4 Ways Christians are not Disicples

                     And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the  
                                             breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42


In the pages of the New Testament Jesus is quoted as saying, "follow me" to various people.  Sometimes He is speaking for them to follow him at that moment and other times He is speaking to them eternally. Ultimately all of his directives have eternal ramifications and from this, we can surmise that Jesus is calling us to follow his actions, character, and way of life. To follow Jesus truly, means we are acting like Him, copying his attitude, actions and lifestyle.  Another word for this is, "disciple".  We have been called to be his disciples, but the more time I spend in the ministry, the less disciples and disciple-makers I seem to find.

Here are a few ways that believers in Christ are not living as true disciples:


1) Devotion to Teaching
                 Although a person may attend church, even regularly (twice or more a month) being devoted to teaching is not just sitting in the sanctuary and listening to the preacher.  Nor is it just sitting in the Sunday School or Small Group room and following along in a study guide. I have found that many people, especially millennials, are devoted to attendance (and even that can be sporadic at times) but being devoted to the teaching means studying it during the week. Whether it is preparation for the class, a review of material covered, or both, there needs to be more devotion to the Word of God to truly be a disciple.

2) Devotion to Fellowship
               Some would argue that fellowship is not an issue in the church.  I would suggest that biblical fellowship is missing and this is what it looks like. Gathering with the saints of all ages, races, backgrounds, etc, not just "us four and no more."  It is easy to attend church with a desire to see your friends and there is nothing wrong with this, unless the only fellowship you do is with the people in your inner circle.  The church is the family of God and we must begin to act like it.Oh! And no gossiping allowed.

3) Actively Participating in Ministry 
               This is a tough one for me to address, simply because it is one of the single most frustrating things I have seen in my short nine years of ministry.  However, it is glaring at us from across the denominational spectrum.  For many, simply going to church should be enough.  I mean, how dare the pastor expect us to be active and use our God given gifts and talents for the ministry. It's not like the pastor is supposed to equip us for ministry, why would he dare suggest such nonsense. /sarcasm off.  We need a lot more doers of the Word and a lot less talkers about what they are going to do.

4) Making Other Disciples
               I am starting to understand why it seems there are so few workers for the harvest. It must be because the actual number of disciples is relatively small to begin with or at least in comparison to the number of self-proclaimed Christians. There must be follow up and action, a desire to see the lost come to know the Lord as savior. Yet, sadly enough, I recently heard a statistic that stated about 92% of people who considered themselves Evangelical Christians either had no plan or definitively were not going to share the Gospel with someone in the next year. A sad statistic, indeed.


You might wonder why "prayer" didn't make the list. The simple answer is, I don't know who is praying or who isn't.  At least, not as easily as these four. What are your thoughts?

The Top 3 Reasons for Cancelling Services During the Summer

While on vacation this week, I have enjoyed time with my family, the beach, amusement parks, and most importantly, the Lord.  Leaning towards my pessimistic side however, I have started counting down the days until the vacation is over.  We returned home on Tuesday and Wednesday morning Heather (my lovely wife) had things for me to do around the house. She didn't push, because we went on a 10 mile bike ride on Monday that nearly killed me and I'm as sore now as I have been in a long time, if ever!  Nevertheless, I did help out a little and found myself focusing on the few days left instead of the rest of my vacation.  In fact, one of our church leaders texted me this morning asking a question about church and then quickly followed up with "you're on vacation, never mind."  I tried to answer his question anyway, and he simply said, "I said you're on vacation." I smiled and texted "thanks."  As I sat here thinking about the upcoming weekend, services, music, sermons, the leadership training that starts in a few weeks, and Vacation Bible School this thought occurred to me...."We should cancel services for the summertime since people will be on vacations anyway."  Hence, here are my top 3 reasons to cancel services this summer.


3) People Will Be on Vacation 
                     I already said this in the long-winded introduction, but it stills holds true. It's summer and the kids are out of school.  It's hot and people need to hang out by the beach, pool or in their air-conditioned rooms. They don't need to be bothered with singing songs of praise and worship, getting up on a Sunday and going to church, volunteering in VBS or sharing the Gospel with the lost. I mean sure, those things are important for the Christian life and yes, they are expected of us, but really, what harm can 8 weeks off do?  Okay, okay, that's not the best reason to cancel services, but the next one is perfect!

2) People Will Read and Study on Their Own
                   Christians are commanded to read and study outside of their regular church attendance, right?  I mean, we know that it is up to us to make sure we are getting the "meat" of the Word, learning and growing, away from the church!  So it makes sense that we can expect people to do this during the summer on their own. What could go wrong?  I mean, many have trouble doing this during the year, so surely the time off will allow people to find more time to spend in God's Word and in prayer, right?  No? Ok, number 1 will convince you.

1) Numbers Will be Low
                   This may sound a little like number 3, but I assure you it is completely different. It is simple and right to the point.  The "Summer Slump" is inevitable. It begins around Memorial Day and doesn't go away until usually sometime in mid-August.  Since people won't be coming anyway, let's cancel services. Just think of what we could save on electricity and cleaning crews.  Of course, don't cut the salaries of the staff, they are still on call!  What's that? What about the faithful few or those who show up during the summer looking for Jesus?  Well, okay, I didn't think about that.  Forget this, it was too much like number 3 anyway!


Well, I tried, but try as I might I can't come up with any good reasons for letting our faithfulness and attendance wean during the summer.  I guess it comes down to priorities, so take your vacations and enjoy the beach, rivers and lakes. Just don't let those wonderful gifts that God has allowed us to have, become our Summer Idols.