Press Statements & Articles

Making Disciples for the Public Sphere

Making Disciples for the Public Sphere

By Larry Lee and Debbie Loh

 

IN 2010, as the NECF Youth Commission thought through the topic of youth discipleship, we observed that churches by and large, seemed to struggle with holistic discipleship. There was plenty of emphasis on personal spiritual development, but not much on discipleship in the context of nation-building.

As Darrow Miller observed on the execution of the Great Commission, making disciples of all nations has largely been limited to saving souls and planting churches. Evangelism "frequently addresses only the soul... it doesn't teach people how to live for Christ. Yet that is what it means to disciple nations."1

Miller observed that evangelical Christians who discipled others taught them how to pray, do Bible study, worship, fellowship and serve. The focus, however, was on personal spirituality while responsibility was largely limited to the self.

 

Nazarite Training


THE Nazarite vow in Numbers 6 is a vow to separate oneself from the world and to consecrate his or her person as holy unto God.

A Jewsih man or woman in biblical times could take up this vow by swearing an oath to God, abstain from drinking any wine or intoxicating liquid and from eating anything derived from grapes, let their hair grow long for the duration of the vow, and remain ritually clean by avoiding contact with any corpse.

These symbolic acts of staying separate and consecrated to God have been fleshed out in the principles of Humility, Hunger and Holiness under the Nazarite Training programme, developed by Pastor Jerome Ocampo from the Philippines and founder of the Jesus Revolution Now!

This intensive training programme is coming to Malaysia from 23-29 March 2014 as part of the NECF YouthNet's vision to see youths rising up to be agents of change and blessing in the nation. Check out the programme and registration details at the NECF website by clicking on a thumbnail image of the poster.


Miller wrote this in 1997. More recently, Luis Sena reflected on the "low effectiveness of local churches to transform their communities and cities in spite of the high number of churches and the multitude of people that go to church every week."2

Sena continues: "I think the reason for such low impact is that most churches are not discipling their members nor discipling the 'culture' of their members. That is, they are not providing a biblical framework to the various cultural practices which are influencing their members."

This brings us to the question of worldview. Relying on either evangelism or personal spirituality alone does not bring out the fullness of the Gospel and of the Great Commission in its entirety. We forget the rest of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:20, "…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." This means bringing the values and principles of God's Kingdom into the social order of the nation, its institutions and spheres.

 

Biblical worldview

Miller argues that to make disciples of all nations echoes the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12: 1-3, where God says, "all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Therefore, Christians, whether as individuals or as a church, are called to live as witnesses, as instruments of Gospel proclamation, and to seek the welfare and common good of society and the nation.

Are churches preparing their youths for this?

One observation is that local churches tend to lack intentional preparation of youths to contribute significantly to the nation via the marketplace.

It is more common to find youth ministries geared towards personal spiritual development and to the replenishing of manpower needed for church-centric ministries (e.g. serving on the Worship team or Multimedia Ministry). Less attention is given towards preparing youths to make transitions in life and to navigating challenges as they build their careers. Youths need help in identifying and discerning a possible calling to serve in one of the spheres of society, be it politics, the media, science, education, business or others. Most times, the issue of calling or vocation is addressed by way of oneoff career talks.

One potential consequence of this is that young adults may continue to live in the blindspot where the "sacred" (church and spirituality) is not integrated with the "secular" (vocation or career). When time and money are at stake, plus the eventual pressures of building a home and family, youths may tend to prioritise their careers and earnings while leaving church life or ministry for later, like "when the family is more stable".

Where youth ministries and churches do emphasise nation-building and influencing society, there may still be a lack of biblical worldview to equip youths as agents of change. Pulpit preaching and the testimonies of Christians with successful marketplace ministries do well to inspire youths, but youths who want to live out a calling in "secular" arenas will still need spiritual mentoring for the rest of their journey. This brings to mind, more so in the light of the last two Malaysian general elections which saw a number of Christian young adults joining the political arena, the importance of continuing discipleship.

 

Consequences for the church

Is there a connection between this lack of preparation for life and vocation among youths, and the dropout rate among young adults in church? How many young adults do you know of who stopped attending church after completing tertiary education or after beginning their careers?

A 2008 survey by LifeWay Research among U.S. churches found an 80% chance that a church-going teenager would stop attending church as a young adult. In Malaysia, no formal survey has been done but we see clues in the churches that have larger numbers in their Children's Ministry and fewer heads in their young adults groups. And it is not uncommon that senior pastors and ministry leaders have difficulty finding successors to mentor and pass the baton to.

There is an 80% chance that a church-going teenager would stop attending church as a young adult.(as reported by LifeWay Research, a 2008 survey among U.S. churches)

What this suggests, at the very least, is that to keep our young people in church and to keep the church's salt and light useful and functioning in society, much more needs to be done beyond discipleship in personal spirituality and evangelism. We need to help our youths develop character, give them a broader vision of the Kingdom and give them a biblical worldview that makes their faith and life in Christ relevant to the needs of society and the world.

Organised by NECF YouthNet, the Nazarite training aims to equip young people with character and lifestyle foundations necessary to lead and serve in all the spheres of influence in culture and society.

 


1 Miller, Darrow L. Worldview Development and Discipling the Nations. International Journal of Frontier Missions, Vol 14:2 Apr-June 1997.
2 Sena, Luis. Why The Church is Not Discipling the Nation. Paper presented at the DNA Global Forum, Brazil, 12 March 2013. Taken from www.disciplenations.org

 



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