Reaching the World

My Sisters and Brothers in Christ. Grace, and Peace to You.

In September I started to lay out, in detail, the vision of our diocese with the pastoral letter, *Anchored in Christ*. In it, I shared what it means for us as a diocese to be anchored in Christ. To review, *Being Anchored in Christ*, I talk about my role as bishop and my responsibility to safeguard the faith and to ensure that all clergy and lay leaders "believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God and to contain all things necessary to salvation."¹

This week I would like to share with you what it means for us as a diocese to be *Reaching the World*. I believe the church has a bad habit of getting distracted. The church puts its focus on one hot button issue after the other, taking up the banner of support for one particular cause and the banner of opposition for the other. The church spends so much time focused on issues that we get distracted from what we are actually called to do: reach the world for Christ.

Now the argument can be made that when we take a stance on a particular issue, we are reaching the world for Christ. To some extent that is correct. However, when we use issues to reach the world for Christ, we are only reaching them at the surface level and not the spiritual. We have won them over because of our stance on the issue and not because of our identity in Christ.

When Jesus issued the Great Commission, calling on his followers to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"² (Matthew 28:19), he was not just calling us to make disciples and then asking us to stop there. But instead, he was giving us a mandate to not only become Great Commission Leaders, but also to build up a generation of leaders who have at the forefront of their ministry building up disciples.

As Christians we are not just called to reach people at the surface level, bring them into church and then stop there. We are called to disciple people and help them grow beyond the basics of Christianity. We are to develop them beyond someone who is a regular church attender and help them grow into the next generation of leaders in the church. It is my firm belief that discipleship and developing leaders are one in the same. That as we grow in Christ the natural progression is to grow in our skills as leaders in the faith, who are then in turn called to disciple others. We see this principle described in the very next verse in Matthew's Gospel, where Jesus tells us what we are to do with the disciples, "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20).

**Great Commission Leadership**

In the Gospel of Saint Matthew, we are given a charge as followers of Christ:

> Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

This bit of text, known as the Great Commission, is the Lord's instructions for His followers as he prepares to end His earthly ministry. It is laying the foundation for what we are to do until His coming again. In this simple text, we find two very important principles. The first of these principles is that we are not to keep the Gospel message a secret. We are to go to the ends of the Earth sharing the good news that is found in it, and by doing so we are to make new believers. Notice Jesus doesn't tell us to pick the latest hot button issue, but rather he commands us baptize and teach His teachings.

The second principle is equally important, and that is to take those new believers and to help them grow in their faith. But not just grow in their faith, but grow to the point of them becoming leaders, who then go out and make more disciples. Simply put this is the ministry of multiplication.

**To Be a Disciple**

But what does it mean to be a disciple? German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer explains what this looks like:

> Discipleship is commitment to Christ. Because Christ exists, he must be followed. An idea about Christ, a doctrinal system, a general religious recognition of grace or forgiveness of sins does not require discipleship. In truth, it even excludes discipleship; it is inimical to it. One enters into a relationship with an idea by way of knowledge, enthusiasm, perhaps even by carrying it out, but never by personal obedient discipleship. Christianity without the living Jesus Christ remains necessarily a Christianity without discipleship; and a Christianity without discipleship is always a Christianity without Jesus Christ. It is an idea, a myth. A Christianity in which there is only God the Father, but not Christ as a living Son actually cancels discipleship.³

Bonhoeffer quite simply states, "Discipleship is commitment to Christ. Because Christ exists, he must be followed."⁴ Because Christ *is*, He must be followed. We are to follow Christ, and in doing so, we are to get others to follow Christ. In the Gospel of Saint Luke, we see Jesus say, "As they were going along the road, someone said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' And Jesus said to him… 'Follow me.' But he said, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' And Jesus said to him, 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God'" (Luke 9:57-62). When we become followers of Christ, we are called to really become followers of Christ. This is the first step in discipleship at its most basic level. Once the disciple is made, we are to teach them in the ways of faith and help them grow to the point that they themselves are making new disciples.

**The Duality of Discipleship**

We find in Christ this duality of discipleship ministry and leadership. In all things, we can look to Christ as our perfect example, so it is to Christ we are able to turn to see how we ought to live our lives as true disciples of Christ. What did Christ do with His followers? He taught them, and he formed them into the leaders of the early church. We are called as the church to do the same — but how do we do this? In *Discipleshift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples*, author Jim Putman answers that question: "The solution involves a fundamental shift in our thinking — from informing people to equipping them."⁵ We are called to equip the church to make disciples and to become the next generation of leaders.

This idea, however, is contrasted by Earley and Dempsey in their book *Disciple Making Is–: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence*. Earley and Dempsey feel that "a leader influences others to follow God's plan for their lives."⁶ In other words, our goal is not to equip people; rather, our goal should be to encourage others to seek out what God's plan is in their life and to follow it. The thought process behind this is that everyone is not called into a leadership role. This, I believe, is only partially correct. Not everyone is a leader, and not everyone is called into a leadership role in the church. However, everyone is called into an evangelistic role of making disciples, and with this call there comes a form of leadership, albeit a small one.

In my role I have to safeguard the sacredness of Holy Orders. This means that there may come a time that I have to deny people who feel that they are called to the priesthood. Being denied what they feel they are called to, or sometimes they feel that they are owed, is a hard pill to swallow. In his article, *True Leadership is Sacrifice, Not Privilege*, David Mathis talks about this:

> Christian leadership, then, is fundamentally about giving, not taking. Christian leaders are not empty, immature individuals looking to prop themselves up with new privilege. Rather, they are men and women who are secure enough, and mature enough, to empty themselves for the good of others.⁷

All too often we encounter people who want to build their kingdom, rather than trying to build God's kingdom.

There are so many different styles of discipleship and theories on how to build good leaders, whether it be Putman's or Earley and Dempsey's, the end goal is the same: growth of the body of Christ. This goal can only be achieved if we follow God's call in our life, and we equip others to do the same. This is exactly what Jesus is telling us in the Great Commission. When we do this we are *Reaching the World* for Christ and building a healthy church.

**A Healthy Church**

We are the body of Christ, and like our own body, which we want to keep healthy, the church too is something that we should want to take care of and to keep healthy. Dempsey puts it this way, "In the simplest terms, a healthy church looks like and acts like a healthy body. The apostle Paul makes it clear that the church is to be considered the body of Christ (Eph 1:23)."⁸ When we are sick, we seek a doctor's care to heal us; if we do not, what starts off as a minor ailment could potentially grow into a major problem. In a similar way, if a part of the church is unhealthy, then it could affect the entire body.

When you have a healthy church, the church is able to grow and mature. "As it matures, it will reproduce new life: new disciples, new leaders, and new churches."⁹ A healthy church grows and multiplies, making new disciples and forming new leaders who are able to continue to grow the church and raise up leaders to follow them who are able to do the same.

Leadership and Discipleship are two things that go hand in hand. While not everyone is called to be the leader, we are all called to leadership roles. These roles enable us to go out into the world, preach the Gospel, and make disciples. This is the Great Commission that Christ has called each and every one of us to. And it is a calling that the Spirit is equipping each one of us to live out.

✠ Brent

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¹ BCP 2019 Service of Ordination ² Matthew 28:19 ³ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, *Discipleship* (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015). ⁴ Ibid. ⁵ Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert Emerson Coleman, *Discipleshift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples* (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013). ⁶ Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, *Disciple Making Is–: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence* (Nashville, TN: B & H Academic, 2013). ⁷ David Mathis. 2016. "True Leadership Is Sacrifice, Not Privilege." Desiring God. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/true-leadership-is-sacrifice-not-privilege ⁸ Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, *Disciple Making Is–*. ⁹ Ibid.