Holding Fast and Building Healthy Culture

“It’s not what we do but who we are”.

This phrase has become a common cry by many of us in the Relational Discipleship Network. Wow! The last year challenged this statement in my life. Relationships and areas of my life that once were simple are now complicated. It seems with every 30 days we face new cultural and biblical challenges. I find myself spiritually looking down. Looking down in a sense to check and see if my feet remained grounded on the theological foundation off Jesus’ methodology. I knew that in order to not only survive but thrive, I and my team had to walk out what we believe. The recent days have intensely tested if our words match up with our actions as a disciple making church.

We know that leaders throughout history have grappled with the call given by King Jesus to his church. Throughout church history the pendulum sways to varying degrees when it comes to fulfilling the call. Of all the commentary, analysis, books and research done on the life of Jesus Christ over the centuries, one thing often stands overlooked – the culture he created with The Twelve. Jesus created the most loving, educational and intentional culture that has ever existed. Yes, he is God and certainly has advantages that you or I do not have. Yet, Jesus calls us to go into the world and make disciples – make disciples the way HE made disciples.

For too long, the church has made a fatal assumption. We assume that if we preach the Gospel message yet use our choice of methods when discipling someone, the outcome will be a healthy follower of Jesus Christ. Varying cultures of disciple making are created and we expect that we will get the same results Jesus got. Some create a highly educational culture that lacks transparency, authenticity or sometimes, even love. Others create a passive culture with little to no intentionality and often lacking solid biblical truth or application. Jesus was the greatest disciple maker ever to walk the earth. He is God, the authority on all aspects of life. The culture he created often looks nothing like the culture in today’s church when it comes to disciple making. Now more than ever in these unique times we must hold fast to the methods of Christ.

Over the last six years in our church plant I have focused diligently on culture, living out and modeling a disciple making culture the best I know how. I do this not because it’s my bright idea, but only because when I look in the scriptures and spend time in prayer, I have a deep conviction that we must live out the culture that Jesus modeled and created.

What kind of culture do you have when it comes to disciple making? Does the culture in your home, church or small group look like what Jesus modeled or a foreign version? During the last year have you pressed into the disciple making methods of Jesus Christ? As I am challenged, I challenge you to hold fast and make sure you are standing on that firm foundation the scriptures give us so that we live out a disciple making culture in our churches.

This post originally appeared at: Holding Fast and Building Healthy Culture | Relational Discipleship Network (rdn1.com)