Why Discipleship is More Than Just Spiritual Formation

Dear Discipleship-First Friends,

Is there a difference between spiritual formation, evangelism, discipleship, and disciple making?

Or are these all just different terms that describe the same thing?

The answer gets complicated. Technically, they should all be intertwined into disciple making, but different people tend to define and emphasize each term in different ways, which is what makes it complicated.

I have a thought about a possible solution to the problem, but before I go there, I’d like to try to more clearly define what I see as the problem. Primarily, North American Christians are individualistic. As a result, we see spiritual formation, evangelism, and discipleship as individual, personal issues. We tend to speak in terms of my own individual spiritual formation into the image of Christ. We will often think of sharing the gospel with individual people, and we consider what it means for me as an individual to be a disciple.

However, this could be precisely where we get it wrong. In Scripture, following Jesus as His disciples is always presented as a group exercise. Paul wrote to the churches in Asia Minor:

So Christ himself gave [as gifts to the church] the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. […] we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Paul clearly wrote that Christ gave the leadership of the church as gifts to the church for the explicit purpose of ensuring that all the members of the church mature as members of a connected body into the image of Christ Himself, both individually and corporately.

I think, perhaps, to gain a clearer understanding of this idea, we could put it like this:

The end goal of Christianity (and therefore the church and all its functions) is that human beings are recreated into the image of God, that they were originally created to be, and thereby render unto God the glory He is due. 

Emphasis on the plurality of human beings.

Paul goes on to write a few verses later in Ephesians (remember each time you read the word “you” in this passage, it is plural):

…you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:21-24) 

Notice in this passage the end goal is that all the members of the church are to be “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Perhaps we have never quite put two and two together and realized that the purpose of being conformed to the image of Jesus is to be recreated into the image of God that we humans were originally created to be. I can remember the exact moment that I finally did the math. I realized that if Jesus is the perfect image of God and we are conformed into His image, then we would be conformed into the image of God as well, which is our original purpose and how we bear, reflect, and render His glory. This is God’s desire for every single human being.

Therefore, spiritual formation into the image of Jesus cannot be an individual exercise. Evangelism cannot only be about trying to save individuals from hell. Our end goal should be that all humans, beginning with ourselves, are recreated into the image of God through imitating and obeying Jesus as His disciples. Individual spiritual formation, evangelism, and discipleship are simply facets of this greater goal.

So, here’s my proposed solution to that problem we talked about earlier… I prefer the term disciple making to cover it all. I am being made into the image of Jesus, and I am helping others to be made into the image of Jesus, through being made into disciples.

At Discipleship.org, we use Jesus’ words in Matthew 4:19 to define what it means to be a disciple of Jesus:

“Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

• Follow me – Imitating and obeying Jesus as His disciple.

• I will make you – Being changed by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.

• Fishers of men – Being committed to the mission of Jesus to make more disciples of Jesus.

In North American Christianity, we tend to focus on these 3 aspects (spiritual formation, evangelism, discipleship) individually. We see the first two as spiritual formation and the last as evangelism. Unfortunately, bad things happen when we separate them like that. Spiritual formation without the intention of making more disciples of Jesus usually means that we just try to become nicer people. Evangelism without first being conformed into the image of Jesus personally often produces self-righteous “soul-winners” who mark off how many people they told about Jesus, not how many people they produce who act like Jesus.

Instead, we need to view these three aspects of being a disciple of Jesus as one single commitment. We need to respond to the entire invitation of Jesus, not just one or two out of three. Being a disciple of Jesus encompasses individually being conformed into His image, being part of a relational community of believers (a local church) where everyone is being conformed into His image, and discipling unbelievers into becoming His followers. Jesus made disciples of Himself. If we are truly conformed into His image through imitating Him, then we will make disciples of Him as well. We should be committed to helping as many people as possible, not just ourselves, become disciples of Jesus who imitate and obey Him.

For King Jesus,

Curt Erskine

Discipleship.org

P.S. – I wrote a whole book on this subject: Recreated to Be Like God: Making Disciples in Jesus’ Image and it’s available on Amazon.com in paperback or on Kindle, or you can download a free eBook shorter version, or a free audiobook of the entire book.