You might think attending church on Sunday morning with a large group of believers fulfills your weekly commitment to church, but when the Bible describes the normal Christian life, it points toward something more than just a Sunday morning, large-crowd experience.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul had a different take on ministry. As he was addressing the leadership of the church of Ephesus, he said: “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, (ASSEMBLIES) and from house to house (SMALL GROUPS) ….” (Acts 20:20)

Paul said that, in addition to public meetings, he used home-level meetings for intimate instruction and Christian development.

This idea of meeting in homes seems very odd to some because, for many people, Christianity has lost some of its meaning and intimacy. In many places, the church has become top-heavy with programs. But church is not a location; it’s a body of people who “do life together.” That’s why we are sensing a renewed vision and quest for small group ministry.

Small group ministry enables the church to meet face to face, in intimate fellowship.

In a day when bigger seems better, it’s important to note that Jesus’ most lasting work was done in a small group of people who did life together. For three and a half years, He lived with 12 leaders who were His special community. Mark’s gospel tells us the first priority for this called-out community:  “He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him….”(3:14) For three years, this small group spent time with Jesus.

Think about it: Sometimes the most significant things happen when we think small instead of large!

Can you imagine someone asking Jesus, “How many people are in your group?” and His answer being, “Twelve, and one of them is a traitor”?! Those 11 men and a small group of women were the basis of the church explosion described in the book of Acts!

Small groups have been a normative part of the church for years. From the time of Christ, to Sunday school, to home groups – all are founded on the basic concept that when we get small, more work gets done.

So what are the components of small groups?

Bible Teaching
Outreach
Restoration
Relationship

All small groups are some combination of the above components above with different areas of focus.

If you grew up with a church that had Sunday school, your small group structure looked something like this:

Bible teaching – 50% of the time
Outreach – 25% of the time
Restoration – 0% of the time
Relationship – 25% of the time.

By the way, Sunday School is a rather recent part of church history. Most historians believe that Sunday School was not conceived or a normal part of church life until the 1800’s.

Predating the Sunday School model, were small groups that met in homes. There has been a huge revival of home groups over the past 30 or so years as people have looked for a more hands-on Christianity. If you have ever been associated with a home group it looks something like this:

Bible teaching – 25% of the time
Outreach – 25% of the time
Restoration – 0% of the time
Relationship – 50% of the time.

If you have ever been involved in a recovery program it looks something like this:

Bible teaching – 25% of the time
Outreach – 0% of the time
Restoration – 50% of the time
Relationship – 25% of the time

The other significant difference between the different models is the location of the group. We think using both on-campus and off-campus locations is an effective mix of small group ministry.

In Scripture, it is clear that the early church worshiped both collectively and in their homes. In our day of big, expensive church facilities, it is easy to forget that the church is not really a building, but a group of people. Old timers used to call church buildings “meeting houses.” We see wisdom in gathering for meeting and training – and also taking the church out into our communities and into our homes. As long as “church” is associated with “building,” it is easy to compartmentalize church to a specific spot and time of the week.

Southlake Baptist engages in small group ministry in multiple formats to fit every need:

Campus Groups – We have family-integrated (whole family goes to one class) and age-segregated (different classes for different age groups) teaching times on Sunday morning before our main worship service. For those of you who grew up in church, Campus Groups function much like the “Sunday school” time. These groups major on Bible teaching and outreach. Most of the relationships in these groups happen in scheduled activities during the week.

Home Groups – These groups meet in our church members’ homes around Southlake during the week. It is a wonderful time of relationship between the members of our church family and their guests, along with an additional time of prayer and Bible study related to the Sunday morning message.

Recovery Groups – In the late fall or spring, Southlake Baptist will be launching recovery groups for people who are struggling with various “hurts, habits, and hang-ups.”

Men’s Group – Southlake Baptist will be hosting a “Men’s Fraternity” at a central location in downtown Southlake to help men grow as husbands, fathers, men, and leaders.

Women’s Group – Southlake Baptist will be hosting several women’s Bible studies in our “members’ homes” around Southlake where ladies can be encouraged, refreshed, and challenged.

At Southlake Baptist, we are purposely trying to get small – so God can do a big work in a meaningful way! For more information about our Small Group Communities visit southlakebaptist.com

A practical approach

Discerning the difference between error and heresy is not the only issue we face, however. There are many non-fundamental issues on which we may sincerely disagree with other genuine believers. Some of those issues are quite significant. It stands to reason that we may feel more comfortable partnering with one group than another, depending on the type of work involved. How do we decide when it is appropriate to work together?

One framework already suggests itself, based on the comments above:

Group 1: This is heresy. No Godspeed. They are tampering with the Gospel.
Group 2: This is significant error. They are not enemies. We do, however, disagree on important issues.
Group 3: This is minor error. We have different standards. We differ in our application of certain texts.

A set of responses is implied by that framework:

Response 1: No interaction, cooperation, or fellowship.
Response 2: Not enemies. Kindness, limited cooperation on non-core projects.
Response 3: Friends. Cooperation on core projects.

A practical guideline for deciding whether a Fundamental Christian or church can fellowship and cooperate with another Christian individual or group would be to examine the prospective relationship and ask how close it comes to the mission of winning souls and planting churches. The closer a proposed relationship or project to evangelism and church planting, the greater discretion must be exercised.

If we are planting churches together, we need very close theological agreement. A team project that plans to distribute food and water to disaster victims, however, might be composed of believers who hold quite varied beliefs. Teamwork that intends to make disciples – baptizing and teaching – would need to have a high degree of agreement, even on non-essential doctrines. What will we teach them about the security of the believer and the perseverance of the saints? How will we practice baptism and the Lord’s Supper?

Ecclesiastical separation is an important issue for the church. We must be sure we do not compromise the Gospel, but we also must be careful that we do not dishonor our Lord by twisting the Scripture and displaying an arrogant, judgmental spirit. We must lift our eyes to see the fields that are “white unto harvest” and hear the call from Macedonia to “come over and help us.” Loyal to the revealed Word of God, passionate for the lost, willing to work in some way with any genuine Christian, we must forge ahead. This age has its share of skeptics who try to undermine confidence in God’s Word and the Christ to which it bears witness. The Bible, however, needs no defense, and one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord. In the meantime, we ought to join every willing, warm-hearted Christian in advancing our Lord’s kingdom while it is day, because “the night cometh, when no man can work.”

Download the entire series of posts as a PDF

Consider these words of Rice from his sermon “Christian Cooperation and Separation” preached in 1959:

Somebody says, “Here is a fellow wrong on baptism.” Well, that is too bad.  Bring him around and I will help straighten him out.  But meantime, is he born again?  Does he believe the Bible?  Does he love Jesus Christ?  If he does, then he is a brother and you are to receive him.

Now then, would you go along with people you differ with?  Yes, if the difference is on minor things, but not on whether the Bible is true, not on whether Christ is born of a virgin, not on whether the blood of Jesus paid for sins, not on whether Jesus rose again, not on whether you need to be born again.  On certain essentials about Christ, salvation, the Person and work of Christ, there is no room for difference, no room for co-operation when people differ on the main things. (p.93). 

Many in our modern-day Independent Baptist movement would find the above statements shocking! But I think our Baptist forefathers would find our modern attitude about Ecclesiastical Separation to be “shocking.” So what does a Biblical structure of “Ecclesiastical Separation” look like? The last post in this series will look at a sensible structure of cooperation going forward….

We must recognize the difference between heresy and error. We treat neither lightly, but we do not presume to treat brothers in Christ with whom we disagree about non-fundamentals the same way we separate ourselves from those who eviscerate the Gospel by denying its fundamental truths. Paul was very clear: There is to be no love lost with people who are perverting the Gospel and sending people to hell by their teaching. We do not have to be unkind, but those who pretend to be Christians yet are deceiving people about what is required for salvation, are to be anathema to us.

On the other hand, when we consider a brother who agrees with us about the fundamental truths of the Gospel, yet differs on other areas, we are not faced with heresy that leads unsuspecting souls into hell. Error is not heresy. I am fully convinced the Bible teaches what I believe and practice, but a brother’s tradition may differ. One day he may discover he was mistaken, but honestly so, or we may discover we both were mistaken.

My attitude toward him must not be like the attitude I hold toward a teacher of heresy. We must be discerning about the difference between error and heresy, and we must be careful to not use inflammatory terms about those with whom we only disagree on non-fundamentals. If we are confronting heresy, then we say “heretic” without hesitation. Error, however, is like a child getting a question wrong on a math quiz; another child who knew the right answer shouldn’t abuse him for being in error. The attitude of Ecclesiastical Separation is every bit as important as the doctrine’s substance. With heretics, there is no compromise. We turn them over to God; we certainly don’t preach with them. Our attitude about non-fundamental disagreements, however, must be entirely different.

Romans 14:1-10 is most helpful on this point. “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” (v.5b) The believer in error is not my servant, but another’s: “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.” (v.4) Not only is he another’s servant, but he also is my brother: “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” (v.10) Paul clearly identifies the brother in error as “weak in the faith” but exhorts us to receive him, as long as he is not one determined to engage us in “doubtful disputations.” (v.1) Indeed, an argumentative spirit – whether it is mine or another’s – is a sign of carnality. Paul admonished the church at Corinth that the strife and divisions among them were evidence that they were walking as men, rather than following the example of Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 3:3)

We cannot, of course, engage in an exhaustive review of the relevant Scripture in this venue. We will, however, touch on texts that do speak to Ecclesiastical Separation and mention texts that are commonly misapplied. Not only is it important to understand what the Bible does say, but we also must recognize what it does not say and where it is twisted to mean things it does not mean.

One must, for example, take very seriously 2 Peter 2:1, which warns “there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” Second Corinthians 11:3-4 also is pertinent in warning about being “corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” by those who “preacheth another Jesus … or another Gospel.” Second John 7-11 warns about “deceivers … who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh” and declares such a deceiver is “an antichrist.”

Scripture clearly commands us to condemn people who mess with or pervert the Gospel. There can be no equivocation about this:

Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:7-9)

Charles Spurgeon said it like this,

A chasm is opening between men who believe their Bibles and the men who are prepared for an advance upon Scripture. The house is being robbed, its very walls are being digged down, but the good people who are in bed are too fond of the warmth, and too much afraid of getting broken heads, to go down stairs and meet the burglars . . . Inspiration and speculation cannot long abide in peace. Compromise there can be none. We cannot hold the inspiration of the Word, and yet reject it; we cannot believe in the atonement and deny it; we cannot hold the doctrine of the fall and yet talk of the evolution of spiritual life from human nature; we cannot recognize the punishment of the impenitent and yet indulge the ‘larger hope’. One way or the other we must go. Decision is the virtue of the hour.” (C.H.S., September 1887, The Sword and the Trowel)

On the other hand, some texts have been misapplied to argue for separation from Christians who differ in non-fundamental belief and practice. One could mention Ephesians 5:11 – “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness…,” although in context the Apostle Paul is warning about unbelievers who have no “inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Also often misapplied is 2 Corinthians 6:14 – “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers…,” a passage in which Paul was exhorting believers recently delivered from paganism to not allow themselves to be drawn back into Corinth’s gross immorality. He wanted them to influence the pagans around them for the sake of Christ, without being influenced by them. Twisting the passage to mean that Christians ought to separate themselves from other believers with whom they do not completely agree is a distortion of God’s Word.

If you missed it. Ecclesiastical Separation, Part 1

We must adopt a biblical position that, in the spirit of Christ, steers us clear of heresy yet maintains the fellowship of the Faith that maximizes our impact on a lost world for the cause of Christ.

What is Ecclesiastical Separation?

We are discussing in this venue a church-level separation in ecclesiology. Although the individual’s personal separation from evil is essential, we are concerned here with defining proper relationships and interactions between New Testament churches and other groups or organizations that identify themselves as Christian. Those groups or organizations would range from other bona fide New Testament churches with which we would find ourselves in complete agreement, to other bodies of authentic faith that we find to be in error on important doctrines, to apostate “churches” that have abandoned the fundamentals of biblical truth.

Why is Ecclesiastical Separation important?

Failure to maintain an appropriate degree of ecclesiastical separation is a violation of Scripture. The dangers are twofold. On the one hand, failure to stand clearly for the essentials of the Gospel can only hinder the progress of the Gospel. We endanger the clear transmission of Gospel to next generation when we create a “camouflage Christianity” in which the “Gospel” is just another choice among many options. On the other hand, we can become consumed by endless arguments with other believers about doctrines that are not clearly enumerated in Scripture or about preferences based on our application of the Scripture. As a result, we fail to exhibit the Christ-like spirit by which a lost world recognizes us as God’s people.

There is another way in which an extra-biblical stance on Ecclesiastical Separation leads to a dangerous obscuring of the Gospel. If we insist Gospel partnerships can be formed only with those with whom we are in complete agreement on every issue, we will inevitably find ourselves working alone, separated from other Christians with whom we completely agree about the fundamentals of the faith. We are left unable to create any kind of network for the advance of the true Gospel because we differ over non-fundamentals. We lose influence on a lost world because we cannot join hands with brothers and sisters in Christ to attack challenges too large for us to tackle alone.

Some inevitably will point out that in the past cooperative efforts have often failed. We have seen brothers of fundamental conviction engage other Christian groups in an effort to draw them back from doctrinal error, only to fail. Failure, however, is not pertinent. What matters is obedience to the Bible’s commands. When inspired Scripture lays out the conditions that require us to separate ourselves from others, nothing else matters. My philosophy, my ideas, my success – or someone else’s failure – are irrelevant. The only question that matters is, “What does Scripture say?”

People are getting less and less patient about waiting, for anything. The stoplight hasn’t turned green yet and the guy behind me is already on his horn. As I drive around town, I am bombarded with marketing that targets our inability to wait. Signs like “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days.” Really? Maybe it does work, but isn’t there something about the claim that rings hollow to you?

It is as if the ability to defer gratification – to think ahead, to plan for the future – is being replaced with a pathologically short attention span that thrives on politician sound bites, 30-second TV commercials, and YouTube video clips.

Did you know the City of Southlake is discussing the 2025 and 2030 master plans for development? Most citizens are at best vaguely aware that such a process even exists. Do we think the roads, parks, and schools just appear year after year by magic?

No, there’s a very involved process in planning community development, but we are more concerned about getting caught in a traffic jam because the road isn’t wide enough – or is being widened to add more lanes. I’m all for progress – as long as I’m not inconvenienced. Just give it to me quick!

Politicians clearly understand that, in the immediate, they have only to survive the next news cycle, because the American public doesn’t have the ability to sustain anger or delight for more than a fleeting moment.  When people ask, ‘What have you done for me lately?” they don’t mean over your three-year tenure in office; they mean over the past three news cycles!

The radish made it into my salad bowl 30 days after it was planted. All it did was make me happy for a moment. But the acorn screams, “Five hundred years later, my leaves will still give shade! My life will still matter!”

There is a level of long-term thinking that escapes even the most patient members of the Planning and Zoning Commission. It’s a kind of thinking the Bible describes – an eternal perspective.

Let’s contrast the three kinds of thinking – Short-Term, Long-Term, and Eternal:

WITH REGARD TO YOUR FUTURE

Short-term thinking: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”
Long-term thinking: Prepare for retirement. You don’t want to live with your kids.
Eternal thinking: You are going to live forever somewhere. Life goes on after death.

WITH REGARD TO YOUR HEALTH

Short-term thinking: Lose 30 pounds in 30 days
Long-term thinking: Regular exercise, a sensible diet, and personal accountability will keep you healthy
Eternal thinking: I Timothy 4:8 – “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”

WITH REGARD TO YOUR INVESTMENTS

Short-term thinking:  The stock market has dropped by 20%! Better sell my stocks and buy lottery tickets!
Long-term thinking: Great, the market has dropped by 20%! I’ll keep buying because cheaper is better. I can average 11% annual returns by buying low in the bad years.
Eternal Thinking: Matthew 6:19, 20 – “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”

Sometimes people believe long-term thinking takes away from the quality of today’s pleasures. But healthy long-term thinking gives meaning to the randomness of today’s changing circumstances. A goal in the future keeps us on track today and helps us make meaningful accomplishments. Without clear long-term plans, you will always be hostage to the circumstances of your life.

Long-term thinking diminishes the hard sacrifices required to get past obstacles. You don’t mind walking in the hot sun so much because you can see the cool shade of the oak tree ahead.

What looks today like a scrappy oak sapling is the beginning of a grand and glorious landscape that outlives us all. We should rejoice in scrappy oak saplings because they represent a certain hope for the future, a dedication to something greater and longer lasting than a fleeting moment.

When you read biographies of people who have achieved worthy endeavors, you are always struck how long-term thinking and planning have always been the correct and natural way of doing something worthwhile.

A few people invent something by accident that brings them to the forefront of the world. Even fewer people win the lottery. How is the lottery winner really doing five years later? How is the person who lost 30 pounds in 30 days doing a year later? Something inside of us tells us that radish thinking is fleeting. Some people stumble into fame with radish thinking. Cultivating radishes over the long-term is the only way radish thinking really gives you any permanence.

When you pursue the easy route by not thinking long term, you may not experience much pain in the beginning, but pain will start to accumulate over time – growing ever so slightly with each passing day until it has become unbearable.
Consider financial retirement, for example. Long-term thinkers will deposit a certain amount of their earnings into retirement accounts – a 401k, Roth IRA, mutual fund, etc. With a respectable average return rate on their investments each year, long-term thinkers will be sitting on a very nice nest egg when they reach retirement age.

People who don’t plan long-term for retirement look for massive returns on their money immediately. They wind up losing their money on silly schemes, investing in “hot” stock tips they heard at work, or wiring their savings to a certain “Nigerian prince” who recently contacted them via e-mail. Long-term thinking protects you from these kinds of losses because it filters out the dangers and scams and points you in the right direction.

On March 7 at 10 AM, Southlake Baptist Church will begin a sermon series called “Long-Term Living.”   This series promises to help the most seasoned Christian, as well as a person who has never been part of church, to focus on the long-term and its implications in our lives. The eight-week sermon series will cover the following topics:

Long-Term Perspective – March 7
We will examine how perspective will change your priorities. Moses had two choices. One involved fantastic short-term prospects with poor long-term implications. The other choice had a dismal immediate perspective with fantastic long-term implications. Moses made the right choice because he saw something that helped him endure the immediate pain.

Long-Term Parenting – March 14
Children are the ultimate long-term investment.

Long-Term Reaping – March 21
Farmers know the laws of reaping. They recognize the difference between weeds and wheat. Long-Term living, like farming, requires patience. In due season, we reap if we faint not.

Long-Term Marriage – March 28
Marriage is a garden that requires long-term commitment and an understanding of seasons.

Long-Term Loving – April 4
On Easter weekend, come see the power of long-term love. God in eternity past purposed to shower His love on us with the most amazing, unbelievable display of long-term love.

Long-Term Review – April 11
As employees, we are often subjected to performance reviews that determine ongoing employment and potential for financial gain and loss. As Christians, our lives will be individually evaluated by the CEO of the Universe.

Long-Term Investing – April 18
Many people have learned over the past couple of years that some “risk-free” investments were really very risky. As Christians, we have make investments that never go down in value and pay eternal dividends.

Long-Term Foundation – April 25
Scripture tells us about two guys who decided to build houses. From the outside, the houses seemed equally suitable. Both houses stood for a while, but the real test was when the flood came. The foundation of the house was what made the difference. What is our foundation as Christians?

We invite you to join us for a sermon series that will expand your thinking past natural short-term thinking, beyond the normal scope of long-term planning, and into something everlasting and eternal.

Yet, as the saying goes, it is always darkest just before the dawn. And a great revolution shook the world from its nightmare into one the greatest eras of discovery, invention and religious awakening. So what woke up the world?

In 1517, a priest named Martin Luther nailed a series of 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenburg, Germany. Those documents ignited a spiritual revolution that led to what we call the “Reformation.” Luther’s bold challenge to the status quo, coupled with the nearly simultaneous invention of the printing press, led to an explosion of spiritual and mental awakening.

Theologians who have studied the Reformation highlight five “big” ideas espoused by Martin Luther and other religious reformers. These ideas are commonly known as the “Five Solas of the Reformation.” They are:

1. Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)
2. Sola Christus (Christ Alone)
3. Soli Gratia (Grace Alone)
4. Sola Fide (Faith Alone)
5. Soli Deo Gloria (For God’s Glory Alone)

So how do these big ideas apply to us, almost 500 years later in Southlake, Texas?

I believe the modern church is moving dangerously close to another period of spiritual and cultural darkness, so on Sunday, Jan. 17, we will launch into an epic sermon series at Southlake Baptist Church called “Sola—The Doctrines that Pierced the Darkness.” Each week we will look at one of these important “Solas” from scripture and then apply them to our circumstances:

January 17, Sola Scriptura— We will discuss how important it is to understand that the Bible is God’s revelation to man. The church is far too often guided by culture and tradition instead of Scripture. Marketing and the entertainment world’s circus have replaced sound biblical exposition. We will discuss how the Bible is the owner’s manual for our lives and the sole authority for our faith and hope.

January 24, Sola Christus––We will discuss how God’s plan for us centers around Jesus. He alone is our hope for salvation and eternal life. We have substituted “recovery for repentance, wholeness for holiness, intuition and feeling for belief, and immediate gratification for eternal hope.” Jesus Christ is the only hope for our world.

January 31, Sola Gratia—God’s grace in Christ is the sole cause of salvation. We have placed unwarranted confidence in human ability. This false confidence now fills Christendom and manifests itself as a self-esteem Gospel, a health and wealth Gospel, and a self-help Gospel. But God’s grace does more than save us. After salvation, we are kept and transformed by His grace.

February 7, Sola Fide––According to Martin Luther, the church stands or falls on justification by faith alone. J.I. Packer writes: “Two things have threatened the truth as stated: first, the intruding of works as the ground of justification; second, the displacing of the cross as the ground of justification. Both are familiar weeds in the church’s garden; both express in very obvious ways the craving for self-justification which lurks (often in disguise!) in the fallen human heart. Something may be said about each.” We will address the proper relationship between faith and works.

February 14, Soli Deo Gloria––The composer Johann Sebastian Bach initialed many of his compositions with “S.D.G.” Those letters, which stood for the Latin phrase that means “glory to God alone,” were Bach’s way of giving God glory for the ability to compose. Modern life, unfortunately, is no longer centered on God, and our lives have recentered around emptiness. The chief end of man is the glory of God, and when that is replaced by anything else, the result is a shallow life of no eternal consequence.

As you can tell, these topics are profound. This series isn’t exactly “Christianity for Dummies.” But don’t let these heady theological terms hinder you. A friend of mine named Ed Stetzer says, “If you can learn to order at Starbucks, you can learn theological language at church.”

The “Five Solas of the Reformation” have already changed the world and “pierced the darkness.” We encourage you to join us for this series as it begins Jan. 17 at 10 a.m. We believe it can ignite a spiritual revolution in our lives, families, and community today.

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:18-20

There can be no doubt or equivocation: God wants and expects us to very interested in making disciples. But what is the best way to accomplish the command to make disciples?

The methodology of “making disciples” or “discipleship” has been debated through the years within our Independent Baptist ranks. There seems to be two schools of thought regarding “discipleship.” One is reptilian. Reptiles lay hundreds of eggs and by virtue of the large number of eggs, some make it to adulthood and the species is maintained. The other school of thought is mammalian. Mammals have far fewer offspring and lovingly raise the children to maturity.

In Galatians 4:19, the Apostle Paul reveals his heart on the matter of “making disciples: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.“ Notice his deliberate choice of phrase: ”travail in birth.” Paul’s mission was not only to see people saved, but also to passionately endeavor to make disciples out of the converts. Paul was definitely a “mammalian” discipleship maker!

In the book Church Still Works, Pastor Chappell and I wrote:

The Great Commission is only fulfilled when we complete the entire mission. The Great Commission is most powerful when is completely fulfilled because then we see the multiplication of disciples instead of simply addition. Just as compound interest ultimately increases a bank account much more than simple interest, making disciples who make disciples leads over the long term to far greater additions to God’s family. The birthrate is slower at first, but the potential for multiplication is profound.

The biggest issues regarding discipleship fall into two categories:

Should discipleship be a separate program or should it be integrated into the other ministries of the church? Should new converts be involved in a specific program that mentors them or should they be put into the normal flow of the ministry and pick it up as they go? Does the curriculum of your discipleship program matter?

Part of our research about the churches in our Independent Baptist movement looked at these specific questions. Consider the following statistics:

At first glance, most of us would consider the yearly growth statistic to be the final, deciding vote. Some would ask, “Why put any additional emphasis on discipleship if it doesn’t yield additionally numeric growth?”

I think a bigger factor is at play – namely, where did the growth come from?

In other words, churches can grow in many ways, like adding bus routes or seeing people transfer from other local churches. The most effective and scriptural kind of long term growth, however, is not transplants, but integrating people into the church as a result of that church’s outreach efforts. That probably speaks to why churches with discipleship programs were larger, even though their growth rate was smaller.

Big Picture Conclusions

-People have changed over the past 30 years. We no longer have a baseline morality as a beginning point or a commonly held basic view of theology. This necessitates more training – much more.
-Churches with separate discipleship programs do a much better job of retaining and integrating converts.
-Churches would do well to find an effective discipleship curriculum. Churches in our surveys used a variety of curricula. The most popular were “Daily in the Word” (Striving Together Publications) and “The ABC’s of Christian Growth.”
-Churches with discipleship programs must fight to maintain the throughput of new coverts.

The Great Commission is an incomplete commission unless you train the people you have seen saved. We encourage you to ponder the above data and use it to make a difference.