115 Church Discipleship

It came up in a meeting of church ministers that there is a shortage of missionaries and church planters being sent out. I suspect a fundamental reason for this comes down to discipleship. When I say this I don't mean programs that have the word discipleship in the description or pastors that have it in their job description. What I mean is that we have watered down the very definition of what Jesus asks for from His disciples. We have let distractions intermix with wholeheartedness. We have contented ourselves with one day a week Christianity. We have muted God's voice to ensure that He does not call us into anything that interferes with our worldly ambitions. The way we have done this even sounds pretty good. What we say is that God only speaks through the scriptures and not in a personal, relational voice. In this we've been able to create a system in which we've allowed ourselves to protect the things that really are more important to us. Our business, our family, our health, our money, our worldly passions and interests. We will continue to see a shortage of outsending ministers until we realize what a disciple even is. It is out of this realization that we will truly grasp God's heart and we won't have to strive for anything. We won't have to create programs. We won't have to write job descriptions. We won't have to beg for volunteers. Because when God's love abounds in our hearts and we heed His voice in our hearts, He connects us directly with the needs we are to meet.