The title is not a misprint: we usually say that training requires discipline, which is true. However, discipline requires training!
I wrote yesterday about the importance of discipline for growth of any kind, even spiritual growth. But it’s not enough to talk about discipline: we must carefully show how to perform the discipline we’re talking about. After all,
Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.
I’m sometimes guilty of thinking that motivation is a substitute for training. But it’s difficult to motivate someone to do something they don’t know how to do! That’s why every time I encourage you to have daily time with God, I provide a link to the instruction for that.
But when I write often that the church’s job is to equip people to make disciples, I don’t always provide a how-to. And that’s a problem. Here’s why.
Paul instructed Timothy to teach others relationally as Paul had taught him:
“The things you have heard from me…commit to reliable people who shall teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)
And Timothy could do that because he had been through Paul’s process! “The things you heard from me….” Timothy knew what Paul was talking about, but most pastors today do not. They were trained through a classroom model at seminary.
So what’s the solution? Fortunately, the bridge has been built. There are disciple-making tools out there that anyone, even a pastor(!) could use to make disciples. I mention them here from time to time. My primary go-to tools after initial follow up are
- The Navigators 2:7 Series also known as In God’s Family Series
- Every Man a Warrior by Lonnie Berger of The Navigators
There are other materials out there, of course. These are the ones that have worked for me. Disciple-making pastor Greg Ogden, about whom I wrote a 3-part series, has a tool he has developed.
I’m just trying to remember that any time I encourage someone to do something, that I provide them with enough specifics that they can at least take the first step.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20.21, NIV, emphasis mine)
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Colossians 2.6, 7, NIV, emphasis mine)
You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose… (2 Timothy 3.10, NIV)