I’ve written a few blogs on unsung heroes, remarkable people in our life, and I have one to add, our long-time Navigator friend and mentor to June, Phyllis Stanley. Phyllis and her husband, Paul, West Point class of 1963, are in their late 70s. They are former missionaries to Germany, Paul was an international vice president of The Navigators and even served as interim president for Greater Europe Mission just a few years ago. As of about January 2018, if not before, Paul began to develop dementia, we think as a result of concussions from playing football while at West Point. The dementia has become very serious, and he has gone down rapidly just in the past few months.

All that is background to this week. Phyllis called June to thank her for some food June had sent, leaving a long message, saying something like, “The arm I broke a few weeks ago is much better. Unfortunately, I’ve fallen and broken the other arm, and I have to have surgery in a couple of days. We’ve had a lot of visitors, people wanting to see Paul one last time: I’ve changed the sheets on the guest bed four times.”

So June went to their house the day before the surgery expecting to find Phyllis resting and maybe doing some last-minute preparations. The door was answered by a lady June didn’t know who explained that Phyllis really couldn’t see her right now–she was leading a Bible study!

Phyllis did come out to talk with June who told Phyllis that she expected her to be down. Phyllis responded, “No, I’m not down. My daughter might have thought I was down but that was due to medication. I’m just fine. The Bible study was scheduled. I’m leading it!”

I think I would have canceled Bible study if I was exhausted from caring for a spouse with dementia and had just broken my arm, especially if I were nearly 80 years old!

[The righteous] will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” (Psalm 92:12-15, NIV)

Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come. (Psalm 71.17, 18, NIV)

I’m still haunted by the Cameroon pastor’s observation: Churches don’t want to transform members to disciples. I suggested that maybe churches don’t know how, and one challenge is that pastors may think they’re doing all they can do.

One pastor told me, “I think most of my folks are having daily time with God: I preach on it at least once a year.” A committed member of another church said something like, “There’s no reason people in our church can’t be having daily time with God. The pastor regularly challenges them to do that.”

I’m all for practical preaching, and in my public speaking engagements, I expose people to discipleship concepts and practices. However, and it’s a big however:

You can’t teach kids to play the piano by taking them to concerts!

Huh? Bob, I thought we were talking about transforming church members into disciples. We are, and the same principle applies, does it not? Preaching, even good, practical preaching, isn’t enough without skills training, usually done in a relational setting.

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11.1, ESV)

Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. (Matthew 28.20, MSG, emphasis mine)

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)

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I don’t know if I should point this out or not, but when Hurricane Dorian was forecast to hit Florida, a former Canadian Prime Minister, Kim Campbell, tweeted:

I’m rooting for a direct hit on Mar-a-Lago! [Mar-a-Lago is President Trump’s private resort.]

Ms Campbell apologized for her Wednesday, August 28, tweet on Friday, August 30. While no longer Prime Minister (she served a short time back in 1993), she currently is the chairperson for Canada’s Supreme Court Advisory Board.

I couldn’t help but notice that Hurricane Dorian essentially missed Florida, but it did hit northeastern Canada. World Magazine reported on Monday, September 9:

Hurricane Dorian knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people in Nova Scotia, Canada, on Sunday. The storm hit near the city of Halifax, ripping roofs off apartment buildings, knocking over a construction crane, and uprooting trees before heading into northwestern Newfoundland and southeastern Labrador during the afternoon. The Canadian government is sending troops to the Maritimes to restore electricity, clear roadways, and evacuate residents of flooded areas.

Kim Campbell is not alone. Every day, millions of people, including believers, are posting all kinds of reckless words on social media. As I’ve written before, outrage has become a new pastime in this country.

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. (Matthew 12.36, ESV)

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I’ve been listening to The Shack on Audible the past couple weeks. I read it when it first came out in 2007. Not everyone likes the book, which is the story of a father’s confrontation with God in the shack in the woods of northwest Oregon where his youngest daughter was murdered three years before. Without giving complete endorsement or condemnation of the book, I will say that it contains many useful insights into the nature of God and our relationship with him, as well as tackling the hard issue of evil.

Today, I just want to highlight one amusing scene. Jesus wants to take the father, Mack, to the other side of the lake. Naturally(!), Jesus intends to walk across the lake to get there. Mack has problems believing he can walk on water, he doesn’t quite know how to get into the water from the dock, etc. Finally, he steps in, and he and Jesus walk across the lake together.

Fast forward several hours, and they are ready to return. Now Mack is filled with confidence, and he walks right into the water, surprised that he finds himself walking on the bottom of the lake! Undaunted, he continues, the water approaching his knees. Finally, he feels himself rising up through the water until he finds himself walking on top again. At that point, he looks back and sees that Jesus had entered the water behind him. Jesus says,

It works better when we do it together!

There it is. Forgetting “together” is the same error the Israelites made in Joshua 7. 

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men… (Joshua 7.2 – 5, ESV)

“We can do this! After all, we just defeated Jericho!” Really? Who defeated Jericho? 

I’m not sure the song we learned as children is quite accurate when it says, “Each victory will help you some other to win.” That seems to imply that we won the previous victory in our own strength. 

Peter got it right in the aftermath of the healing of the lame man in Acts 3.

But Peter said, “…In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him…And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?” (Acts 3.6 – 12, ESV, emphasis mine)

I am the vine, you are the branches…without me, you can do nothing. (John 15.5, NKJV)

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I wrote a few days ago that it was a common observation that churches appear not to be interested in transforming members into disciples. Today I want to applaud the leadership of the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (ECO) for at least goal-setting to make disciples. The Rev. Dr. Dana Allin is the Synod Executive for ECO, and he wrote last week:

In ECO, one of our measures of a flourishing church is that it “Expects Disciple Making”.  The components of this measure include that every person who is a part of our churches will be growing in their own discipleship and helping others do the same.  It is expected that the leaders of our churches will be those who have exemplified their own discipleship and are active practitioners. It is expected that the ministries of the church will be making disciples and will be evaluated and changed accordingly.

I love it. I was with them in January when I was able to challenge some of their leaders to do just that and give them some practical suggestions. But Dana adds a point that underscores the original observation:

It is unfortunate that this expectation needs to be articulated when it should just be a given, but the reality is that we are often surprised when we run across a church that is truly a disciple-making church.  

Again, I applaud ECO and wish them every success as they implement their God-given responsibility to make disciples.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4.11, 12)

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. (Titus 3.14, ESV, emphasis mine)

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“Then how is it that you still don’t get it?” (Mark 8.21, Passion Translation)

Jesus could be harsh(?) or at least frustrated with the disciples. He wants them to learn to think. To put 2 and 2 together. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees” (Mark 8.15). He could have just said “Beware of the religious hypocrisy of the Pharisees,” but he didn’t.

They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.” (Mark 8.16, NIV)

When they were worried about not enough bread (what else could he be talking about?!), he challenged them to think.

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied. “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.” (Mark 8.17 – 20, NIV)

Jesus wasn’t direct with his original statement about the leaven of the Pharisees, and he didn’t directly explain why he couldn’t have been talking about their forgetting bread. He wanted them to figure it out.

I’m having the same problem with a bright young man I’m mentoring in mathematics. Outside of rote procedures, he’s not yet able to put 2 and 2 together without my help. I need to give him room to work it out.

Back to disciple-making, I need not be afraid to challenge people to think for themselves. To learn. To grow in understanding through hard work! 

I pray that I won’t be dense either. Figure out what Jesus wants me to know. His provision for me. And his strategy for reaching the world. Don’t get stuck in old paradigms. For example, the disciples respected the Pharisees; they hadn’t yet developed Jesus’ perspective on their hypocrisy so it was harder for them to understand Jesus’ criticism.

Learning to think is hard work!

1  My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
2  turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—
3  indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
4  and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5  then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2.1 – 5, NIV, emphasis mine)

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I was talking with one of the young men I’m mentoring, Josh, who serves with a Christian organization specializing in discipling high school students. Josh had three experiences this summer, all with the same lesson: people can do more than you think.

In a local church, he was running an evening vacation bible school for high schoolers. To do that, he involved the next age group up, the young adults 18 – 25 to lead the small groups. The pastor was astounded that the young adults did such a good job. “We’ve never given them this much responsibility.”

Josh had a similar experience in Haiti, where he involved participants in a seminar he was leading to develop creative ways to explain the gospel. Again, the local pastors were astounded at what the “ordinary” people were able to do. One pastor said, “I never thought about letting them use their creativity.”

Finally, in Puerto Rico this summer there were demonstrations resulting in the resignation of the governor about the time Josh was there. I don’t know much about it, but according to Josh, the local pastors he was dealing with attributed the demonstrations to young people, who “had to leave the church to find their voice. We in the church didn’t give them a voice.”

I’m reminded of a story told by a friend of mine in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Two AA members went to call on a first-time visitor. The new guy asked one of the members, “How long have you been sober?” He replied, “23 years.” Then he asked the other one the same question: “two weeks.” The new guy turned to the 2-week guy and said, “Tell me how you did it.”

The story haunts me because we in the church would almost never send out a 2-week guy! But Jesus did. Matthew, the tax collector, gave a dinner party and invited all his friends on day 1 (Luke 5.27 – 32); the woman at the well in John 4 invited her whole village to hear Jesus (John 4.27 – 30). Both of these “bad” people started missional activity right away.

I believe in training as much as or more than anyone! On the other hand, people don’t need boatloads of training to be engaged. In fact, Jesus didn’t wait until the disciples were fully trained when he sent them out in Luke 10. The sending was part of the training.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. (Luke 10.1 – 3, NIV)

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. (Mark 5.18 – 20, NIV)

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We’re talking about how churches can transform members into disciples, and yesterday we mentioned the analogy by Ron Bennett about golf clubs. It takes a variety of clubs to get the ball in the hole. The driver (compare the Sunday morning large gathering) is only one. Then we have the long irons (mid-sized groups such as Sunday School classes), short irons (small groups), and the putter (one-to-one). 

Today, let’s talk about small groups. Most churches have some kind of small group program available with varying degrees of success, both in getting folks to participate and in what happens when they do.

A content-rich definition of effective small groups was shared with me years ago by one of my Navigator mentors, the late Dick Miller.

We believe in small groups in which people can grow into Christ-likeness and spiritual maturity through time and exposure to the Word of God and the people of God in a grace-filled environment of accountability, transparency, and vulnerability.

I said it was content-rich! According to Dick, growth in Christ-likeness and spiritual maturity (can we say “discipleship”?) occurs through:

• Exposure to God’s Word
• Exposure to God’s people
• Environments of grace featuring
  • Accountability: allowing you to check on me
  • Transparency: revealing my issues
  • Vulnerability: allowing you to speak into my issues

If Dick is right, groups that are purely social, as important as they are, will be less effective. In addition, groups that are primarily knowledge-based Bible study with no personal application and without transparent, vulnerable interaction will be less effective, also.

In short, small groups don’t make disciples any more than any other program. Small groups is a method, and an important method, to be sure. But people make disciples, and the right kind of small group can help. I have a list of disciple-making tools here. (Scroll down…)

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3.13, NIV)

Knowledge puffs up while love builds up. (1 Corinthians 8.1, NIV)

I was going to post something about small groups today, but let’s hold that until tomorrow. Today June and I are celebrating our 51st, count ’em, 51!, anniversary. We are blessed.

⁹  Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:
¹⁰  If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
¹¹  Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?
¹²  Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4.9 – 12, NIV)

Relish life with the spouse you love…Each day is God’s gift…Make the most of each one! (Ecclesiastes 9.9, MSG)

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I wrote yesterday that a new contact in Cameroon, a young pastor, has observed that churches don’t seem to want to transform members into disciples.

Maybe churches want to make disciples, but they don’t know how. 

The problem is that most churches put most of their efforts into the weekly worship service. And whether the emphasis is Bible teaching, music, or the Eucharist, it’s hard to train people in a large group environment. About as hard as it is to produce musicians only by having them attend concerts. 

Navigator Ron Bennett, in his excellent book Intentional Disciplemaking, uses a golf analogy. Ron says that it takes a variety of clubs to get the ball in the hole. The driver (compare the Sunday morning large gathering) is only one. Then we have the long irons (mid-sized groups such as Sunday School classes), short irons (small groups), and the putter (one-to-one). 

It helps if we are clear about what we want each type of group to do. For example, I believe the best use of Sunday School, especially when the adult classes are composed of, say, 20 – 70 people, is community. Sure, instruction can occur–I taught Sunday School for years. But an important role of the Sunday School in a large church is to provide a smaller environment where people can practice the “one-anothers” of scripture.

The right kind of small groups plays a key role in “transforming members into disciples,” and I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13.34, NIV)

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10.24, 25, NIV, often used to promote church attendance, but it’s hard to “spur one another on…” and “encourage one another” during the morning service! That has to be done at another time.)