This has to be among my favorites for a Sunday. I'm seeing how long I can stay in my pajamas. :) Bill had surgery on his leg about 10 days ago. We've been sleeping upstairs on the couches pretty much since then, since stairs are a bit tricky.
I sleepily dozed in and out this morning as my kids begin to gather with their blankets and pillows on the living room floor to watch cartoons. Bill was reading golf stats online. I finally got up and made coffee and German pancakes (a crepe-style pancake, traditional to my family, served rolled up with applesauce, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and corn syrup).
We lingered at the table this morning with our oldest son after all the little ones had scrambled off to their next thing. Clayton is twelve. This week has been full of eye-opening," I can't believe we have a middle-schooler" moments. Bill took him to buy a purity ring. I remember when I got mine. I can't believe we're already doing this for one of our kids. Clayton spent a non-school day with the youth group, going to the water park, etc. We spotted him in the "youth group" section of the bleachers at church on Friday night, sitting among friends. It seems so hard to believe.
The fun thing, though, about this age, is the ability to really have heart to heart spiritual conversations - at their request. This morning, we were discussing some different interpretations of discipleship. The question arose when Clayton was asking questions about why we go to the church we go to, how it is different from other churches. What makes one church different from another?
It brought me back to something important about discipleship that we haven't really talked about on here yet.
A couple of weeks ago, our senior pastor, Jim Putman, was talking about how, as parents, it is always our goal to raise our children towards independence. It wouldn't be healthy to raise our kids in such a way that they always depend on us for the rest of their lives.
It is the same with discipling spiritual children. It should always be our goal to lead new believers towards the goal of spiritual independence...in the sense of learning to feed themselves, rather than depending on us.
In my years of church life, I've pretty much seen two models of discipleship:
Here are the answers. Memorize them well. In this model, "disciplers" are expected to be mature in their faith, knowing answers that their "disciplees" don't know. They have the knowledge to explain things that no one else understands. They are usually given the responsibility to commentate on scripture passages, shed light, and lead others to learn the right answers. Discussion and participation is usually encouraged by the leader, but usually he/she has the final word in what the Bible really means/says. In this model, the discipler is often afraid that the disciplee will come to the wrong conclusion on their own, so the disciplee is encouraged to check with their discipler if when they have questions about anything.
Here is where we find the answers. Always look here. In this model, the heart of the discipler is much more critical than how long they have been a Christian or how well they know their Bible. Because no matter what, the discipler challenges others to look for the answers in God's Word. He (or she) never claims to have the final say, because he doesn't want to be the one others look to for their answers. He is comfortable saying, "I don't know. Let's find out." He is o.k. with others disagreeing with him and knowing that as long as the goal is to be under the authority of God's Word, it is o.k. if not everyone comes to all the same conclusions on non-salvation issues. He is leading others to learn to feed themselves when he isn't around.
The main difference between the two models is the attitude behind them. Disciplers are important! But it is critical that they are continually pointing to the food source and encouraging others to come to a point of independence - trusting that God's Spirit resides within both of them, and He is the interpreter.
Why is this so important? Because people are people and they can be wrong. How many adults today believe things like "God will never give you more than you can handle" because their teachers at church have always said it and even said it is in the Bible? It is a twist off of Scripture, but it is just wrong enough to give a lot of disillusioned Christians a wrong concept of God.
I don't know about you, but it is important to me that my kids understand the authority of God's Word. I want them to grow up always knowing where to go looking for answers and to have sought it so much that they know when something sounds off. I don't want to have forty year old kids who still result to calling their pastor for answers before they look at God's Word themselves.
Make sense?
Okay. My pajama party is ending. I need to shower, so I can go see my new, little niece!
Happy Sunday.
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