I have often lamented at the lack of discipleship in the church, especially in view of Christ's command to do that very thing in Matthew 28:19-20. Thomas O'Loughlin raises the same question and points fingers at the early church for initially "dropping the ball."
A far more interesting question is why Christians abandoned the notion of mentoring new members and the notion of there being need for an apprenticeship?… [A]s Christianity became more and more an accepted part of society, the notion that one needed an apprenticeship became less and less obvious—and what training there was became something that was more and more in the hands of religious experts rather than a common task of every member of the church.
Of course, the fix is not to blame those who lived 1800 years ago for our inaction. Our call is to again be about the Father's business and make disciples.
A far more interesting question is why Christians abandoned the notion of mentoring new members and the notion of there being need for an apprenticeship?… [A]s Christianity became more and more an accepted part of society, the notion that one needed an apprenticeship became less and less obvious—and what training there was became something that was more and more in the hands of religious experts rather than a common task of every member of the church.
Thomas O'Laughlin, The Didache: A Window on the Earliest Christians,
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 21.
Of course, the fix is not to blame those who lived 1800 years ago for our inaction. Our call is to again be about the Father's business and make disciples.
2 comments:
I think failure to disciple those who come to the Lord is THE major failure of the Church. If we don't disciple them, they never mature in the faith and can be easily led to false teachings.
I grieve when church leaders express more interest in saving souls than nurturing to maturity. The work is not either...or but both...and.
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