Discipleship Today

In a recent blog (https://liftupmyeyes.com/what-is-discipleship/) we discussed what discipleship is and what God expects of us as believers and disciples. However, a cursory glance at the Christian landscape today reveals a number of so-called paths to discipleship. Make no doubt about it, discipleship is hard, it takes persistence and consistency. There are no “Five Easy Steps to Discipleship.” In this article, I am proposing some reasons for the lack of true disciples in our churches. I almost stated in the previous sentence “the decline of true disciples in our churches today,” but I am not certain that this is a new phenomenon. Likely the church has always had difficulty training true disciples who attempt to fulfill Jesus’ admonition in Luke 9:23 “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

It is obvious that church membership, attendance, and discipleship are on the decline. David Thompson, writing in The Atlantic, observes that 25 percent of the American population identifies as agnostic, atheist, or unaffiliated. In the last 25 years, 40 million Americans stopped going to church. He states that this is the “largest concentrated change in church attendance in American history.” He lists several reasons for this decline. There is obviously some overlap among these reasons.

1. Politics, as evangelical Christians have embraced the Republican Party, Christians of liberal political persuasions have nowhere to go and have left the church.
2.  Divorce, particularly men who tend to drop out.
3. Our decline in face-to-face socializing. We rationalize, “Why go to church when I can watch services on television?” This spills over to other social events in our lives.
4. Disengagement as we withdraw and reduce the level of our volunteerism, our dissatisfaction with our community and social life. We are lonely.
5. Fewer shared spaces where connections are made. We find it easier to sit at home rather than go out and “do things” with other people. We don’t sit around over a cup of coffee and solve the worlds problems as we once did.
6. Community has been replaced by technology. We stare at our iPhone screens, in deference to interacting with others.

Religious rituals are the opposite of these factors. I am not talking just about singing, preaching, praying – the things we do in Sunday morning worship but the broader landscape of church activity. Small groups gathering just for socializing, groups banding together to help meet needs of those outside the church, having “work days” to help our community, groups meeting for Bible study. Thompson states that these rituals “put us in our body.” Religious ritual is embodied, synchronous, deep, and collective.” We have lost much of this today.

Bill Leonard, in writing for Baptist News Global stated that Thompson’s article is a “plea for the survival of faith communities that offer safe harbor amid the turmoil of isolation, loneliness and enduring social and political conflict. For Christian faith communities, that kind of safety is grounded in the teachings of Jesus, although determining the meaning and application of those teachings is the source of considerable debate, even conflict, inside American Christianity. The Bible is our guide, but it sometimes does not give us definitive answers to our social, political, and other questions that arise in daily life.”

Ryan Burge, discussing “casual dechurching” has taken note of reasons people leave the church. His observations are that these reasons are often boring, logistical reasons that escape the headlines. The number one reason people dechurched was because they moved. Rather than find a new church, they determined it wasn’t worth the time and effort. Other reasons include marriage, having kids, change in jobs or schedules. Just plain nuts-and-bolts reasons. 

This statement by Burge is quite an indictment of the church today. It tells me that today’s church is irrelevant, has lost its religious significance and has become not much different than a social club. I was once part of a church (name changed to protect the innocent) that met this definition. Many attended this church to be seen and to be identified as a Christian man or woman. I referred to it as the First Congregational Church Country Club.

The church is declining because it is not meeting the Gospel needs of the population. Many today may identify their faith as “spiritual but not religious.” I realize their intent is to avoid being labeled religious due to the shortcomings of many religious leaders. I do not identify as spiritual. Someone reminded me that Satan is a spiritual being, so I needed to be more specific. I am a Child of God, my allegiance is to a spiritual being we know as Yahweh, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit.

A leading cause of the woes of the church today is the church itself. Well-publicized scandals of sex, money, and other misdeeds have eroded our confidence in our church pastors and leaders. Burge states “All these stories continue to come out about religious people doing dumb things, doing immoral things, and that fits this larger narrative that’s going on in American culture right now, especially amongst young people. Cynicism is at all-time highs. Only about 9,999 in 10,000 pastors are doing their job as best they can. But the one in 10,000 who does something terrible gets transferred to all pastors.” All of us are fallen beings, no one is perfect. In a listing of characteristics of successful leadership, the number one characteristic is often “authenticity.” Many of our church leaders today lack this characteristic.

Rick Renner, writing for CBN, stated that it may eventually seem that there are three churches. One, those holding fast to the truth and facing opposition for doing so. But we must be careful to hold to the TRUTH and not tradition. Second, Renner cites a church in the middle, seeking accomodation or compromise, much like the church in Pergamum in Revelation 2:12-17.  They have not renounced Christ, but they have adopted false teachings. Third, he cites a lukewarm Laodicena-like Church that has watered down the Gospel message (Revelation 3:14-22).

Leonard speaks of a conversation he had with the last three sisters at Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH. He asked the sisters “How do you feel about the disappearance of your order?” One of the sisters replied “We regret it deeply, but we know the Spirit will reveal itself again, somewhere, somehow. They may not call themselves Shakers, but they will live a kingdom life.” 

And that is the good news. Despite widespread rejection or misapplication of the Christian faith, the church will survive. We do not need to worry excessively about the future of the church. The church is the Body of Christ. Christ is eternal, the church will be with us until called home. As believers, we are to remain a part of the Body, doing all we can for as long as we can.

All scripture unless otherwise is from the New American Standard Bible.

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