Are We Insane? Challenging the American Church Model
America is slowly drifting into a post-Christian culture where the number of confessing Christians will soon be overtaken by those who do not believe that Jesus is the only way to God. This is a staggering statement when considering the strong Christian heritage that has existed since the founding of our nation.
In a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2018 and 2019, results show that
“65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or ‘nothing in particular,’ now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.” [1]
Obviously, we need a drastic change for how we as the church train and equip disciples who make more disciples. We have been trying to force a groundbreaking generation of people into a traditional discipleship system for far too long. This reminds me of an analogy Jesus used when describing the problems of forcing the new into the old,
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:21-22).
Are you willing to let go of tradition in pursuit of transformation? Many future disciples will require a new wineskin model of discipleship to experience the growth available to them in Christ. There are numerous ways to tap into our creativity as we consider how to disciple those around us.
Though new and creative solutions are necessary for the forward progress of the gospel, we may be surprised that a very “old” way of doing things is meeting the needs of this new generation of believers. What if one of the new ways we worked toward sanctification in people was to dig up our spiritual root system and disciple them like the early church?
Out with the Old and In with the New … Or Maybe the Other Way Around!
Before we examine how the early church went about discipleship, we need to evaluate the culture and strategy of many contemporary churches. If you really investigated the inner-workings of most modern churches, it would become apparent that we are dealing with much more than simply being the family of God.
With pyramid-style org charts, major marketing budgets, multi-million-dollar facilities, and in-depth financial strategies, many churches have more in common with a for-profit business than a loving community of Christ-followers. The things I mentioned in the previous sentence are not wrong in and of themselves, but there is a danger in prioritizing them in the context of biblical community.
In his book Multiplying Missional Leaders, Mike Breen notes, “If you run your church like a business, efficiency replaces effectiveness, many churches are organizationally efficient, but we aren’t affecting the lives of people the way in which Jesus imagined or hoped for.” [2] The downfall of many of these corporate strategies is the loss of intimate connection between the people of God.
Jesus said the way people would know whether you were a disciple was based upon the love that you have for your brothers and sisters in Christ. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
There is nothing wrong with big buildings and large congregations. I believe in good marketing strategies and clearly defined roles in ministry. But before any of that, we must focus primarily on encouraging people to grow in love with God and one another. We must be willing to attack any area that hinders our ability to pursue those two things.
Our Primary Pursuit is Not Up for Debate!
This is not my personal opinion; this is the most crucial aspect of being a disciple of Christ. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus responded by saying,
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
The degree to which we love God and people is the litmus test that reveals the maturity of our faith.
Unfortunately, I have not come across many mega-churches that can adequately resource their corporate structure while at the same time facilitating intimate relationships between believers. Maybe some exist, but if they do, they are few and far between.
Recognizing that strong biblical discipleship is a struggle for these corporate-style entities, what is our answer for providing Christians opportunities to connect that reach beyond the simple one-minute “greeting time” offered in our Sunday morning services? I believe the answer lies not so much in looking forward but in looking back.
Leveraging Technology, Not Idolizing It!
Embracing technology as the new answer to our discipleship crisis will leave us disappointed. Due to modern technological advancements, our opportunities to connect are greater than ever, yet we live in an extremely relationally disconnected society. True discipleship and relational intimacy are some of the greatest needs in the body of believers, and these happen best in the context of small, close-knit communities.
We need a new way to meet the demand for faithful fellowship while also providing a framework for multiplying disciples who make more disciples. This can be aided by technology, but technology alone will not meet the needs of effective discipleship. What we need is an authentic, gospel-centered community!
Returning to Our Discipleship Roots
To see what the bible has to say about discipleship, we must investigate the accounts of the early church in the book of Acts. Let’s look at a quick snapshot of what biblical community and discipleship looked like in one of the most successful eras of church history.
So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:41-47).
Sounds exciting huh?! I must admit that a bit of holy jealousy arises in me as I read this account. To see how the early church arrived at these types of results, let’s look at a few of the primary dynamics we see operating in their discipleship strategy.
First off, the early church emphasized the foundational elements of the Christian life. Acts 2:42 says that the believers “were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).
That is a far cry from the emphasis many churches place nowadays on attendance and donations. Here we see radical church growth happening in the context of intimate communities devoted to simple yet transformational spiritual disciplines.
The second thing that jumps out at me is how “the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). New conversions are meant to be regular experiences in an influential Christian community. We in the church tend to get super excited whenever a person comes to the Lord (as we should), but the problem is that we are not regularly expecting that to happen.
A new convert is more of an anomaly than an expected result of living a missional life in the kingdom of God. If the gospel truly “is the power of God” (Romans 1:16), and if God is fully omnipotent, then why are we not seeing more people come to the Lord. I can guarantee you one thing; the problem is not God … it’s us!
Supernatural Power as an Essential Element in Discipleship
This leads to the third area that stands out in this passage: the power of God was regularly on display through supernatural signs and wonders. The apostle Paul touted that his message and preaching “were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5).
Just like the conversion of the lost, supernatural power is meant to be commonplace, not abnormal in the community of God. If we took these words seriously, the church would begin to emphasize accessing God’s power above perfecting rational man-made strategy. The result would be a rush of new conversions and a strengthening of faith for those who have already come to Christ.
Signs and wonders are a necessary component of presenting the fullness of the gospel:
“For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:18-19).
Finally, we see discipleship being lived out in an intimate community of sold-out Christ-followers. This community so believed in their mission that they went so far as to have “all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need” (Acts 2:44-45).
I am not suggesting that this needs to be the standard for a community of believers, but it should be noted how far we have drifted from this practice. The American church embraces the economic system of capitalism far more than the structure described in the church of the New Testament.
In the end, whether it is our ecclesiological structures, financial systems, or emphasis on knowledge over power, we can conclude that our usual way of doing church and pursuing discipleship in the West is floundering. But I believe that by following the example of the early church and infusing innovative strategies to reach our upcoming generations, we can see even greater revival than what is documented in the book of Acts.
But it will not happen by continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result (that is the definition of insanity). Our nation needs men and women passionately in love with Christ who are willing to risk it all for God. Will you be among the new wave of pioneers set to flip our country upside down with gospel?
[1] “In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace: An update on America's changing religious landscape,” Pew Research Center, October 17, 2019, https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/