Preparing for Discipleship - Part 1

That the World May Know is one of the best video teaching series I have ever seen.

From the session titled Faith Lessons: In the Dust of the Rabbi - Becoming a Disciple, Ray Vander Laan contrasts Jesus' disciples with disciples of other Rabbis.

The segment I viewed last night focused on the building blocks of discipleship and preparing to become a disciple. I won't try to type out all my thoughts from this experience. Ray Vander Laan's teaching style is captivating and full of insights that make scripture much more understandable. I'll share just a little bit of what I gleaned.

Please keep in mind, I am sharing thoughts stirred by the video. I do not claim to present the information with the same factual/instructional basis as Ray Vander Laan. You need to view the material yourself for his insights. I highly recommend the entire series.

Building Blocks of Discipleship
"Community was more important than the individual.” It is interesting to me that the task at hand for many churches is to define what community is and then how to get there. How did the church lose its sense of community?

My mind is buzzing with theories to answer that question. I’ll go with the Church Lady response: Could it be…Satan? Satan has persuaded many to live as though the individual is more important than community. Perhaps the evolution of this mindset came through the industrial revolution which brought us to the consumer mentality.

In the days of family business and agriculture, the individual had a personal interest in the success of his work. It not only put food on his table, the work also affected the reputation of the family.

Today, we talk about entitlements, equal opportunity, and fair wages. As our facilitator pointed out last night, people today shop around for a church that offers what they want. We look for a shallow version of community for what we can get out of it, without consideration to our part in making that group a true community.

This concept has been on my mind for a couple of years. My role in women’s ministry provided the opportunity to observe several Bible studies. When someone attends a Bible study as a consumer, there is a high probability that they will drop out after a few weeks. Those who attend with the desire to become what they learn will 1) be there 2) study 3) ask questions and 4) share what they are learning.

What is a Disciple? According to Ray Vander Laan, it is someone who wants to be what the Rabbi is. That requires spending a lot of time with the Rabbi – learning his ways, not hanging around when it is convenient to see what he will do for you.

I will share more on the other Building Blocks of Discipleship - scripture, schooling, and passion - in future blogs.

For more info on the That the World May Know video series click here.