Seth Barnes - Discipleship seems so unrealistic

I have a dream that sometimes seems so unrealistic, I don't talk about it with anyone. My dream is that churches would be seized by a passion
to disciple their people. I believe it's such an important dream that I've committed my life to it.

A number of years ago, I used to get
more excited by people praying the prayer of salvation.
We used to hand out tracts in Mexico. But
after a while, I grew convicted about my hit-and-run ways. I learned that, absent a plan for long-term discipleship, not much
really changes.

Discipleship requires lots and lots of time. And it's often done one-on-one.

Most churches don't have a lot of time. They average maybe three hours a week of
their congregants' time. And like the wife of a workaholic, they guard
it jealously. It's not enough time to disciple people as Jesus did.

And, of course, to
maximize the time they're allocated, churches focus on the excellence of
their programmatic activities.The worship music that comes out of our local mega-church is really, really good. It's almost enough to make me want to endure the hassle of parking there.

2 Timothy 3:16 talks about the activities of a discipler: teaching,
rebuking, correcting, and training. Of these, teaching is the only
activity that lends itself to larger groups - the other three are best
done individually.

We are a nation that likes to "super-size" stuff -
make it bigger and better. Super-sizing was never Jesus' model and it can't be ours.

I was going to end this post there, but I don't want to be a downer. If you've sensed this in your spirit and want more, you have options. Here are a couple of ideas for you:

1. Ask a pastor or someone at your church to disciple you - many don't like the system they find themselves stuck in and will work with you.

2. Or, consider engaging more with the community on this blog. For those willing to invest, we can help. We're all just beggars looking for bread and then helping others when we find it.