Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Religion

Where Did All the Disciples Go?

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abandonedhouse

“There is a discipleship deficiency in most churches resulting in a lack of transformation.” This was one of many findings from the Transformational Discipleship Project that surveyed four thousand Protestants and one thousand Protestant pastors in North America. Their research revealed that pastors “know lives are being changed at some level but not with consistency from the ministries of the church.” Furthermore, the Joint Statement on Discipleship at the Eastbourne Consultation reiterated a similar statement,

“As we face the new millennium, we acknowledge that the state of the Church is marked by growth without depth. Our zeal to go wider has not been matched by a commitment to go deeper.”

Why is there such a great disparity between the magnificent life of Jesus and his early followers with the present state of Christians today? Why is there such a dearth of disciples within the Church? Where did they all go?

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Multi-Site Churches and Discipleship: A Contradiction?

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stoplight

“Multi-site Churches Are from the Devil” was the headline of a blog post written by Thabiti Anyabwile on the Gospel Coalition website. In his blog post, he defends that statement by explaining how “video multi-site tends to idolatry, pride, and self-promotion – even where the ambition of spreading the gospel is genuine.” He also argues, amongst many other things, that “multi-site churches reduce the family, body, and flock to an anonymous assembly” and essentially changes the nature of the church into an assembly, rather than a group of disciples on mission.

There are many objections to multi-site, even by way of scrolling through the 250+ comments of Anyabwile’s blog post, we quickly discover that there are legitimate arguments on both sides.

According to A Multi-Site Church Roadtrip, the objections can be summed up into these five categories:

  • Preachers don’t know people personally
  • Churches are just following the latest fads and trends
  • Multi-sites make church into a show
  • There are going to be negative outcomes
  • Multi-sites fail to make disciples (this is the objection that is most relevant to this post)

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Book Review: Exiles: Living Missionally – Michael Frost

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Michael Frost is the vice principal of Morling College, the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, the co-founder of the Forge Mission Training Network, and an author of several books, including The Shaping of Things to Come. He is a leading voice in the missional church movement and an internationally recognized Australian missiologist.

The thesis of Exiles is that following Christ in today’s world requires a critique of and departure from the culture of Christendom and the greater empire. In order to do that, Frost exhorts his readers to embrace their identity as exiles living on foreign soil – “as a pesky, fringe dwelling alternative to the dominant forces of our times” (10). This is a book that will empower all Christians to embrace a Christ-centered faith that is lived out through a missional lifestyle in the everyday rhythms of life. [Read more…] about Book Review: Exiles: Living Missionally – Michael Frost

Book Review: The Great Omission – Dallas Willard

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In The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship, Dallas Willard magnificently preaches a simple and basic message on discipleship, of which is commonly missing and misunderstood in many churches today.

I love the way that he breaks down the misconception that there are different levels in being a Christian, since this is the exact problem that has made discipleship an option, rather than a baseline requirement for being Christian (i.e. this is the great omission that he is talking about). I appreciate the fact that he is not just calling Christians to change, but that he is actually expanding the scope and call to all people by emphasizing that following Christ is “the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities” (Location 312).

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Jesus, Confucius, and Buddha

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deeppit

Here is the difference between Jesus, Confucius, and Buddha according to a Chinese individual that A.B. Simpson knew of (from A.B. Simpson’s The Fourfold Gospel).

“I was down in a deep pit, half sunk in the mire and was crying for some one to help me out. As I looked up I saw a venerable, grey-haired man looking down at me. His countenance bore the marks of his pure and holy spirit. ‘My son,’ he said, ‘this is a dreadful place.’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I fell into it. Can’t you help me out?’ ‘My son,’ he said, ‘I am Confucius. If you had read my books and followed what they taught, you never would have been here.’ ‘Yes, father,’ I said, ‘but can’t you help me out?’ As I looked up he was gone.

Soon I saw another form approaching, and another man bent over me, this time with closed eyes and folded arms. He seemed to be looking into some far-off, distant place. ‘My son,’ he said, ‘just close your eyes and fold your arms and forget all about yourself. Get into a state of perfect rest. Don’t think about anything that could disturb. Get so still that nothing can move you. Then, my child, you will be in such delicious rest as I am. ‘Yes, father,’ I answered, ‘I’ll do that when I am above ground. Can’t you help me out?’ But Buddha, too, was gone.

I was just beginning to sink into despair when I saw another figure above me, different from the others. He was very simple, and looked just like the rest of us, but there were the marks of suffering in His face. I cried out to Him: ‘Oh, Father, can you help me?’ ‘My child,’ He said, ‘what is the matter?’ Before I could answer Him, He was down in the mire by my side; He folded His arms about me and lifted me up, and then He fed and rested me. When I was well, He did not say, ‘Now, don’t do that again,’ but He said, ‘We will walk on together now;’ and we have been walking together until this day.”