DISCIPLE MAKERS BASIC TRAINING - Introduction

Coram Deo Church will begin its Disciple Makers Basic Training this Wednesday. For fourteen or so weeks we will gather as the “Called Out, Called Together, Called To Serve” Church to explore what it means to be a disciple maker. Each session will include a presentation of Biblically based content, a time of directed discussion and application, and some informal fellowship. Bring a Bible, a notebook, a writing utensil, and a desire to grow in faith, love and deeds. The sessions are family-integrated so I encourage whole families to attend.

Background
As I have researched discipleship programs I have concluded that modern individualism has radically influenced our concept of how disciples are made. Many discipleship programs seem to emphasize personal fulfillment rather than radical obedience to the commands of Scripture. This is no great surprise, since the recent church growth movement has drawn crowds into mega-facilities, but failed to make disciples of Jesus. The stunning admission by trend-setting Willow Creek Church, that their dynamic programming and small group emphasis did not produce self-feeding believers, should send a shock wave through the “seeker-sensitive” evangelical community.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:1-2, 8). I'd say it's time for some serious pruning.

The myth of separation between things sacred and things secular has become the default perspective of American culture, including many of those who call themselves born again believers. Most Christians send their children to secular schools and work at secular jobs. On Sundays they might spend a couple hours at church. That’s 2 out of 112 hours awake each week, or just under 2% of our time devoted to the things of God.

Some of us think we’re more committed to our walk of faith by listening to Christian radio. Some of us think we're evangelizing when we flash someone with a fish outline glued on the back of our car. Some of us think we're raising spiritual kids by dropping them off at a church youth group. Some of us join a small group and think we're rolling down the road of disipleship. In reality most of us do not really grow, or serve, or bear much fruit, says researcher George Barna. Mostly, we're content to be recipients of the spiritual work of others, rather than servants of Christ and His church, called to make disciples (Matthew 28:1-20).

The Challenge
God is sovereign over all of life. There is no secular realm beyond His authority. He owns all things and all people, and those He calls into His kingdom by faith, He calls to obedience and service as disciple-makers. Of course, in order to make disciples, one must first be a disciple. This means making a commitment to study the Bible, getting to know the person and teachings of Christ, then obeying everything He has commanded in His Word.

That’s where we’ll start in the Disciple Makers Basic Training. I look forward to breaking new ground with you in the service of our Lord. I will try to use this blog site as a way to keep online visitors up to date with our progress. Email me if you have any questions or comments.

In Christ,

Pastor John Sleadd
pastorjohnsleadd@gmail.com

Men's Ministry In The Church: Rise Up And Serve

For many years I have had a passion and concern for the discipleship of men. Through my involvement in various men’s ministry activities, I have concluded that men are rarely discipled. Too often we mistake fellowship for discipleship. Perhaps this is why men can have a great time going to pep rallies and retreats, or playing golf and paint ball together, yet remain spiritually immature.

The idea of taking up one’s cross to follow Christ in radical obedience seems foreign to the average guy in church. Too often churches treat men like individuals who are in need of therapeutic, male bonding. Too often churches emphasize personal fulfillment for men, rather than duty and commitment. Where is the call for men to be faithful husbands, fathers and sons who are called as spiritual warriors, servant leaders, and ambassadors of God’s Kingdom in the culture?

Last week I had a conversation with a nationally acclaimed author of books on masculinity and men’s issues. He shared the opinion that men don’t like going to church because they are autonomous by nature, and chafe when sitting under the authority of an institution. While I think this is an astute observation, I do not think that men despise authority. I think that most men thrive under the right kind of authority. When men are expected to be passive spectators at a religious performance it is no surprise when they become disinterested and drift away. But when they are called into a glorious cause for which they have been created, I believe many men of God will rise up and serve.

Recently I watched a couple of DVDs featuring the leadership of Civil War Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. These men achieved amazing things in battle, and the soldiers under their command served with radical devotion. Although the cause for which they fought was tainted by the sinful institution of slavery, the character and legendary skill of these generals is an inspiring example of masculine leadership.

Men today need an urgent call, a noble cause, and a Godly leader. Our Heavenly Commander In Chief, the Lord Jesus Christ, calls men to serve under his authority. He calls disciples into obedient commitment, into self-denying sacrifice, into risk and adventure. A cosmic war rages between the dominion of darkness and God’s Kingdom of Light, while churches across America are content to park men in pews and lead them in what one wry pastor calls “prom songs to Jesus.” It’s not authority that makes them chafe and bail. It’s passivity. It’s feminized leadership that makes them prefer sitting at home watching sports contests on Sundays.

“We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and then bid the geldings to be fruitful.” - C.S. Lewis

Gentlemen, your God has summoned you to duty. Start at home. Keep your wedding vows, protect and serve your family. Train up your kids. It will cost you your life. The Lord has given His magnificent Word of Truth and He orders you to teach it to your children (Deuteronomy 6:7; Ephesians 6:4). Blessed is the man who fills his quiver full of them (Psalm 127).

Think twice before you drop your precious children off at a secular humanist institution where God's Word is forbidden, where the lordship of Christ is denied, where truth is relativized, and where immoral behavior is justified. This will shake up your lifestyle and it may cause you to adjust your standard of living downward. But better that a millstone be tied around the necks of those who cause the little ones who believe in Jesus to sin (Matthew 18:6). If you don't have children, then commit yourself to make disciples of young men who you call out of the world by the power of the Gospel.

Don't waste your life, gentelmen. Put aside the desires of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of possessions. You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, so lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and run with endurance the race that is set before you, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).

I pray that the Holy Spirit will call you once more into active duty. After all, your very life is not your own. You were bought with the price of Jesus’ atoning blood. Offer back, then, to your Lord the life that is rightfully His.

Rise up, O men of God
Be done with lesser things
With heart and soul and mind and strength
To serve the King of Kings

Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor John Sleadd

Women’s Ministry in the Local Church

A Book Review by Pastor John Sleadd

I was asked a while back to review a book that a local church wanted to use to enhance its women's ministry. Here it is in the form of a letter to the authors.

Dear Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt,

I just read your book, Women’s Ministry in the Local Church. Thank you for challenging the egalitarian and feminist practices that have crept into many of our churches today. Thank you for affirming male headship and complementarianism in gender roles. And thank you for reminding women, particularly older women, to be spiritual mentors to the younger ladies. You make a strong case for promoting submission, compassion, community, and discipleship, all guided by Scripture. The material in your appendices for organizing women's Bible studies is strong on doctrine and organization.

As I read through your book, however, I got the feeling that you had missed something important. One of your foundational assertions is that women are “helpers” and “life givers, (pgs. 34, 35), yet not a single paragraph in your work addressed the role of women as wives and mothers in the home. This is curious since the major Scriptural proof texts you use for your assertion explicitly state homemaking as a primary ministry role.

“No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds. So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander” (1 Timothy 5:9-10, 14) [author's emphasis].

“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God” (Titus 2:3-5 ) [author's emphasis].

Perhaps this oversight is due to your focus on the involvement of women solely in church programs, apart from home life. By omission, your book seems to imply that a woman’s helping role to her husband at home (in household management, business and ministry), and her mothering role to her children (including education), are not significant contributions to the local church. This is a serious mistake, I think.

While I appreciate your exhortations that women be involved in diaconal ministry in the church, I think you have neglected to remind them of their glorious calling to motherhood at home. God commands and blesses it in His dominion mandate to fill and subdue the earth. (Genesis 1:28) He seeks godly offspring (Malachi 2:15). He declares children as a gift and a reward. (Psalm 127:3) He declares that women are restored by childbearing. (1 Timothy 2:15) He commends diligent women who care for their children and their household (Provebs 31). A mother's instruction adorns the character of a child (Proverbs 1:8-9).

Church leaders should encourage women to rejoice in their roles of wives and mothers, and trainers of children. This does not prevent them from participating in great Bible studies, affinity groups, outreach projects, and church programs. It just helps them put the first things first. As they bring blessing to those around them in their homes, so shall they bring blessing to the gathering of the church, as well.

I admit that I have not read other books you have written. Perhaps you speak of such things in Susan’s book, Spiritual Mothering. Still, Women’s Ministry in the Local Church should itself include an emphasis on the crucial, primary service of women to fully employ their helping, life-giving gifts in their homes.

I recommend the book, So Much More, by Anna Sofia Botkin and Elizabeth Botkin, for a good read on the ministry of young women in their calling to advance the kingdom of God.

Respectfully,

John Sleadd

The Gospel Is Good News

Have you heard any good news lately? It seems like most of the news sources today report a daily stream of shootings, robberies, rapes, the latest terrorist attack, or the current, monstrous amount of the national debt. Talk about discouraging.

Or how about the latest celebrity drip gossip about who’s divorcing who, who’s wearing (or not wearing) what, and who’s in rehab.

I get the impression that mankind has a serious self-control problem. And it’s not just them out there: the criminals, the politicians, the celebrities. It’s all of us. And it’s me. I have a self-control problem. That’s why I want to share with you the gospel, the good news from the Bible to sinners.

It’s like this:

In the beginning, God made man in His own image and declared him good (Gen 1:31). But the first man, Adam, disobeyed God and brought sin into the world so that now all of mankind is sinful by nature.

The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). God is all powerful, all knowing, holy, just and good, but no one seeks after Him. The Bible says that we, all like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). It says that we suppress the evidence of God and deny His authority over creation. We are subjects in His kingdom, yet we reject Him as king because we want to be in charge. We are law breakers and rebels (Romans 1:18-32).

The Bible also says that the consequences of this rebellion and unbelief is death and punishment (Romans 6:23). A just and holy God cannot tolerate sin. Hell is not a popular topic, but some people think that it’s a popular place because folks are just dying to go there :) However, hell is not a place to party with all the bad boys from the planet who prefer the devil over God. It’s a place of separation from all that is good. It’s a place of isolation and loneliness, of unquenchable fire and of eternal torment beyond mercy (Revelation 20:7-20).

But here’s the good news: The Bible says that God shows His great love for us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Jesus took the punishment we deserve. He came to save His people. Are you one of them?

The Bible says if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Christ is Lord, you will be saved (Romans 10:9) It says that no one comes to God the Father except through Jesus the Son (John 6:44), and that no one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws him by His Spirit (John 14:6). We are saved by grace, through faith, which is a gift from God, not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8).

Is God calling you to repent of your sin, and believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord? Think about that. Jesus saves sinners like you and me from hell. That’s good news.

Share The Gospel For Your New Year's Resolution

New Year's resolutions are all the rage for the first few weeks of the new calendar. Freshly determined self-improvement practitioners pencil in their pledges to shed pounds, quit smoking, get a real job, or stop being a jerk. Fitness centers have booming business for the month of January. Donut sales dwindle for a week or so. This happens every year.

I recently went to a Christian concert and listened to a youth pastor talk about such things during intermission. He pointed out our tendency to make resolutions we can't keep and to dwell on things of the past. After some personal illustrations and a video clip from Napoleon Dynamite, he recommended that we choose Jesus and live for now. It was gospel-lite aimed at the "seeker" crowd.

Interestingly, the featured musician, presented a heftier message than the pastor. The singer mentioned the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and our desperate need for Christ to save us from the wrath we deserve. He pointed out that some of the churches he visits proclaim a gospel of success and self-improvement. Jesus is sometimes portrayed as the ticket to the good life, and he can clear up your acne to boot.

I am reminded of a popular TV pastor with a bright smile who encourages people to think positively and be all they can be. Why talk about sin, repentance and justification when we can find fulfillment by getting more in touch with our wonderful selves? Everybody's got an inner song and a voice like Josh Groban inside to sing it. We all just need to find it and let it out.

Folks are attracted to this stuff like moths to a porch light. Who needs a savior when God already loves you just as you are, and He has a wonderful plan for your life? Unfortunately, the Bible says that wide is the gate and easy is the way that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are many (Matthew 7:13).

Perhaps 2008 is a good time for Christians to preach the gospel in full strength. It may offend some of the "seekers," and it may seem like a downer to the glibsters, but Christians are called to speak the truth in love.

When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone?

John