“What does it mean to be a disciple?”
I was sitting in a circle of church and ministry leaders recently, during a sort of “discipleship summit.” The question on the table was one I’m sure you have wrestled with all the years of your ministry: “What are the actual and effective processes by which people become mature disciples of Jesus?” The use of technology was the topic of the day, wrestling with all the new resources available to people in ministry.
It was at this point in the conversation that one of the leaders asked a simple question of the group: “What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ?” He pointed out that the world has never had so much access to such excellent Christian “content,” yet it doesn’t seem to be moving the needle much when it comes to producing mature disciples.
The question haunted me long after the meeting was over.
Why? Because it is the epicenter of everything we are trying to do as servants of Christ. What does it look like to be a mature follower of Jesus? What are we inviting people into? A good question to be haunted by.
Years ago, when the brilliant Dallas Willard wrote one of the seminal books on spiritual formation he called it, The Spirit of the Disciplines. Dallas wanted to move the conversation to the heart of the matter, the why behind our practices and programs. The spirit behind the disciplines, Dallas explained, is that we pursue these things in order to tap into the unending resources of the life of God in us. Flowing through us.
That’s an easy thing to talk about. But it’s harder to live. Again, why? Because it requires union with Christ, and I’m not sure union is what most Christians understand to be the goal of their relationship with Jesus.
I’ve been a part of many discipleship programs over the years, and I have even offered quite a few myself. What I would like to suggest as the object of our efforts is this: At its core, to be a disciple of Jesus means to come into a daily, operational union with him. All of our practices should aim towards this one objective––deeper union with Jesus. Functional, operational union.
For example, when Jesus gave us the now famous analogy of vine and branch, he was describing a deep and profound ontological union between us and the risen Christ. The branch draws its daily life from the vine, right? It is one with the vine, depending on it for sustenance, immunity, and fruitfulness. Jesus went on to warn that without this union, we won’t be fruitful disciples. But of course. A branch disconnected from actual union with its vine cannot thrive in any way.
When Jesus prays for us in the famous “high priestly prayer" of John 17, he prays for union: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20-21). Reading carefully, we see this is not first about church unity, but rather the soul’s union with Christ, “just as you are in me and I am in you.” Eugene Peterson translated it, “I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this oneness.”
The human soul is created for union with Jesus Christ––actual, ontological and operational union––and it does not function properly without it. The mental health crisis in the world today bears witness to this fact.
The problem with the spiritual disciplines is that without the why in mind, they can be practiced by someone who doesn’t even believe in Jesus. Silence, prayer, fasting––these are things that many religions and mindfulness programs promote. But any truly Christian discipleship program keeps Christ at the epicenter.
Of course, we can never take people where we have not been ourselves. I’m suggesting that we reframe our own personal spiritual practices to cultivate a deeper, actual, functioning union with Jesus. That we could say along with the Carmelite friar Brother Lawrence (who wrote the famous Practicing the Presence of God), “There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.”
Or join along with the French writer Jeanne Guyon (who was jailed for her faith) to report, in her book Experiencing God Through Prayer, “I have found it easy to obtain the presence of God. He desires to be more present to us than we desire to seek Him. He desires to give Himself to us far more readily than we desire to receive Him . . . this is easier and more natural than breathing.”
In my experience as a Christian therapist for more than 30 years, I have not met many followers of Jesus who would report such intimacy with him, and certainly not as natural as breathing. They have not been shown how. Whatever discipleship program they were part of (or failed to adopt), union with Jesus was not something they were mentored into.
Most of you are probably aware of the Barna Research data showing the massive exodus of Christians from the faith in the Western world over the past twenty years. As I’ve spoken to many of these disenchanted believers, they nearly always report some sort of disappointment with never experiencing God. I believe they were not shown how.
However, as we become leaders who experience union with Jesus profoundly, we will not only yearn that others do, but we will make it a goal of all our preaching, teaching and discipleship.
Let me add a supporting thought. One of the great challenges––and I believe great mission fields––of the church in this hour is the healing of human trauma. Humanity is running ragged. All the data on anxiety and depression indicate a kind of “canary in the coal mine” warning. This is a brutal hour on the human soul. I have no doubt these dear souls are showing up in your offices. And how do we, as those called to shepherd and heal human souls, address the overwhelming need?
The joyful answer is simply this: The soul is healed through union with Christ. Let me say it again, for it is so simple we might miss the absolute beauty of it: The soul is healed through union with Jesus Christ. God has been healing human souls for millennia, long before the latest neuroscience. This is immensely hopeful for the human condition. As we shepherd people into a daily, operational, ontological experience of union with Jesus, it will address many of the symptoms of human struggle in this hour.
I’m very hopeful for this shift. I have seen it taking place here and there, across the globe, as leaders prioritize and cultivate their own union with Jesus, and teach others how. The results are beautiful––souls indwelt with the presence of Jesus, manifesting all the fruits we have been longing to see in the life of the church.
