If, like most congregations in the U.S., yours is not growing, why is that?

Simple. You’re not yet doing what Jesus actually told you to do. But he stands ready to help you change that. Most congregations have their focus on worship services, teaching doctrine and maintaining budgets. In the gospels, Jesus has his focus on his Father’s mission, discipleship and multiplication.

Do you see the problem here? There’s your way. And then there’s his way. How is your way working out for you?

The good news is that Jesus’ invitation remains extended, “When you are ready, come, follow me. Let me disciple you in my ways.”

What does it mean to be discipled to be a follower of Jesus?

We don’t have to look far and we don’t have to make anything up because, in the gospels, Jesus himself shows us.

When Jesus said, “Come, follow me,” to his original followers, he was inviting them to begin a training process with him. In other words, discipleship = a training process with Jesus.

And what was Jesus’ stated goal for his training process? “Come, follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men,” (Matthew 4:19). In other words, Jesus is saying, “Come with me and let me give you on-the-job-training so you gain experience, skill and confidence in joining me on my Father’s mission as a daily lifestyle.”

This “daily lifestyle” of following Jesus is what I unpack in my book, "Joining Jesus on His Mission" and sum up with the 5 Mission Practices:

Seeking the Kingdom
Hearing from Jesus in the Gospels
Talking with People
Doing Good
Ministering through Prayer

In the gospels, we also see that Jesus’ training process includes three parts. I like to summarize the three parts this way – proclamation, imitation, replication:

Proclamation = hearing Jesus’ teachings (Mark 1:14-15)
Imitation = imitating Jesus’ lifestyle, i.e., imitating the way Jesus lived out his teachings for the good of others as he pursued his Father’s mission (John 13:15)
Replication = training others to do the same (Matthew 28:19-20)

I unpack Jesus’ training process in my second book, "Joining Jesus - Show Me How".

It is important to note that Jesus’ training process isn’t accomplished with proclamation alone. Proclamation is clearly first. It is absolutely central to his training process. “How can they know unless they hear?” But it is not all.

To hearing his proclamation, Jesus adds imitation. “Come, follow me.” In order to be trained by Jesus, one needs to get up off his… pew and start imitating the way Jesus lives out his teachings for the good of others.

Why would Jesus require that of his trainees? Two reasons:

So that the trainee gains experience, skill and confidence in living out the teachings of Jesus for the good of others. That’s why Jesus says, “Come, follow Me.” We need his information, but we also need the experience which only comes through putting his information into action.
When we put God’s Word into action, we turn God’s Word into God’s Action in the lives of others. Our neighbors need to actually experience the redemptive good that comes from Jesus-followers putting his teaching into practice. My neighbor is not benefitted by me learning the teachings of Jesus. I benefit from that, but my neighbor does not. The only way my neighbor benefits is if I put the teachings of Jesus I have learned into practice for his or her good.

And here’s the coolest part: Jesus wants this happening in every nation through every follower all over the world. Can you imagine what our world would be like if we actually did this? Wow!

How is such a missional lifestyle multiplied among Jesus-followers and out into the world?

In a word, the answer to that question is, “Intentionally.”

Intentionality was key to what Jesus was launching in Matthew 28:16-20. When the disciples came to the end of their training, Jesus sends them out to start intentionally training more people to intentionally participate in his Father’s mission. “Go, make disciples of all nations.” He is saying that they should intentionally use the experience, skill and confidence they had gained during their training with him to intentionally train more people who would then intentionally train more people who would then intentionally train more people until the nations are intentionally trained to intentionally participate in the Father’s redemptive mission. (Pretty cool, huh?)

Unfortunately, multiplying the lifestyle of intentionally participating in mission and discipleship doesn’t “just happen.” It doesn’t “just happen” because we gather around Word and Sacrament in worship services week after week. It doesn’t “just happen” because we talk about it, pray about it, sing about it and make strategic plans about it. The way such a lifestyle is prompted and multiplied throughout a congregation and out into the local community is by congregational leaders intentionally facilitating it through what is CONSISTENTLY BEING DONE throughout the congregation.

To put it another way, there is a simple reason most congregations are not seeing their people live missionally, disciple intentionally and multiply regularly. It’s not what they do.

Think about it this way: your congregation is already perfectly calibrated for the results you are currently getting. Whatever is being done intentionally and consistently by leaders is guaranteeing those same results over and over again.

So, what is the most consistent thing your congregation is intentionally doing week after month after year? What does your congregational leadership value and prioritize the most? What gets scrutinized the most? What do you want your people participating in the most? What gets the most energy and the most money? The mission of God? The training process of Jesus? The multiplication of the same?

Nope.

Your church services. Not the mission of God nor the training process of Jesus.

Thus, the mission of God in the community around your congregation remains largely unaccomplished and your people remain woefully untrained to participate with Jesus on that mission.

Church services are important. They are where Proclamation (the teaching of Jesus) is unleashed. But they are not all. Jesus also says, “Come, follow me.” And until we (congregation members and leaders) start to intentionally and consistently participate in the training process of Jesus, the way Jesus showed us how to do it, we cannot expect any different results than what we have been getting.

So, are you ready to get up off your… pew and get started? Let Dwelling 1:14 help. We offer simple, practical training processes that reflect what Jesus already has shown us in the gospels. We work with congregations throughout the U.S. and around the world. We’d love to work with you, too.

Give me a call or send me an email and let’s start a conversation about how you and your congregation can start living missionally, discipling family and friends intentionally and multiplying regularly.

Let the adventures begin!