November 6, 2015
By Phil Maynard
As we approach the release of my new Membership to Discipleship book in late November, I want to continue to give you some insights into how this book came to be. It has been an organic outgrowth of decades of ministry work. For years, both as a pastor of a local church and as a denominational leader focused on healthy growth strategies for congregations, I felt like we developed lots of strategic plans and complex tactical approaches, but that we were missing a simple way to define our ultimate objective. Then it hit me: all of the intricate, detailed answers we were developing to solve ‘problems’—attendance decline, lack of enthusiasm, community disconnect, and budget shortfalls—issues that stem from an incomplete understanding of what it really means to follow Christ—can be boiled down to a couple of existential questions for people of faith (and the organizations responsible for shepherding them).
- What is a disciple?
- What does a disciple of Jesus Christ do?
Rather than just “knowing one when we see one,” how can we tell when someone is a disciple of Jesus? What measurable behaviors should we be observing? To gain some insight, I gathered together a group of pastors and a pile of newsprint and Sharpies, and at the end of one amazing, exhausting day, we had come up with 153 separate characteristics and behaviors