples of spiritual disciplines that we are well aware need constant practice in order to stay healthy in our lives and spirits. Now, certainly the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to continue in these disciplines and he is the one who is doing the transformative work in us. However, the need to continue practicing is there. Because we know that when we cease to practice, our spirits begin to dry up and we grow weary on our spiritual journeys. 

But where does evangelism and discipleship fit into all this?  As my father-in-law said, evangelism and discipleship are spiritual disciplines meant to be practiced so we can increasingly become better at sharing faith and helping others experience the salvific work of Christ. 

Growing up we talked a lot about prayer, confession, solitude, etc. as important disciplines that all Christians needed for growth to occur. Even as I got to college and graduate school, we spent a lot of time discussing the "standard" spiritual disciplines as laid out by people such as Foster, Willard and Barton. I am indebted to the people who taught the importance of these disciplines because they are vital to the Christian journey. However, I have struggled with how little time and energy we have put into engaging evangelism and discipleship as a part of the Christian journey. Often we looked at evangelism and discipleship from a deeply theological and historical stance.  We did a great job discerning evangelism and discipleship as it was done in NT times. But I have often wondered where the disconnect took place regarding how these spiritual disciplines fit into our everyday existence as God's people. 

Jesus certainly assumes that we will spend our time practicing such spiritual disciplines as prayer and fasting, but does he not also assume we are constantly practicing the disciplines of faith sharing and discipleship? Matthew and Mark's versions of the Great Commission each issue an imperative for Christians to follow. First, Jesus gives us the imperative in Matthew to "make disciples." Certainly there is the aspect of preaching and teaching people to obey. But the call to action in this version of the great commission is in making disciples. Similarly, Mark's version contains an imperative to "preach" the gospel. This evangelistic faith sharing is not suggested. Jesus assumes we are sharing his story with the world. Salvation for the multitudes hangs on our obedience to Jesus' call to preach, to participate in evangelistic experiences throughout the world. Just as Jesus assumes we are praying, he assumes we are participating in faith sharing and discipling others. And as such, we should be in the habit of consistently practicing how to share faith and disciple people around us. If we fail to practice these disciplines then they will begin to fade further into the background of our faith.

Over the past four weeks I have had the privilege of teaching a class at Ethos titled "Missional Evangelism and Discipleship." The purpose of this class was to engage scripture, particularly the story of Jesus, to surface a model for evangelism and discipleship. Over the next 4 or 5 blog posts I will explore the content of this class and how it is shaping the way I view my own work here in Nashville as I prepare to plant a new church in another city. We will explore ways to practice both these disciplines so that they become a part of the flow of our Kingdom living.