How does Bill feel about his groundbreaking book after two decades have passed? Pretty good! He explains why by having us look at the Rabbis of Jesus' day.

Bill Hull                   

I am the master of the obvious, so I will say it again twenty years later. Jesus hasn’t changed His mind and neither have I. He commanded us to make disciples and He remains our best model.

Why is our discipleship in-house and non-reproductive? This is the question that troubles me most twenty years after the first publication of Jesus Christ Disciple Maker. It was 1984 ― the year that Orwell said “Big Brother” would take over our lives ― that I offered this, my first contribution on the primary work of the church. A hundred thousand readers later, it is gratifying to see that the book is still in print and changing lives. I call it the primary work of the church because I have not mellowed in my assertion that making disciples is the principal and exclusive work of the Body of Christ.

The fact
that the Church today
is weaker and shrinking
is all the more evidence
that we
still don’t get it.

Here’s my sixty second diagnosis of the Church today.

• Short cuts and the quick fix still skim off our best energy and most of church’s renewal dollars.

• Yes, we have our islands of strength; there is much to celebrate, and I, like you, have benefited from that.

• Still, the Body of Christ is anemic in its penetration of our culture, and even our better churches are not doing very well in producing mature disciples.

• George Barna finds “60% of born again adults have set no goals for their spiritual development, failed to develop standards against which to measure their growth, or failed to establish procedures for being held accountable . . .”¹

• We are lacking in vision, intentionality, a plan and a partnering relationship for accountability, all of which are at the very heart of discipleship.

• I think the problem, at its root, is that we have accepted a non-discipleship Christianity that leads to plenty of motion, activity, conferences and even church growth, but without lasting transformation.

Please understand that when I say transformation, I mean consistent, long range change into the likeness of Jesus that positions us to break down strongholds and habits that retard our growth.

In the last twenty years I have written nine other books, pastored two churches and created an international training network. I can confidently report to you that there is a desperate search among church leaders for something more meaningful. We have found that “Church Growth” does not satisfy the soul, neither do accolades about sermons or completed projects. There is a movement in our land that is driven by hunger for intimacy with God. There is a growing consensus that the Great Commission has as much to do with depth as strategy.

I have pondered, prayed and talked with many leaders about how to improve the situation. There is a variety of opinion. Some insist that all is lost without revival, that the church should just pray. I don’t think that “just” should ever appear in front of the word “pray.” But then I also believe if all we did was pray, it would be just as much a sin as to devote ourselves entirely to working without any prayer at all.

There is the
“pray and wait” crowd,
then the
“plan and go” gang ―
the balance is
“pray-plan-and-then-go.”

Some proclaim that we should leave behind the dead hand of the past and start new churches. We should let the bad churches go the way of the dodo, the argument goes. It is predicted that 50,000 churches will close before the end of the decade . . . Bravo! Dot the landscape with thousands of new churches that live out the values of the Kingdom . . . sounds good? Perhaps, but I predict within a decade these young plants will calcify without a foundational, primary commitment to personal transformation.

There are thousands of organizations and church consultants who are dedicating themselves to renewing the 350,000 churches in America. There is wide agreement that something needs to be done. As I said, I have made a career out of being the master of the obvious, so let me say it one more time. To follow Jesus is to be a disciple maker. Doing what Jesus did is the answer to our questions and the solution to our problems. In the US the percentage of evangelicals has declined from 17% to 12% since 1994. It used to be said that 80% and more of local churches were in decline; that hasn’t changed.

The reason is that we have insisted on going too fast and being too programmed.

Our need for “success”
is so strong that we have taken
a series of shortcuts
that have given us
short-term numerical growth
instead of maturity,
and addition
instead of multiplication.

So we surge ahead then fall back, like shoveling sand against the tide. Is there any encouraging news? Ah, yes there is. It is the same news that appeared under this title in 1984: following and listening to Jesus is the essential element for effective ministry and unlike many competing formulas for success, this one is accessible to all.

Doing What Jesus Did

There are three levels of doing what Jesus did. I list them below not in order of importance, but for my own purpose in this discussion.

• The first is doing what Jesus did in His ministry of power. In the upper room Jesus promised His followers that they would match and even exceed His works.²

• The second is doing what He did in the practice of personal transformation ― His practice in prayer, silence and solitude, fasting, frugality, chastity, service and stewardship.

• The third area is following the sequential way He worked with those who followed Him.

Twenty years ago I introduced four phases that Jesus led his followers through:

• Come and See

• Come and Follow Me

• Come Be with Me

• Remain in Me

These leadership lessons from Jesus are about the technique and time needed to train others. They provide us with a segmented and sequential process. It is segmented in that each phase has its own characteristics. It is sequential in that a person can graduate through the phases from a new believer to a reproducing leader.

Ignoring Jesus at any of the four levels is disastrous, but to miss the lessons of training explains why we are not making the kinds of gains on the Great Commission that are required. It still takes 100 church attendees, a pastor and $100,000 a year to win a convert. Among evangelicals it is a bit better, 1.7, this is an ugly fact that should grieve us all.³ Any endeavor other than the church would be out of business. We only stay in business because of Jesus’ commitment to sustain the Church. By reviewing the principles explained in my book you will know how to treat the people you work with at every level of maturity.

Earlier I made the assertion that in the last twenty years evangelical discipleship has been too fast and too programmed. That led us to a discipleship that is “in house” and “non-reproductive” which is why we are losing ground on the Great Commission domestically. The Church around the world is flourishing, but in the United States, we still hold Rubik’s Cube in our hands trying to find the formula. I suggest we return to the original setting for the answer.

Walking Back Into The Future

What did Peter, James, John and Phillip hear when Jesus said “Make Disciples?” I bet it wasn’t going through a sixteen week fill in the blanks Bible study. To understand what first century discipleship was like we must return to those times long enough to restore the context. John the Baptist had disciples and so did the Pharisees. It was common for young men to be cause-oriented and follow those who inspired them. Every Jewish boy by age thirteen had studied and memorized much of the Pentateuch and The Prophets. If he were among the best and the brightest he would be accepted into a Rabbinical School. There he would come under the authority of his teacher. If you were not at the top of your class you would return to the professions of Shepherd, Fisherman, Carpenter and Farmer. You can see, then, how Jesus wasn’t a product of the system and He chose His followers from outside of the system.

There were five characteristics of the Rabbinical Schools.

1. The disciple chose to submit to his teacher.

2. The disciple would memorize his teacher’s words.

3. The disciple would learn his teacher’s way of ministry.

4. The disciple would imitate his teacher’s life.

5. The disciple would be expected to find his own disciples.

The Rabbinical tradition was quite rigorous giving students very little freedom. Upon graduation, they would go on to a teaching career, themselves, starting their own academies or bands of followers. Yet, they were still bound to their own teacher’s interpretation of scripture for life and were expected to multiply the traditions they had learned. Jesus’ disciples quickly realized He was different breed of Rabbi by his message and the distinctive manner in which He taught. On one occasion he actually instructed them on why and how they were to be a different breed of disciple.

Jesus Builds a Bridge from the 1st to the 21st Century

Jesus used the Pharisees as an example of how not to disciple others. He explained why their training was abusive, selfish and hypocritical. They represented the traditional way to influence others, but Jesus offered an alternative. Then He built the bridge for us, ⁴

“But you are not to be called Rabbi, for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth father, for you have one Father, and He is in heaven. Nor are you to be called teacher, for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” ⁵

They were brothers, they were to serve others not lord it over each other. They only had one teacher and that was the Christ. They were not to open the School of John, or Peter, or James, it was to make more followers of Jesus. Jesus taught the power of humility in spirit and submission in community. This is the way to get transformational traction, to practice a faith that transforms. The five characteristics of a first century disciple modified by Jesus is the secret to personal transformation that will lead to church transformation that will result in cultural transformation.   (Next time we will have the conclusion as Bill details how these five characteristics of the Rabbinical school in Jesus time apply to disciplemaking in our day.)