[To follow The Ewellogy, please click on Leave a Comment above, fill in your name and email, and check the box: Notify me of new posts by email. If your comment is, “Notify me,” it won’t post publicly. If you don’t start to receive the blog by email right away, please write to me at bob@ewell.com, and I will see that you get on the list.]
I was talking with my friend Ray this morning about the fact that some discipleship materials seem too complex. Not for “ordinary” people. We believe beginning discipleship, at least, should be accessible and reproducible.
I recalled a training method I heard about in high school: “instant participation, instant success.” For example, to teach archery, you would put a bow and arrow into someone’s hand and put the target a short distance away so that they hit the bull’s eye on the first try. Instant participation, instant success.
When we teach our children to drive (when they’re of age!), we take them to a parking lot first, and they drive. Then we gradually put them in different situations. Instant participation, instant success.
What about someone starting an exercise program? They may be 100 pounds overweight. Can you walk to the corner and back? Instant participation, instant success. Pretty soon, they’re walking a mile, then two, and they’ve lost weight.
We don’t need to make discipleship hard. Can we spend a few minutes each day reading the Bible? Let’s start there, and let’s mark as we read and listen for what God might be saying to us. Instant participation, instant success. We’ll grow in our knowledge of God and His word. We’ll grow in our ability to put it into practice. We’ll grow in our ability to share the word with others as well as help others be in the word for themselves, too.
Here are some examples of accessible, reproducible discipleship tools:
- Growing Strong in God’s Family
- Growing in Christ
- Every Man a Warrior
- High Quest (for men) and Women of Purpose
Train yourself to be godly. (1 Timothy 4.7, NIV)
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4.4, NIV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3.16, ESV)