Why did the map float up to the roof and just hang there?
It was dark and moonless high over the Atlantic Ocean. I had just finished a series of aggressive turns, banks and rolls—fighting with another jet in pitch blackness. I was in my F-15 “Eagle”, now starting my way back to Langley Air Force Base, a hundred miles away.
There was no earth or stars to see that night, just utter nothingness. When I opened the glove box, the map came out and shot to the top of the bubble canopy above me, and it stayed there! You see, I was flying upside down, but the g-forces and dark environment altered my sense of what was up and down, until that map took off upward (downward).
I didn’t feel upside down. What felt normal and right to me, wasn’t. It took a return to the truth of the airplane’s instruments to get rebooted on what was “right-side up”.
With time and circumstances we can begin to believe what isn’t normal is normal—like a prisoner’s Stockholm Syndrome, or my night vertigo. Discipleship in the West is facing challenges where normal may not be normal either. Perhaps, like the Prodigal, we need to “come to our senses” about the normal that isn’t. [i]
How Do You Explain Discipleship?
Disciples begin by being invited to come and see, they understand and agree to unconditional surrender to Christ, and a daily pursuit of the Master in learning, practicing, partnering, going, and making new disciples, all as we continue to develop personally, and slough off the old self.[ii]
We talk at length about this in the book The Disciple Dilemma.
Is it possible history and circumstances have turned discipling upside down?—from inside the halls and walls of the Church? Symptoms suggest something is amiss. Here are some examples of what I’m talking about:
- Over half of adults born after 1980, who grew up in churches, are walking out on their faith, not coming back[iii]
- Of people still attending church, ~90% refuse, or feel unable to talk openly about their identity in Christ[iv]
- ~80% of church-attending people lack basic routines in a disciple’s life (prayer, study, community)[v]
- About a third of church attending folk today are not convinced Christ is the only hope of salvation[vi]
- A majority of pastors, and even more lay believers say they have never been discipled[vii]
Is it possible these symptom-trends are more than one-offs of under-discipled people? Perhaps the trends are symptoms of some deeper cause, where traditional things in Christianity that we regard as good and normal are neither.
Many traditions in Western Christianity are wonderful—our worship, our pastors’ teaching, small groups, ministry teams and missions work, to name a few..
Yet other traditions degrade a culture of discipleship.
There are non-biblical traditions that feel inherently right—because they’ve been around for so long. But they leave followers of Christ upside down in their understanding of who Jesus is, and who they are. Sam Allberry affirmed one such Christian tradition saying “People enjoy being a “fan” of Jesus, but not so much the “disciple” part.”[viii]
What Non-Biblical Traditions Can Cause in the Church
The tendency to option whether or not the Lordship of Christ is, personally, one of Master, Kingship or just the “guy who gave me free salvation” in modern evangelical circles may be unintentional, but it has become the norm, and its tradition leads toward an isolated spiritual life, marginalizing Christ followers.
Divergent traditions have impacted Christian culture for centuries. Take Constantine’s popularization of Christianity in the 4th Century, for example. Because the Emperor expected and favored political conformity, the pews became packed. A major side-effect of Constantine’s edict overwhelmed Church leaders and handicapped the real spiritual and biblical development of individual disciples.
Constantine’s influence led to another tradition: leaders turning to mass (literally) production of people in the church, as the way to do things.[ix] In other words, it’s quantity over quality; membership became discipleship. Hence, measurement of people in pews has become a common success metric of the Christian West.
Symptoms like these are sometimes blamed on inadequate education—where more preaching, better programs, or a few small groups will get things back on track, we think. These are all important things to be sure. But assuming sermons and seminars alone will motivate followers of Christ inverts discipling as largely corporate events, diluting other aspects like surrender, Lordship, a close life partnership with another disciple, going, making new disciples and so on.[x]
Culture Matters in Discipleship.
I was sure down was up that dark night in the cockpit. But, the cultural and personal development of leaders equipped me to get right side of up. Leadership is a make-or-break catalyst against these inverted discipling traditions.
Leaders (not just pastors, but small group leaders, disciplers, elders and teachers) are God-ordained for creating a culture/environment/atmosphere where following Christ permeates our work life, community life and endeavors.[xi]
Whose Responsibility is Discipleship?
The diversion from biblical traditions is not the fault of today’s pastors and leaders, but it is up to leaders to address now.
Leaders sustain a discipling culture by personal example as much as by the atmosphere of Christ’s discipling for others.[xii] While each local body of believers is uniquely gifted, the biblical commonality is in leaders as disciples and disciplers, encouraging their community to be disciples, and go and make disciples.
I’m grateful I have leaders who invite me in, coach me, rehearse life with me, help me recognize when I’m upside down spiritually, cheer me forward and press me to get the Word out to people around me, and make more disciples.
As leaders, we need to revitalize that kind of tradition in the Church.
[i] Luke 15:17
[ii] Christ’s intentions for disciples e.g. Matthew 4:19; Luke 9:23-62; John 21:22; 2nd Corinthians 10:13; 2nd Timothy 4:2
[iii] “Americans Divided on the Importance of Church,” Barna, March 24, 2014;
“Millennials in Adulthood”, Pew Research, March 7, 2014
“General Social Survey 2016”, NORC, University of Chicago, 2017
“In US decline of Christianity Continues at a Rapid Pace, Pew Research, October 17, 2019
Tim Keller, The Decline and Renewal of the American Church, Gospel in Life, Fall 2021
[iv] “What America Really Believes,” Baylor Religion Surveys, 2007
“Sharing Faith Is Increasingly Optional to Christians,” Barna Research, May 15, 2018
[v] The State of Discipleship, A Barna Report, December 1, 2015
[vi] Joseph Liu, Many Americans Say Other Religions Can Lead to Eternal Life, Pew Research Center: Religion & Public Life, December 18, 2008
[vii] IBID, The State of Discipleship, A Barna Report
[viii] “Discipleship ≠ Following Christ Your Way”, The Gospel Coalition, Sam Allberry, Podcast, June 7, 2019
[ix] Dom Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, third ed. (London: Continuum, 2007; first published 1945), 304.
[x] Walking/partnering alongside each other: e.g. Proverbs 27:17; Ecclesiastes 4:9; Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1
[xi] Leaders’ responsibility: e.g. 2nd Kings 18; 2nd Kings 22; 2nd Corinthians 2:15; Ephesians 4:12
[xii] Discipling culture: e.g. Matthew 13:24; 1st Timothy 4:2