To grow toward true, holistic maturity in Christ, we need to take all areas of his commands to heart. For years and years in my walk of discipleship, I mostly ignored the area of social justice. It just didn’t fit my theological paradigm, and it didn’t register that I...
When we approach discipleship, we often approach it from a skewed viewpoint: hands, heart or head… but not all three combined. The “head only” approach has been popular for many years now. Teach them. Give them knowledge. Instill in them new facts....
When we have integrated disciples– those who incorporate head, heart, and hands– we see they are vastly more likely to pass along that discipleship to others. The end result of holistic disciples modeled on the pattern of Jesus is the multiplication of...
In the last two blog entries, we’ve looked at the pitfall of “all head” and “all hands.” The third discipleship pitfall is “all heart”– focusing on just internal character and heart… the contemplative, emotional retreat– just me and God… drifting. Or, in more...
In my last blog entry, we looked at the pitfall of the “all head” approach– trying to educate our way to making disciples. One common alternative to the “all head” approach is the “all hands” approach. Instead of just learning stuff, let’s get out there and do...
When we over-emphasize knowledge in our approach to discipleship, we end up with a classroom approach. Discipleship is a checklist of things to read and know. It’s curriculum-based and doesn’t take into account where God is currently working in the life of an...
A disciple of Jesus is a reflection of God in the world. When Jesus talked about discipleship, it was an all-in kind of thing. Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and...
