Part Two
There is a great deal of talk about “Making Disciples” today. Everywhere people are pontificating this philosophy, but just talking want make disciples. Creating a disciple-making culture takes more than just changing our philosophies, attitudes, values, and beliefs. We’ve got to walk the talk. It takes a change in behavior.
Only God Can Transform…
If we are to create a culture of making disciples in which lives are transformed, we must recognize that it is God that does the transformation. We cannot create a Believer; this is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our task is to create an environment where the Spirit can do His work. This takes us back to the definition of culture: it involves beliefs, but more; it takes a commitment to attitudes, values, goals and even more importantly, it takes a solid change of actions and practices; it depends on the behaviors of our everyday existence. It is our starting place; it is the air we breathe. It is priority one.
Behaviors that Create a Disciple-making Culture
We can talk about the philosophy of making disciples but that will never make one. We can dialogue about the importance of culture but that will never transform a life. Talking, philosophies, and dialogues do not make disciples, behavior does. To create a disciple-making culture in our Sunday Schools, we will need to follow the action plan set by Jesus. He didn’t just talk, he acted. He invited learner disciples to become participating members of his small group. He stayed connected to them. He ministered to them, and he involved them in ministry. Eventually, these learner disciples became believer disciples who then became fully devoted, reproducing disciples who turned the world upside down.
__________________________________________________
Phil Stone, State Sunday School Director
Church Administrant and Church Building Planning Ministries
Baptist State Convention of North Carolina
Leave a Reply