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The following are sometimes involved in Christian discipleship but should never be mistaken for it: book clubs, workshops, conferences, meetings, websites, mission statements, programs, giving people information. /1
Don’t be surprised, then, if your church or parachurch organization deploys primarily the above things to address things like racism, sexism, wealth hoarding, pornography, or abuse of power and is essentially unchanged in 10 years. /2
The kind of disciple-making associated w/transformation requires relationship, prayerfulness, presence, heart, discernment, highly specific correction & encouragement, and a lot of time. It can’t be done wholesale or by overly busy, program-centric people. /3
And yet so much American evangelicalism is driven by programs and delivery of information. It’s a side effect of capitalistic orientation: commodification, marketing, product delivery, metrics. /4
We’re constantly being discipled into the patterns of our world—individualism, consumerism, materialism, hedonism, racial segregation. They’re spiritual strongholds. What makes us think book clubs, workshops, legalism, information, sermons, & conferences can undo all that? /5
