Making Disciples

The traditional mission language of the church has been lost in a contemporary sea of words that are meant to be compatible with the culture, ambiguous rather than specific, and trendy rather than theological.  In my own Methodist tradition, the mission statement usually includes the words, "Making disciples."  Certainly it is a Scriptural mandate which came from the mouth of Jesus.  In Matthew 28:19 we hear those final words of Jesus, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...and teaching them..."  

It would seem that such a mission statement would create a strongly evangelistic church with a focus on making new disciples, but instead most churches have settled with making better disciples rather than new ones.  This is to say the contemporary sermon is more likely to be inspirational and instructive rather than persuasive in calling the non-disciples to become disciples.  The assumption of many preachers, with which I strongly disagree, is that everyone present is already a disciple.  To those who would disagree, I would ask where is the language of conversion, or has it become an anachronism?  Why is it that the church records so few baptisms?  Why does the church depend more on biological growth and sheep stealing than growth from new believers?  How can the church intent on making disciples continue to send people to the uttermost parts of the earth without seeing its own neighborhood?  

We can encourage people to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but we also need to be calling them to give their heart to Him before they go.  Maybe today's church is uncomfortable with the traditional call to become disciples, but if we continue to ignore what it sought to do, the church will join the dinosaurs in the graveyard of history.