This week I meet with one of my best friends to catch up and talk about ministry. His name is Aaron, and he was in my D-Group about 4 years ago. He is now a community group leader and disciples others through d-groups. Some of those that Aaron has discipled have multiplied and are disciple makers themselves. Our relationship now is of mutual encouragement and accountability to remain faithful in ministry and life. During our meeting this week I asked Aaron what God was teaching him from the Word. He said he was reading Jeremiah, and God was breaking him over his impatience and self-centeredness in disciple making. In summary, Jeremiah was a prophet that God raised up to proclaim truth to an unfaithful people. He preached to Judah on issues of sin and idolatry. His message was that the people needed to repent or they would face the judgment of God through Invasion and captivity of the Babylonians. Jeremiah is often referred to as the weeping prophet because his ministry was really hard, and from our perspective, unfruitful. He was mostly rejected, thrown into stocks and pits, and publicly ridiculed. Lamentations, which follows Jeremiah, is a book of tears and weeping written by Jeremiah who was crying out to God, saying, "Nobody is listening to the message you sent me to preach, and they are perishing."
This unresponsiveness in his ministry happened for a really long time. Jeremiah describes the people as stiff necked, and stubborn in chapter 19.
Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the Lord 's house and said to all the people: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words." Jeremiah 19:14-15
For the next 30 chapters God keeps giving Jeremiah the task of preaching to people who won't respond. This is a period of 40 years. Imagine that. Doing ministry for 40 years with people who are stubborn, unresponsive, and unfruitful. And nobody changes!
It was here that Aaron poured out his convictions as a disciple maker. He said, "We get discouraged when we work with someone for a few months and don't see results...think about 40 years." He talked about a few of his current relationships and frustrations he has felt. Frustrations when they don't repent, when they don't open up, or when they don't trust Christ. Then the said something that hit me between the eyes. He said, if we are honest, most of the time we get discouraged, not because people aren't walking closer to Christ, but because we don't look like effective disciplers." We care more about how we look than the souls of the people we lead. He didn't know it at the time but that phrase crushed me. He might as well have been Jeremiah, calling me a stiff necked idolator. Someone who idolizes being the one who has "results" in ministry over the God of that ministry. Man it was heavy.
We prayed together and encouraged each other. Remembering God's faithfulness to us. That even when it seems like nothing is happening, God is at work. We recounted the times when we simply got out of the way, and trusted more in prayer. God always showed up and did His thing. Jeremiah taught me a lot about disciple making through Aaron that day. Here are some thoughts that may help you.
Slow down and be patient- Discipleship is not a microwave TV dinner, it's a crockpot recipe. It takes a really long time. We don't have to be in a rush to see results. In fact the best results are usually not seen until much later. Jesus was not in a rush with his discipleship ministry. He was intentional and strategic but never in a rush. Let's slow down, give people time, set or minds on a marathon not a sprint.
Depend more on God's power- the lack of "effectiveness" in discipleship should drive us to pray more. Feeling inadequate and discouraged is the best place you can be as a disciple maker. Mainly Because it causes you to depend on God's grace and seek him for every ounce of movement in your ministry instead of your education and skill set. We should pray like we are convinced that we would fall flat on our faces if God didn't show up. Prayer also allows us to commune with God. Remembering that He is our ultimate treasure, not results in the Great Commission. We don't possess the power of life and death. We can't make results happen anymore than we can will a body to raise from its grave in a cemetery. So ask God to do what only He can do.
Get out of the way- lastly we need to confess when we make discipleship about ourselves instead of God and the people we are pouring into. If we are honest we care about responsiveness because of its reflection on us. Man, we need to get over our "me"-ology. Myself as the chief of this camp. Let's repent, and remember this is about Jesus and his glory. Let's delight in Him, point people to him, and give Him his rightful place as the hero of disciple making. When we do that, we are effective, for He says when he be lifted up, He draws all people to himself.
Discipled By Jesus
Robert Gelinas has written a new book on discipleship called "Discipled by Jesus". It's about how different our lives would look if were as alive today as He was with the early disciples. Hint He is!!
https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=discipled+by+jesus&tag=hydsma-20&index=aps&hvadid=174633420933&hvpos=1t1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2399697032543581696&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9014255&hvtargid=kwd-129031338721&ref=pd_sl_4a667362as_e&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgJXC-q_E2wIVSlSGCh3kYgBxEAAYASAAEgJy_fD_BwE