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excerpts…
here’s some food for thought from Dallas Willard’s book The Great Omission…
Jesus told us, as disciples, to make disciples. Not converts to Christianity, nor to some particular “faith and practice.” He did not tell us to arrange for people to “get in” or “make the cut” after they die, nor to eliminate the various brutal forms of injustice, nor to produce and maintain “successful” churches. These are all good things, and he had something to say about all of them. They will certainly happen if—but only if—we are (his constant apprentices) and do (make constant apprentices) what he told us to be and do. If we do this, it will little matter what else we do or do not do…
For those who lead or minister, there are yet graver questions: What authority or basis do I have to baptize people who have not been brought to a clear decision to be a disciple of Christ? Dare I tell people, as “believers” without discipleship, that they are at peace with God and God with them? Where can I find justification for such a message? Perhaps more important: Do I as a minister have the faith to undertake the work of disciple-making? Is my first aim to make disciples? Or do I just run an operation?…
Now, some might be shocked to hear that what the “church”—the disciples gathered—really needs is not more people, more money, better buildings or programs, more education, or more prestige. Christ’s gathered people, the church, has always been at its best when it had little or none of these. All it needs to fulfill Christ’s purposes on earth is the quality of life he makes real in the life of his disciples. Given that quality, the church will prosper from everything that comes its way as it makes clear and available on earth the “life that is life indeed.”
5 Responses to “excerpts…”
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Rob had some great thoughts on this very topic a few weeks ago…well worth a listen.
i know… he took them from this book!
the more i read and the more i listen to rob, the more i realize rob’s a really good reader.
“What authority or basis do I have to baptize people who have not been brought to a clear decision to be a disciple of Christ? Dare I tell people, as ‘believers’ without discipleship, that they are at peace with God and God with them? Where can I find justification for such a message? Perhaps more important: Do I as a minister have the faith to undertake the work of disciple-making?”
Make no mistake, I am 100% behind the practice of real discipleship, seeing it as essention to being truly missional. The quote above, though, worries me for two reasons.
First, I don’t like the idea of putting off baptism until someone is “ready.” How are you going to define ready? The Ethiopian in Acts was “ready” after a relatively brief presentation of the Gospel. He didn’t have to prove himself as a disciple before being allowed to be baptized. In fact, baptism appears to be the door into discipleship, if we read scripture honestly.
Second, at what point are we crossing the anti-biblical line of promoting what the Protestant Reformation call “works-righteousness”? I, for one, will never be worthy of God’s mercy, and would be fooling myself to think that any feeling or exertion of effort could make me good enough to “make the cut.”
Yes, we desperately need for the church to capture the idea of genuine discipleship. This is an ages-old problem that past generations have attempted to address, even as we now approach it in our own times. But let’s be careful not to trade easy believism for legalistic righteousness.
i agree with what you’re saying adam, but i don’t think that’s the point that willard is necessarily making… and i think that’s my fault for ripping his quote out of context—so let me explain what i think he’s talking about.
in the first question he’s making a stark contrast between converting to “christianity”—or more clearly: a particular “faith and practice”—and becoming an actual disciple of Jesus. he’s calling us, in regards to baptism and everything else, to ask the question, “what are they converting to?” christianity based upon our “faith and practice” or discipleship.
i don’t think it has anything to do with whether or not they are ready by reaching a certain milestone or point (rounding the bases), but rather the teachability or frame of mind that the person has before getting baptized. i think he’s calling for attitudinal preparedness instead of climbling the ladder. so, your call at the end of “let’s be careful not to trade easy believism for legalistic righteousness” is in a sense exactly what willard is pointing out but is taking it a step further and saying—”look there’s a third way here.”
Thanks for the explanation. I think I’d need to read his book to get the point better.