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The "WHY" of Disciple-making - Reading True^North: Preface and Chapters 1-4

Now, let's discuss the best possible options for your timeline for this material. There are five chapters in True^North for this module. None of them are long. But it will take some time to work your way through the chapters privately and in your small group. Here are a few options

  1. Your Small group may want to do one (1) chapter of True^North per week. 
  2. Or you might easily combine the preface with chapters 1-2 for Week One and chapters 3-4 for Week Two. It is all up to your level of comfort with the material and the amount of reading you decide fits you personally or your small group. 

Would you allow me to help you process each chapter? One way to do this is for me to set out questions to help you integrate each chapter into constructing your answer to the question, "Why is Disciple-making in the Word essential?"

Preface:  I would like you to ponder this True^North thought, "Disciple-making is not an add-on.” This concept will grow as we move through each chapter. Elaborate beyond the brief paragraph with that heading in the True^North workbook (page 5).

  • Question 1: What does it mean to "understand the Word?" What stands in the way of us reading and understanding the Word?
  • Question 2: What is Discipleship? Again, interject this question, "Is Discipleship optional equipment in the Christian life?" If not, why do many churches treat it that way? What is your personal experience with the connection between "Evangelism and Discipleship?" When does one end and when does the other start?
  • Question 3: Can you articulate the difference between the "why" and the "how" of Disciple-making in the word? Is one more important than the other? Does one come before the other? 
  • If you are creating materials with your disciple-in-the-making in mind, "What do you want to have them learn?" Maybe the question can be asked this way, “How do you want them to be informed and transformed?”

Chapter 1: In Chapter 1 of True^North you will find 4 false assumptions regarding our engagement with the Scriptures. As you walk through them, wrestle with both the "what" of the argument (contents) but begin to pursue the underlying assumptions. What undergirds our beliefs?

  • Reading the Bible is enough. Let me encourage you to flesh this out personally and in small groups. What do we mean by reading? What stands behind that statement? Is it just a mechanical process or is there much more involved?
  • Interpretation is not necessary. What do you mean by Interpretation. Is it more than mere reading or is it an integrated part?
  • Interpretation is for trained clergy-pastors. Is Interpretation part of "professional church work?" Is it too complex or difficult for laity? Does one need a seminary degree to "interpret?"
  • Disciple-making begins in the church. Is Disciple-making only done in a building with a cross on the top? Is there a difference between the work done in the church (sacred work?) and teaching done in the home and maybe even the school (secular work?) Or is disciple-making being done more than on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights? How about this question, "What does in mean in Romans 12:1-2, "Do not be conformed to this world...but be transformed by the renewing of your mind?" Finally, can only a Christian be discipled? Or are we all being discipled 24/7...the real question is discipled by who or by what?

Chapter 2: From Chapter 2 of True^North, I want you to being with a dialogue surrounding the chapter title, "Doing Nothing is a Dangerous Decision." Please list out specifics that come to mind with that thought.

Next, carefully go around the room and ask people to answer the following self-reflective questions (listed on page 21 of True^North;

  1. Are you satisfied with your current Bible reading plan?
  2. Are you comfortable with the trajectory you are setting for your spiritual future?
  3. Are you confident you will be more biblically alive five years from now?
  4. Are you regularly making Spirit-led changes that will manifest themselves in a more vibrant tomorrow?
  5. Can you make a list of times when the Lord has directed you to make life changes based upon your Bible reading? Simply, can you testify to a time when the Spirit and the Word have called you to a new level of Christ-likeness?
Next, revisit the question from above, "What does it mean that we are being discipled 24/7?"

Now, please construct a sound definition of a "First Reading of Scripture" and a "Second reading of Scripture." You will find a chart in  the True^North workbook (page 25). Can you work through the differences from one column to another? What is the danger of not employing a "Second Reading" s a means of your own spiritual formation?

If time permits, discuss the question, "What DID the text mean?" if that becomes our primary (or at least initial; question) we are in a better place. For often in Bible Studies we ask the question, "What DOES this Bible passage mean to you?" Can you see how in a second reading of scripture, its is not about 'us" but about the biblical audience. What DID the passage mean to them? Finally, can you discuss what it means that the historically, biblical text was always encountered in a community not merely to an individual. It is also designed to be interpreted in a community not by one lone person. Do you take seriously the words of the Lord to Adam (Gen 2:18), "It is not good for man to be alone." We are made for community.   

Chapter 3: Can you lead a discussion of what it means to articulate what it means to think like a local church pastor? Move through the topics one by one laid out depicting a pastor's Job Description from Ephesians 4:12-13. Can you see how I am modeling what it means to read-intepret-apply the word?

  1. Preparation of Others
  2. Unity and Maturity
  3. From "Saving" to "Sending

Chapter 3 of True^North will help with this from a biblical perspective. Can you fashion a few questions on your own to inform your small group or you disciple-in-the-making who may have only been exposed to the work of a pastor from a distance. Prepare carefully crafted questions to help transform your disciple-in-the-making in these new truths.

Chapter 4: Here is the driving question at the beginning of this chapter, "What is the nature of conversion in your local church?"  Simply, "what does it mean for a newcomer at your church to move from 'outside' the church to the 'inside'? How does one become "fully in" as a participant in your church? What programs need to be completed? What prayers need to be prayed? What does someone need to do or to believe to be fully “in"? I am hinting at the issues, "Have we separated the idea of conversion from Disciple-making?" If so, what are the implications for individuals?

The second half of chapter 4 discusses a "Wesleyan way of disciple-making." Terms and concepts such a "means of grace", the necessity of accountability groups, and the "Searching the Scriptures" are introduced. Can your small group wrap their arms around them? Do you see how conversion at its core is not about a transaction which is about gaining the "forgiveness of your sins?" More so, a Wesleyan believes in transformation of the whole person and the restoration of the broken Image of God. What about asking this question, "What is the goal you long to see take place in your heart and soul?" May it not be limited to getting to heaven when you die...but much more like "getting heaven into your heart in the here and now."