Two Crucial Reminders for Discipleship

Is it hard to imagine the 28-year-old, first-time father in your congregation becoming a Sunday School teacher? How about a Deacon?

Is it hard to imagine that the 76-year-old sage, who hasn’t missed a service in 20 years, used to be rather inconsistent and immature?

Our lack of imagination concerning these two members results from a simple, but crucial error that we often make in discipleship and, more particularly, in leadership development: people don’t always stay where they are, and people haven’t always been where they now are.

Three varied experiences have made me think about this truism in recent years.

First, I remember being so zealous for people’s spiritual maturity when I was a new seminary student, and fresh to serving on a church staff. I was a Christian Education Pastor, aspiring to be a Lead Pastor. I can remember being in a meeting with the Senior Pastor, Eddie Moody. Naturally, I knew I could learn from him, but sometimes those lessons came in unexpected ways. I was compl…