Don't Announce the Revolution

Dear Discipleship-first Friends,

Several weeks ago, we published an article where we laid out the argument that discipleship is mandatory for churches and followers of King Jesus (click here for this article). We followed that article with one that noted 6 steps for implementing disciple making in your church (click here for this article). In an effort to further unpack those 6 steps, today’s read will introduce the first in a series of articles that we hope you and your church will find helpful.

One of the most common requests we receive at Discipleship.org is, “Can you just tell me exactly what to do?” What makes this a difficult question to answer is that we don’t know the particulars of your church and your church’s context. Generally speaking, the only answer I could give is from my personal point of reference… in other words, what I would do if I were hired as a senior pastor of an existing church and was tasked with shifting a church to become a disciple-making church. Here’s where I would start.

“Don’t Announce the Revolution”

We stole this line from our friend Bill Hull, the founder of the Bonhoeffer Project, who stole it from Dallas Willard, who stated:

I certainly would warn you, don’t go and announce a revolution; you will just have a fight. Don’t go in and say, “Now, we are all going to be disciples.” You will get some interesting responses among which would be, “Aren’t we already?”[i]

If only I’d had this information when I first discovered Jesus-style disciple making—and if anyone tried to give me such a warning, I didn’t hear it. So, I announced the revolution. It didn’t go the way I expected. Whenever we first discover the importance of being and making disciples of Jesus, we have a tendency to get excited and share the news with everyone about how we are going to change everything in order to make disciples.

What I failed to realize was that not everyone else processes the same information and emotions in the same way as I did. The danger is that our attempt to be and make disciples comes off as another half-baked idea to do something new.

In reality, in this situation, it is very easy to begin by making several incorrect assumptions…

For example:

Assumption #1: Everyone in the church realizes that there is a problem. There are probably people in your church who are perfectly happy with the way things are. Humans are hardwired to be opposed to change. This hardwiring allows us to get up every day and do the same things, in the same manner, without much re-thinking required. It allows us to be efficient. Instinctively we know that doing something new will be inefficient and will require a concerted effort.

This is often why even when church members realize that there is a problem, they want to keep doing the same things expecting a different result (the proverbial definition of insanity). Of course, the reality is that your church is perfectly designed to produce the results that it is currently producing. It will take time, effort, and education to convince your church members that not only are different results needed, but that in order to produce different results, different methods are required.

Moreover, you need to prepare your church for initial failure. Again, change is inefficient at first. Even if the entire church is convinced of a need for change, it will feel like a failure at some point. In the business world, this is known as Kanter’s Law:

Kanter’s Law asserts that somewhere during the middle of significant changes and transformations, individuals often face doubts and discouragement. This is because all major changes are accompanied by uncertainties and challenges, and the ‘middle’ phase is usually where progress may seem slow or even non-existent.[ii]

Another reason that we humans are hardwired against change is safety. If we have done something before and know it to be safe, it will most likely be safe to do it again. Doing something different might be unsafe. And the reality is that being and making disciples probably isn’t really safe, as C.S. Lewis reminds us:

Aslan is a lion–the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion…” “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver… “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

The people of your church will need time to process that something new needs to be done and that ‘something new’ might not feel safe.

Assumption #2: Everyone in the church wants to be a devoted follower of Jesus. Yeah, this is a hard one. Cultural Christianity comes easily to North Americans. Just because someone is a devoted cultural Christian does not mean that they want to be a disciple of Jesus. And sometimes, the most devoted cultural Christians will be the ones most opposed to being and making disciples of Jesus.

The difficult part is that in America being a “Christian” can be a part of someone’s cultural identity and nothing more. In reality, their god may be their culture and Jesus is just something that is referenced by their culture. Once you begin to change the culture of the church, it doesn’t take long to begin to discover those who are devoted to the culture and those who are devoted to Jesus. This can be a surprising discovery. There were people who I thought would jump on the disciple-making bandwagon with me who abandoned me, and there were people who I never thought would get it and they got it. Keep an open mind and direct your energy toward those who are getting it, not just those who you ‘want’ or ‘think’ will get it.

Assumption #3: You have enough information and training to carry out the task at hand. Again, this is another mistake that I made. My first piece of advice is to read books by people who have demonstrated success at being and making disciples of Jesus. Here’s a quick list of fairly-easy reads as a place to start:

There are plenty of other good disciple-making books, and I recommend you read as many as you can. This list is just a launching pad. If you prefer digital books, check out Audible. For most of human history, people learned by listening instead of reading. And remember, you might not agree with everything you read, but I would encourage you not to miss the good stuff, as well.

I would also recommend you find an organization or church that demonstrates success at being and making disciples of Jesus. The Relational Discipleship Network offers coaching. The Bonhoeffer Project has cohorts that teach disciple making. RENEW.org has learning communities for Sr. Minister/Pastors that can help. Spend some time on the internet looking up all of the different organizations that offer to train you to make disciples of Jesus and connect with the one that best fits your needs. Before you attempt to convince your church to be and make disciples, be sure you have done your due diligence–do the research and have a handle on where you are going.

Assumption #4: You are committed enough to lead the revolution. When you begin to study what it means to be and make disciples of Jesus, and what it takes to lead a church to be a Jesus-style disciple-making church, you might figure out that it is not for you. That doesn’t mean that you are not a believer, and it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be in the ministry in some form, but it does mean that you probably shouldn’t be a senior minister/pastor. It would be better to figure this out before you crash and burn yourself and a church in a misguided attempt to change it. There is no need to make yourself and others miserable. There are professions in the ministry other than leading a church as a senior pastor.

However, if you discover that you have the commitment and drive to lead a church to be a Jesus-style disciple-making church, you need to be patient with those you lead. They probably do not have the same level of drive as you and they approach things more carefully than you. It is better to start small and slowly acclimate your church to the idea. Begin with the elders or the church staff and see who really gets it and invest in them.

If you have already announced the revolution, that doesn’t mean you can’t still pull it off. It just means that you have placed yourself under scrutiny and you need to follow up convincingly on what you have proclaimed. Take it slow, step back, and again, begin to educate yourself on what it means to be and make disciples of Jesus.

For King Jesus,

Curt Erskine

Discipleship.org

[i] Dallas Willard: The Great Omission | Conversatio Divina

[ii] Kanter’s Law – everything looks like failure in the middle (linkedin.com)