Fresh Expressions of Discipleship
What does the 18th century Wesleyan tradition have to do with discipleship in our church today? If you have such a query, you should have come for the 10th Wesleyan Seminar themed “Wesleyan View of Discipleship” at Sibu Wesley Methodist Church from 19 to 21 August 2019. It was attended by about 80 people, with a few from Singapore, Indonesia and China.

Our speaker, Dr. Philip Meadows, is a professor of Evangelization Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He founded the Inspire Movement, an international network of Christians who develop and share discipleship practices in the Wesleyan spirit. His current research studies the intersection of Wesleyan theology and spirituality with discipleship, leadership and mission for 21st century churches.

Dr. Meadows’s passionate commitment to discipleship was easily realized in his six deep, provocative and insightful talks. His advocacy of a kind of Christian discipleship engaging the Wesleyan heritage and rooted in Christian community is inspirational. His sharing as a reflective disciple-maker in the context of the challenges of current church life and leadership is very relevant and impactful.

Dr. Meadows was delighted to hear a comment by a participant that there was “nothing new in the concept” in his lectures. He responded in the affirmative that he was not introducing anything new, but only renewing the plain old scriptural Christianity in the light of the richness of our Wesleyan heritage.

What we need are the fresh expressions of discipleship. It is not about “doing church differently.” The focus is on “being a community of disciples” living out the missional purpose. Is it not God’s purpose for the existence of our church? Are we willing to make the desired shift to become mission-shaped disciples?

Capturing the Essential Genetic Traits
The speaker immersed us into the Wesleyan “Gene Pool” in his first lecture on “The DNA of Wesleyan Discipleship”. Wesley’s primary concern was scriptural holiness and the spread of the gospel. Holiness refers to “living the gospel,” that is, growing in the likeness of Jesus from the inside out. Wesley preached that “the grand stumbling block” to the spread of gospel is “the lives of Christians”! The gospel is not just a message we bring, but a life that we live.

We must first be recipients of God’s mission. The mission of God’s love is all that he has done FOR US in Christ and what he has done IN US by the Spirit. We cannot be embraced by God and yet not changed by God. As we become participants of God’s mission, it is the love of God THROUGH US reaching out to others. This is the mission spirituality of the Wesleyan discipleship.

One explanation of failure to spread the gospel is the lack of zeal. Wesley defined zeal as a fervent and godly passion shaped by “the flame of love” for God and neighbors. He said in his sermon, On Zeal, that our zeal must work from inside out, in four concentric circles. It was meant to ensure, in the right order of priority, that the flame of love can expand from the heart through our inward character, shaped by the means of grace and disciplined by the Christian fellowship, all within the church doctrines and structure.

From Wesley’s circle, Dr. Meadows further expounded on the four core values of discipleship. They are:
– seeking growth with longing for more of God;
– using disciplines by staying connected to grace;
– sharing fellowship by meeting in small groups;
– engaging mission by becoming more attuned to the movements of the Holy Spirit.

It basically answers the four questions. In its respective sequence: How is my life with God? How is my life in action? How is my life with others? How is my life in the world? These are the “genetic codes” of early Methodism as a movement.

Have we inherited the genome of the Wesleyan discipleship? Have we been more zealous for the outward circles and working inward in the reverse order? Is that the reason why we find our ministry attempts so lifesapping and counterproductive? It is time for us to reflect on Wesley’s fear about Methodism becoming a “dead sect,” having the form of religion without the power.

Living on Mission with God
Discipleship should be missional in nature. In fact, all the four core values contribute to the missional calling. From the sharing during the closing ceremony, almost all the five representatives were impressed on the second lecture on “Missional Discipleship.” To be a Methodist meant being called to whole-life discipleship as an everyday missionary. That is our goal!

Being an everyday missionary applies to the whole life of every believer. It is every day, for every disciple, and into every sphere of life, as co-workers in the kingdom. We must aim to see our everyday lives as a mission field for sharing the good news of God’s love with those we meet. So, we seek to become more like Jesus, by joining in His mission to the least and the lost, wherever we are. We are all missionaries sent into a non-Christian culture.

The ethos of everyday mission can be embodied in what Wesley called “social holiness.” It does not mean engagement in social activism, but rather living as the salt of the earth and light of the world. It is the kind of incarnational life found in Jesus, which makes the gospel visible in our lives and relationships, as church gathered or scattered. Wesley would tell us to invest in helping the “church scattered” grow by raising everyday missionaries. The members in the scattered church work out their discipleship in daily life. In other words, the activities of the “church gathered,” or gathered congregation, need to be invested more in the spiritual formation of members to live as missional disciples.

Again, the speaker used the four core values of discipleship as a guide to Wesley’s thinking in working out the missional investment. He also warned us about the temptations of practical atheism. Are we for the most part tempted to go about our daily business as though God did not exist, or as if his existence did not practically matter? May the Lord forgive us and help us.

Shifting in Our Discipleship Culture
How do we lead a disciple-making church? That was the focus for the third lecture, “Creating a Discipleship Culture.” We have to take note that the aim of whole-life disciples is to live as followers of Jesus in the whole of life, not just organized activities at church. So, we seek to become more like Him, in heart and life, whether we are at church, at home, at work, at the mall, and every other place we go.

In evaluating our church discipleship culture, we have to see how much investment is put into the disciplemaking ministry. Some churches embrace the consumer culture focusing on attractional church services. Others design occasional discipleship courses which tend to create a culture in which discipleship is optional. Yet some run regular intentional discipleship programs throughout the year. But it can be detached from the realities of everyday life, thus creating a culture of nominalism.

The whole life culture with fundamental discipleship orientation should be our total priority. Whenever the church gathers, we celebrate and empower the mission-shaped discipleship and everyday mission. Many churches need to undertake a paradigm shift in its leadership practice. Again, the speaker took us through the four core values of discipleship in order to explore the leadership shift required. Seeking growth in disciple-making means helping the believers long for more of God. It is not difficult to understand that the traditional principle of “feeding the flock” has resulted in making consumers not disciples. Don’t just feed the people, we must “make them hungry.” If people hunger for more of Jesus and their soul thirst for the fullness of his Spirit, then they will grow in his likeness. Secondly, in the context of using disciplines as means of grace, the leaders don’t just do ministry but equip people for life. The greatest pitfall is not realizing that we consider the means as an end. The third shift on engaging mission is that we don’t just plan mission, but raise missionaries as mentioned earlier.

The fourth leadership shift is on sharing fellowship: Don’t just attract crowds, invest in a few. Find a small group of potential leaders, and disciple them for the sake of the rest, as modelled by the Lord Jesus. Dr. Meadows dedicated the next talk to “Disciple Making Fellowship.”

Sharing fellowship is a means of grace that transforms our life. The real challenge to disciple-making is that we just do not do what we know we should do! And we do not intentionally seek to become the kind of disciples we know we should be. This gap can be closed by meeting in small groups.

Wesley claimed that the small groups of classes and bands were the “sinews” of the early Methodist movement. Class meetings consisted of about 12 members with its focus on accountability on the journey of discipleship. Band meetings was for deep spiritual friendship, meant for about 4 people. They were for pursuing holiness, and raising up leaders for the movement. At the end of his ministry, Wesley’s contemporary, George Whitfield lamented that his converts had just become a rope of sand, because they neglected fellowship. Is our church today also like a rope of sand, just a collection of individual particles that have no real connection, and appear to be something they are not?

Investing in A Few
Dr. Meadows strongly advocated the fellowship band with its purpose to grow as disciples. He pointed out that this is the missing dimension in the Methodist Church today. How can we innovate on band meeting today? “Contemporary Fellowship Bands” was the title of his next lecture.

Wesley described the ethos of a band meeting as “Christian conferencing” or spiritual conversation. The key to it is the art of asking good questions: How is your walk with God? How is it with your soul? The rhythm involved is reflect, relate and response. During the practical session, all participants were divided into bands of 3-4 to experience the dynamics and the pattern of the fellowship band. The band meeting had three parts to it. We started with centering: spending a brief time in prayer, scripture reading followed by a moment of silence. This was to remind ourselves that Jesus was in our midst. The second part was conferencing: a time of spiritual conversation with mutual accountability and spiritual guidance. Double listening was practiced with one ear on the person’s story and another ear attentive to the voice of God. Thirdly, commissioning: each person shared how the Spirit’s leading them and their resolution to follow it through before concluding with prayer.

During the renewal movement, band leaders were coordinators, mentors and multipliers. Bands served as catalysts for disciple-making. A discipleship movement is established when one generation of disciples become disciple-makers themselves, and this extends to the second and subsequent generations. Churches can be planted, grown and renewed by creating such a discipleship movement.

Have we wondered why such a vital catalyst during the renewal movement in early Methodism has ceased to exist in the Methodist church today? Instead of investing in a few and reproducing disciple-makers in its process, our program-driven and institutionalized approach of doing church has reduced discipleship to serving the structure, all in the name of mission. Have we been equipping people as multipliers in disciplemaking? May God raise up missional leaders who will capture the discipleship culture and create a much desired movement.

Creating A Discipleship Movement
What kind of leaders build a discipleship movement? That was the question for the last lecture on “Pioneering Spirituality.” Dr. Meadows taught us that the heart of a leader desires to grow as a disciple and live as a missionary. A leader must also be devoted to seeking perfect love and being wholly devoted to God and his work, in moment by moment dependence on his grace.

A leader must walk intimately with God, connected in prayer, surrendered into his hands and guided by the Spirit. It is not the art of ministry that matters, but the anointing of the ministry. The life of missional discipleship is an adventure, and calls for a spirit of intrepidity. At times, the demands of leadership are too high and the temptations to quit are too great to withstand alone. Therefore, the fellowship of a leader is indispensable. It not only promotes godliness but also provokes faithfulness in the wilderness state, through suffering, in times of suspense, and against all devices of Satan.

Some clergies and lay leaders in our church today might have been overwhelmed by the challenges in our ministries. Many are desperately searching for a solution to recover from discouragement, despair, spiritual depression and burnout. If John Wesley were to be our speaker for this seminar, would he be in tears as he sees our spiritual state? What we need is a transfusion of the healthy DNA of Wesleyan Discipleship.

Are we raising mission-shaped disciples? Who says that it is not relevant to you? Basically, discipleship is our lifestyle in following Jesus. Disciple-making is our life investment in bringing others to follow Jesus. Discipleship should be missional and reproductive by nature. The process of making disciples is also spiritual formation for mission. True mission must flow from authentic discipleship. May the application of the four core values of Wesleyan discipleship of seeking growth, using disciplines, sharing fellowship and engaging mission help us to become and to reproduce whole-life disciples and everyday missionaries.

Dr Wong Sung Ging
Emmanuel Methodist Church, Bintulu