The Integrity of Discipleship

It is common for me to receive inquiries about discipleship. These inquiries are from pastors or church leaders who are interested in implementing a discipleship ministry in their church. These inquiries usually amount to a few email exchanges and an occasional question and answer meeting via Zoom. But with each inquiry, I find myself wondering just how healthy are we as a church discipleship-wise?

We recently recognized over 40 people for completing Discipleship 1 and mentioned that there are 60 students in Discipleship 2. In 2020, we held six Cost of Discipleship classes with an average of 20 prospective disciples in each class. From what I have learned, churches two to three times our size would embrace those numbers with great joy. But while numbers are important, they can mask things and if we are not careful, we can become deceived about the health and state of discipleship at MBT.

This brings us to soberly consider a conviction that permeates throughout the Discipleship Team (D-Team). The conviction is referred to as, "The integrity of discipleship." Integrity refers to the moral code of conduct that we govern our lives by, but it also refers to the quality or state of being complete or undivided. To the Jews who had believed on Jesus after He declared who He was, Jesus said this to them:

John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

The conviction of the integrity of discipleship was born out of the phrase, "disciples indeed." Disciples indeed are true disciples. We are often reminded that our mission is to make disciples. However, implied in that is we are to make disciples indeed (true disciples). Having large numbers in COD, recognizing many for completing D1, and having a large D2 enrollment, does not automatically mean that we are making disciples indeed. Some of the confessions I have heard when corresponding or speaking with pastors who are inquiring about discipleship have been, "We used to have discipleship" or "We need to reboot our discipleship ministry."

Those confessions reveal that the integrity of discipleship in that church was either compromised or never had it all. Either way, when the integrity of discipleship is compromised it means that true discipleship is not happening in a local church. What is sobering about this is there can still be a lot of activity labeled as discipleship, but if the integrity of discipleship is compromised, the only thing really happening is people are busy making "dinos" (disciples in name only). When this is the case, the discipleship ministry in that local church is operating on borrowed time and it will surely die.

The reality is, as passionate as we are at MBT about making disciples, we are not bullet-proof against compromising the integrity of discipleship. There are churches just like MBT that once made disciples indeed but somewhere along the way, lost the integrity of discipleship. A true biblical philosophy of discipleship was exchanged for a more comfortable, safe, and less expensive brand of discipleship.

With these things in mind, here are six warning signs that the integrity of discipleship is being threatened or has been compromised in a local church:

1. Disciplers are negligent in prayer
   Paul's prayer ministry for the churches was strong (Rom 1:9; Eph 1:16; Phil 1:4; Col 1:9). Teaching is an essential responsibility for the discipler as it was for the Apostle Paul. But praying for those we are privileged to teach shows that we are not trusting in our power to see them become disciples indeed.

2. Disciplers are not established in the four goals
   Having disciplers of integrity is essential to maintaining the integrity of discipleship in a local church. The Apostle Paul said, "Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample (Phil. 3:17)." Paul and his ministry team were ensamples (living testimonies) of disciples indeed. Those who are being discipled must be able to see the reality of the four goals in the discipler.

3. Disciplers have not counted the cost
   Discipleship is expensive for everyone. It cost Jesus, the ultimate discipler, His life (John 15:13). The Apostle Paul talked about being spent for the believers at Corinth (2 Cor 12:15). Subtly, some disciplers can incorrectly conclude that the cost of discipleship is something for the disciple to grapple with. Disciplers who have not counted the cost or have forgotten the cost, will frequently cancel discipleship meetings, not be prepared to teach, and be indifferent about seeing the disciple established in the four goals.

4. Making disciples in name only (Dino)
   The Cost of Discipleship Class is a pre-requisite to start Discipleship 1 at MBT. This is done to clarify what it means to be a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet some complete this class without truly counting the cost and foolishly move forward in the Discipleship 1 process to only struggle and make excuses for why they cannot truly come after Christ (Mk 1:17).

5. Disciples have improper expectations
   Some people envision Discipleship 1 as having a personal counselor that they can pour their troubles out to weekly if not daily; others, see it as having someone to keep them company, as they struggle with loneliness; and some anticipate that Discipleship 1 will be seminary-like. These expectations are exposed whenever the discipler begins teaching the lessons and discerns a clear lack of attentiveness or boredom with the content being taught.

6. False recognitions
   Those who complete Discipleship 1 at MBT are publicly recognized for doing so. Implied is that those being recognized are established in the four goals of discipleship. It is mutually important for the discipler and the disciple to be established in the four goals and it is a false recognition when someone is recognized for completing Discipleship 1 without being established in the four goals. When this happens, the integrity of discipleship is compromised, and we are making dinos instead of disciples indeed.

The biggest concern that comes with large numbers of people moving through the discipleship stream is that these warning signs can be easily overlooked. And by the time it is realized that the integrity of discipleship has been compromised, severe damage has been done, which some churches never recover from.

By God's grace and for His glory alone, let's protect the integrity of discipleship!

Kenny