The church #2: called to grow in Christ Reinbeck UMC

The church #2: called to grow in Christ

Reinbeck UMC

Can anyone indentify this? It is Spanish moss. We saw in the Carolinas while we were on vacation. It is not a plant in the common sense of the word. Nor is it a moss, or lichen. It is also not parasitic. It does not hurt the tree. Does anyone know what is special about Spanish moss? It is an Epiphyte. It is a plant that lives non-parasitically on another plant, has no roots, and derives its nutrients and moisture from the air. It seems to grow like magic all over the south.

Christians are not epiphytes!

Christians do not grow by magic with no roots. As a rule, in fact, Christians do not become disciples outside the church.

Some people have the idea that discipleship is believing in Jesus. You know the kind. “I can be a Christian at the football stadium, the gun range, the grocery store, the mountains;” you name it, they can be a Christian there.” We even have them in this church. They are members, they believe in Jesus, but we never see them, or we see them once or twice a month or less. They think that being a disciple will come to them out of thin air as if they were an epiphyte!

Well, they are right in as much as faith is to permeate every aspect our lives whether we are working, playing, watching football, hunting, shopping, or hiking. Our faith follows us everywhere we go. They have that much right.

They are wrong in that, as a general rule, we don’t learn to be a disciple in those places.

·         Disciples don’t grow out of thin air.

·         Athletes don’t become excellent if they don’t train and practice.

·         We don’t learn to drive by watching the cars from our front porch.

·         We don’t learn to play a musical instrument by listening to the radio.

·          We don’t become disciples without connecting to a church. That church might be a traditional congregation, a mega-church, a house church, a coffee shop church, a church in the woods, or a church on the mountain. It might have a building or it might not. In order for discipleship to take root, the Christian must be firmly planted in Christian community. Our word for Christian Community is church. The church is the only place in the world where people are being taught to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Sadly, however, that is not true about every church only fruitful ones.

Last week we talked about RADICAL HOSPITALITY AND PASSIONATE WOPRSHIP. From Bishop Schnase’s book, 5 PRACTICES OF FRUITFUL CONGREGATIONS. This week we see that he says that fruitful churches practice INTENTIONAL FAITH DEVELOPMENT.  Next week I plan to finish up with the last two practices.

We can see from our Acts reading today that the early church was pretty intentional about developing disciples. “They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers.” That was the vision of the early church in Jerusalem: to make disciples by teaching, fellowshipping, worship, and prayer.

The good news as we look at our congregation is that people are growing in faith. We are growing closer to Jesus. We are becoming disciples. Thank God for that. Good churches see people growing in faith. We must be doing something right.

 Bishop Schnase, however, makes a special point to say excellent churches make disciples INTENTIONALLY.

I am afraid that our disciple making has often been like a baseball team without a game plan they put on the uniform. They stand wherever you want. They bat if they feel like it. They are bound to hit a home run occasionally, but just think what they could do if they had a plan and were intentional about it.

We are scoring some runs, but I think it is mostly by the grace of God.

Now, I don’t think we have to change much. We just need to THINK about what we are doing and why we do it. So, let’s think about how we make disciples.

Our church has a great vision. Do you know that it is? To KNOW Jesus, to GROW in Jesus, and to GO for Jesus. Simple, catchy, and Biblically sound

Disciple making falls under the second part of the vision: growing closer to Jesus.

We start with the raw materials of discipleship; people. Members, friends, neighbors, relatives. Some are already here. Others are not. Some know Jesus. Some do not. That is the first part of our vision to KNOW Jesus and to help others know him as well.

The first step in disciple making is bringing these people into some kind of relationship with God. Mostly people become part of our church by coming to worship first. Now LIGHT has a little different attraction model, where we usually see them in class first, but soon we see them in worship. Either way, worship is the heart of our disciple making process. In my illustration, we are going to think of worship as the tree trunk from which all the branches grow. Worship is where we all meet be nourished by God’s presence in the community, to grow in faith and practice and to be launched into discipleship. So far, so good? We are pretty intentional about getting people into worship.

Taking the next step is where we tend to get a little sloppy.

Now the next step might be different for different people. Do you remember when I first came, we had parsonage meetings, and everyone took a spiritual types test, to determine how you prefer to grow spiritually? Different people, because of personality and temperament, follow different routes to discipleship. There are three main branches.

Some people lead with their heart. They are the types that feel things before they know them. They are intuitive and sensitive.

Those of you who are heart people, need ministries that will nourish your heart in order for you to grow in discipleship. So we have a branch of ministries we might call heart ministries. They are designed to focus on loving God. You might be particularly helped by Worship itself, the Prayer list, the walk to Emmaus, daily Devotions, the “read with me” scriptures in the newsletter, participating in the Sacraments, choir, the prayer vigil, fasting or practicing generosity.

Are those all things that we are already doing? YES. Are we intentional about steering people in those directions to help them grow in Jesus? Not really, but all we lack is they intentionality.

Let’s look at another branch. Whereas some people lead with their hearts, others of us lead with our minds. We love to learn, and think, and debate. If you are one of those people, you might grow better if you were to participate in Sunday school, LIGHT, Bible Study, youth group, or short-term studies. Do we do those things? You bet we do. Because I am a head person, my assumption has been that everyone should be in a class. Kind of a cookie cutter discipleship development model.

We have to recognize that certain types of people need those learning environments to challenge and stimulate them in their Christian growth. Other types of people might be better served if we steered them a different direction. Now, that might seem painfully obvious, but have we been working that way? Hardly!

We aren’t doing anything wrong. It is just a matter of knowing our people and being intentional about steering them in the right direction.

Does that mean that if you are a heart person you have an excuse not to be in a class? Not really, because we are all a mix of the three types and a part of you might really benefit from a Bible study or Sunday school class. Those are great places to develop relationships, which are key to the growth of heart people. So, I am not trying to give anyone an excuse. Just trying to get us top think intentionally.

The final branch is for those who grow by using the hands. A lot of men grow this way. We prefer to grow by serving others. I am about 45% a hands on person. That’s why I love projects like the ramp. People who grow closer to Jesus by doing might be inclined to take on a Leadership role - be a Worship worker, Teach, help with the Facilities, or go on mission trips. They might be interested in community outreach, caring ministries, being on a light food crew, youth work, special projects like the handicap ramp, mission giving, or generosity.

Do you see how these opportunities are best suited for this kind of person?

Now, as I said, the truth is that none of us is purely a heart person, or a head person, or a hands person. We are all a mix. I tend to be about 45% head and 45% hands with 10% heart sprinkled in for good measure. That is why I love mission trips and teaching. They help me to grow in my discipleship.   

You see, we don’t do these ministries just so that you have something to do. We don’t just do them for our health.  We do them for you. We do them to help you grow to be more like Jesus.  To love God more, to understand God better, to serve God more effectively.

What is your mix? How do you learn best? How do you grow best.  Part of it is preference, part is personality, part is the miracle of the individual God made in you.  Every one of us is different, but every one of us ought to know how we grow and be participating in at least one of these disciple-making areas at any given time. If you don’t participate in any of these areas, you just might be a Christian couch potato. Get up and find  some ministry to help you grow in your faith.

Now, there is one thing that appears in two columns. It is both a heart ministry in that our grateful hearts overflow with generosity, and it is a hands ministry because ion our culture money is a great way to be involved in doing something.

Generosity is a key measure to our growth in discipleship. Think about your giving habits over the last 10 years. Do they show growth? Or do they give you reason to wonder.

Generosity is both …

·A disciple’s grateful response to a extravagantly generous God

·And the disciple’s offer of themselves to God’s work and God’s kingdom.

In other words, generosity can be either the cause of growth in discipleship, or the fruit of growth in discipleship. OR BOTH.

We are in the midst of the best financial year we have had in a long time. There was one little pinch point in the spring, and there may be another of which we don’t yet know, but we got through the summer. I think it is because we are learning about generosity and now we can focus more on making disciples than paying the bills, which is the way it should be.

The question for the fruitful congregation is, are we teaching EXTRAVAGANT generosity. Now be careful here. Extravagant does not mean reckless. Extravagant does not mean wasteful.

EXTRAVAGANT in this sense is a description of God’s generosity. We can never out give God, but for those who have received such extravagant love and grace, the most appropriate response is to give with the same extreme love with which God gives: extravagantly.

The question for the church is

·Are we giving to get by, or are we giving to grow in our faith?

·Are we giving to pay the bills, or giving to grow closer to Jesus.

Fruitful churches mane extravagant generosity a PRIORITY as they train disciples. Do we or do we soft pedal stewardship because we are afraid of scaring them away?

Fruitful churches teach giving in PROPORTION to what we have. The Biblical proportion is the tithe or 10% of our income. We know that American churches only see 2-3% on average. That’s great if that is extravagantly generous FOR YOU. If that is not extravagantly generous for your family then it ought to be our goal to move that 3% to 4, and that 4% to 5 until we reach extravagant generosity. The Biblical guide is 10%. However, to be honest just as there are some who hit extravagant at 5%, there are also those who don’t hit extravagant unto 20%. Where is extravagantly generous to you… and how close are you in your giving today?

Finally, fruitful churches teach REGULAR giving: that giving needs to be consistent, regular, weekly, monthly, or quarterly (whatever works best for you). I know that December might be more convenient for you so you don’t have to think about it again, but if extravagant generosity is an important part of our growth as disciples, we need to be doing it regularly, not just conveniently.

 The fundamental truth is that we can never out give God. Growing disciples know that and therefore practice extravagant generosity in thanksgiving for God’s extravagant love. As part of our discipleship system, the deeper we grow the more generous we can become.

The church is the training ground for discipleship. It is easy after a few years to become complacent and sit back resting on what God has done in the past.  Or what  we have done in the past. Nevertheless, let me tell you something.

God isn’t finished with us yet.

·         There is always opportunity to love God more deeply.

·         There is always opportunity to understand God more fully.

·         There is always the opportunity to serve God by serving others more lovingly.

Let’s keep climbing friends. Let’s work on being intentional in our disciple making,  Let’s get growing so we can keep going for God.

AMEN