like a fire

I was thinking about discipleship and how most people just think differently about it. Actually, this was after an interview with a church where I was asked to explain what I meant by it. It is such a different concept for most churches unfortunately. Most people equate discipleship with small groups or Bible studies, which really are just twentieth century church forms of discipleship. I am reading a lot now and mostly it is fantasy. John Eldredge would call it the desire for the mythic or epic in my life. What ever the case, I really like stories about knights and heroes.

I began thinking about the journey to knighthood. In most stories, a knight has to go through rigorous training to become a knight. He also usually has o have the right lineage (highborn) or have a knight take him on as a squire to teach him the ways of the knight. There is a formal passage from serving as a squire being knighted. One is only knighted, btw, he can’t make himself a knight. This is very much like discipleship.

A disciple has to have the right lineage, just like a knight. He has to be highborn. His father really needs to be a king, duke, baron or lord of some lands. Hence the need to protect them by knighthood.

A disciple needs to go through a time of preparation for what they are called to do. They help the knight, groom his horse, arm him, sharpen swords, etc. and in doing so they get to learn from the knight how to joust, ride, fight, etc.

Imagine someone reading stories about knights and an instructional manual on how to fight in a tournament against knights and then trying to actually go do it. It would be disastrous. They would probably die a horrible death. yet that is much like we treat discipleship in the church. We tell them stories from the Bible, we give them some education in scriptures and then expect them to fight.

Basically, we insure their failure.

If we are in a battle, and the Bible says we are, then how are we training people to survive it? Disciples need hands on practice with a sword. They need to learn to use a shield. They need to understand their lineage and what they are to protect. It has to be more than just meeting with some other people and telling our secrets and learning about faith. To win the war, we must use our faith.

We are going to face fiery arrows. The biggest is the lies that are flung at us about our own defeat. How better to meet those than with truth. Truth beats lies - always. And what better way to block those arrows than to actually believe those truths with faith. Ephesians 6 is written there for a reason.

So there is a small part of what I see as how discipleship needs to happen. It also shows some areas the church needs to consider if they are going to be successful in preparing teens to fight the good fight.

That’s my battlecry.