Discipleship is conceptually simple: Figure out where a believer is in knowledge and maturity and help him to grow. Practically speaking, it\u2019s also simple, if both teacher and pupil work at it, which is rarely done. Hey, if the church is growing and money is coming in, the pastoral salaries are getting paid, the worship team is rocking, and a good time is had by all . . . then who cares whether Christians are actually growing in grace, wisdom, and zeal?<\/p>\n
I have visited a lot of evangelical churches in the last few years and continue to marvel at the elementary level of instruction from the \u2018teaching pastors\u2019 and the lack of substance in small group meetings. When I taught engineering and physics in one phase of my career, I found some satisfaction in helping first year students to develop skills in basic circuit analysis. But it was much more fun to challenge seniors to embrace the nuances of microwave circuit design or solid state laser physics. A step above that was to teach a graduate course on a topic of current research interest, in which both teacher and students stretch the cognitive muscles. There is real satisfaction in watching students \u201cget it\u201d and, even more so, \u201cget it\u201d with creativity and skill sufficient to compete in the \u2018real world.\u2019 The next generation of smart skyscrapers, jet aircraft, supercomputers, and fiber optic networks will not be built by people who stopped learning after the course on basic circuit theory.<\/p>\n
So how is it possible for seminary-trained, professional teaching pastors to be content lecturing at Kindergarten level week after week, year after year? At a level that is not<\/em> the equivalent of basic circuit theory, but rather akin to basic arithmetic. Is every believer, young and old, doomed to repeat Kindergarten ad nauseam? Don\u2019t they want their people to grow up a bit? Given the moral and philosophical and heretical chaos in America, shouldn\u2019t we be training some spiritual warriors? Anyone notice the ongoing worldview wars in the realms of gay marriage, evolution, militant Islam, and socialism? How about the pervasiveness of pornography, accessible to any child on the cute little iphone he got for his tenth birthday? Anyone notice the accelerating trends to oppress free (Christian) speech in the schools, in the media, in politics, in the military, and in the workplace?<\/p>\n Is there not a cause?<\/p>\n For many years now I have subscribed (free) to Tomorrow\u2019s Professor eNewsletter<\/em>. It would be profitable for leaders or elders in any house church or facility \/ salary \u2013 based church to do so, too. It regularly posts essays on trends in collegiate education, especially on studies that analyze different methods for helping students actually learn stuff while they\u2019re in school!<\/p>\n For example, in the blog \u201cWhy are you teaching that?\u201d (3\/23\/2015), an NC State professor of chemical engineering discusses how various topics need to be culled out of the curricula because of obsolescence or simply because a topic doesn\u2019t contribute to skills useful to an engineer once she gets out into the field.<\/p>\n He points out that \u201cwe know a lot\u201d about how to equip students with useful skills. In Concept Tests<\/em> the prof describes an experiment and gives a quick multiple choice question to determine if students understand the relevant physical principle. Using a \u2018clicker\u2019 system the prof can immediately see whether most of the students \u201cgot it.\u201d<\/p>\n In Troubleshooting Exercises<\/em> the cognitive level is stretched a bit. Students calculate a system variable for some scenario, but are then informed that an experiment measured a result 40% lower than what they calculated. Students are tasked with brainstorming and prioritizing the likely reasons, and then coming up with an experimental plan to figure out what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n Ill-defined problems<\/em> are scenarios that are over- or underspecified or ambiguous, which is the way life presents itself to both engineers and \u2018normal\u2019 kinds of people! Students are tasked with figuring out what\u2019s wrong and reformulating the problem, or creating a plan that determines just what the \u2018real\u2019 scenario is.<\/p>\n In Creative and critical thinking exercises<\/em> students are challenged to make judgments and choices based on logic and evidence. They try to make sense of realistic scenarios or analyze some case study in which somebody screwed up. What should they have done, how expensive is your solution, how does your solution compete with that of other students or groups of students in the class . . . let\u2019s have some team competition!<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to figure out how to apply these teaching tactics to Biblical discipleship, even easier than in the realm of engineering. But when was the last time you got a quiz in church? When was the last time you were called on to solve a problem, perhaps as a team exercise, and then report your solution for critical review? When was the last time you got a writing assignment or had to give an oral presentation? When was the last time you got some homework?!!?<\/p>\n If 21st century American believers are going to be ready always to give an answer (1 Peter 3:15) in proclaiming the Gospel and crying out against unrighteousness (Isaiah 58:1), don\u2019t you think some training . . . some accountable training . . . is called for?<\/p>\n What would happen if \u2018church\u2019 became more like training, namely, if discipleship actually occurred so that believers could be obedient to the Lord in the Great Commission? So that parents could teach their children how to contend for the faith? So that you might give your neighbor, whether atheist or Muslim or Mormon or whatever, a reasoned chance to consider his certain judgment to come and the alternative of an assured hope of eternal life?<\/p>\n All this contrasts starkly with God\u2019s brilliant design of the New Testament city-wide house church network, with distributed leadership, a vibrantly active membership, and week-by-week accountability, wherein believers know each other, are eager to exhort and encourage one another, and are anxious to meet frequently to see how the battle goes, always learning, always designing and sharing \u2018best practices.\u2019 The first century believers at Antioch, Ephesus, Thessalonica, etc., would be horrified to view the dull, passive experience of today\u2019s American churchgoers, members of separate clergy-led megachurches which compete(!!)<\/em> with each other in the same community!<\/p>\n