The Churches Role in Three-Dimensional Discipleship
Is it possible to engage in discipleship outside of the church? Most believe it is not only possible but may be more productive to approach discipleship “out in the real world.” I understand what people mean when they contend for this, but I think this thought simply exasperates the fact that we don’t truly understand what the church is.
For a portion of my life, I promoted discipleship but felt that involving the “church” in that process often muddied the waters. What I have now come to see is that discipleship only happens in the context of the church. Before you argue that you have witnessed plenty of successful discipleship endeavors outside of the church’s four walls, let me explain what I mean (and what the Bible says) about the church.
The Church: Universal
Contrary to popular opinion, the church is not a building, a Sunday morning service, or even an organization. The church is a living organism comprised of the universal family of God throughout all human history. Paul gives us this context when describing Christ’s love for the church in Ephesians 5:25-27:
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
Christ does not love a building, a specific gathering, or an organization. Christ loves the people in that building, the people participating in that gathering, and the people who make up that organization. This may seem like basic knowledge, but many both inside and outside of Christian circles do not understand this idea.
The Church: Regional
The biblical context of church is primarily expressed in four ways: the universal church, the regional church, the citywide church, and the house church. We just covered the universal church in the paragraph above, so let’s examine the next tier: the regional church.
This form of church describes the body of believers in a geographic region. This usually consists of multiple cities that are in close proximity to each other. This form of church is best seen in Acts 9:31-32:
“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase. Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.”
The Church: City-Wide
The third biblical expression of church is the citywide church (1 Corinthians 1:1-2). This comprises all the believers within a specific city and is the context for the audience of Paul’s writings in books such as Ephesians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, etc. Paul begins the book of 1 Corinthians with an address to the citywide church at Corinth:
“Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth” (1 Corinthians 1:1-2).
The Church: Homes
The final and most intimate expression where the word church is used is the house church (1 Corinthians 16:19, Romans 16:15). In the early church, Christians would often meet in homes instead of large buildings. This allowed believers to have intimate fellowship with one another, which is a primary vehicle for effective discipleship. This form of church is described in Romans 16:5:
“Also greet the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.”
It is also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 16:19:
“The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.”
We Are the Church
Recognizing that the church is ultimately the family of God, with the very important factor of His presence being in our midst, we now see why there is such a direct link between church and discipleship. God uses people to disciple people; He does not directly use institutions in this way. The problem with thinking of the church as an organization is that it causes us to place much of our reliance upon a system instead of God.
Suppose there ends up being some complication in the system (moral failure by the pastor, church split, favoritism toward certain members, etc.). In that case, the people associated with that organization often go down with the ship.
Seeing the church as an institution also causes people to neglect their responsibility to be active disciple-makers. Nearly everyone I have talked to believes that the local church is primarily responsible for discipling people. And guess what? They are right!
The problem is that many do not see themselves as the local church. They see the local church as an institution or network of institutions led by professional ministers. The burden of discipleship then gets places on the backs of a handful of individuals instead of the body of Christ as a whole.
If we place our hope for transforming a city on a small number of people with seminary degrees, we are in serious trouble. Don’t you get it? You are the church! You are needed in order to bring about the great harvest that God longs to see in your community.
Three-Dimensional Discipleship
When considering how the church disciples its people I think it would be valuable to briefly introduce three primary dimensions through which discipleship occurs. We all have a particular picture that comes to our mind when we think of discipleship. This picture usually covers aspects of the discipling process, but if you are like most Christians, this picture falls far short of what the fullness of biblical discipleship entails.
The most comprehensive way I have learned to talk about discipleship is to break it into three separate (yet related) dimensions: upward discipleship, inward discipleship, and outward discipleship.[1]
Upward Discipleship
Upward discipleship entails all the one-on-one interactions that we as individuals have with God. God is the ultimate discipler, and though He often uses people in the discipleship process, there are plenty of times where He interacts directly with His children. We see Jesus engaging with the Father in this way even in the most explosive seasons of His ministry.
“But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray” (Luke 5:15-16).
Inward Discipleship
Inward discipleship is probably what comes to most people’s minds as they think about this process. This form of discipleship takes place when born-again believers help other Christians become more like Jesus. Jesus regularly engaged in this form of discipleship, especially among his twelve disciples:
“Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness” (Matthew 10:1).
Often, inward discipleship occurs when a more mature follower helps guide a less experienced Christian to grow in their faith. But I have found that inward discipleship always has a mutual benefit for both believers. Those who are more mature in the faith are often inspired by new believers, thus experiencing encouragement and growth for themselves in the discipleship process.
Just like Jesus taught us to learn to be like children, so too can those mature in the faith learn from someone who just came into the church.
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 18:1-4).
Outward Discipleship
Finally, we see discipleship taking place as an outward missional focus. After equipping His twelve disciples with supernatural authority in Matthew 10:1, Jesus wasted no time in sending the disciples out to reach others.
“These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: ‘Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.’” (Matthew10:5-8).
We often think of reaching the lost only as an evangelistic activity. No doubt, sharing the gospel with those who don’t know Christ is evangelism, but it is also the first step of discipleship. The only way for people to become more like Jesus is if they first “repent and believe in the gospel.”
To receive the indwelling power of the Spirit, you must “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead” (Romans 10:9). So, discipleship almost always happens prior to a person’s salvation!
This outward discipleship affects those being ministered to and radically impacts those who have been sent out. The old Alcoholics Anonymous adage, “you can only keep what you give away,” seems fitting in this scenario.
Now I am not saying that you will lose your salvation if you are not spreading the gospel, but I would question whether or not you were truly saved in the first place. The same way a fruit tree produces seeds to bear more fruit after its kind, so too does a disciple make more disciples.
Hopefully, you now share my conviction that discipleship is far more than a Bible study or Sunday school class. Discipleship is multi-faceted and is accomplished in the comings and goings of our daily life. The church is the context in which discipleship happens because the church is not a building, it is a people filled with the Spirit of God.
So let us be passionate about obeying the words of Jesus to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
[1] These concepts were first introduced to me by Mike Breen and the 3DM team. To learn more, I recommend reading his book Building a Discipling Culture.
