Imagine this. My wife and I just had our first child – a son. We are beyond excited! We leave the hospital, putting our son in a brand new safety checked rear facing carseat – like we are supposed to. I am super cautious driving home – protecting my little family from harm. We get to the house, pull into the garage. Grab the diaper bag, the congratulations balloons and flowers, the gifts, the clothes, and oh yes – the baby.
My wife and I bring our son into the living room and lay him on the couch. We both tell him how happy and excited we are that he was born, how we are looking forward to watching him grow, and how much we love him. Then my wife and I show him where the refrigerator is, and where his bedroom and clothes are. We show him the bathroom, laundry room, and where we keep the keys to the car. Then we let him know that we are going out to dinner together to celebrate the fact that we made a baby, and maybe we will see him next week. Then we leave, feeling relaxed and comfortable because we showed him where to find everything he could possibly need.
Ridiculous? Silly? A reason to call Child Protection Services? Yes! We all know that a newborn baby is incapable of caring for himself. Forget about telling him where the food is, in the beginning we have to actually DO the feeding. And the clothing, and the changing, and the cleaning up of messes. The scenario is ridiculous because one look at a baby and our brain says – this is an infant. He needs help to grow.
This exact analogy holds true with a new believer – a baby Christian. Left to their own they have a hard time knowing what to do, or what is best for them. Unfortunately, you can’t tell they are a baby just by looking at them. In fact, you can’t even tell they are a baby by looking at how long, or how often, they have attended church. But folks – from my experience as a Senior Pastor – most of our Churches are filled with baby believers. And just like physical babies, they can be messy, they can be emotional, and they don’t always play well with others.
Just like physical babies, Spiritual Infants can be messy, they can be emotional, and they don't always play well with others. Share on XThe reason there are so few mature Christians and Disciple Makers in churches is because most of them never had the benefit of a Spiritual Parent. Most of them were converted, but not nurtured towards growth. I am not saying that a new believer doesn’t have any responsibility for their own spiritual growth – I believe there are three Distinctive Roles in the Discipleship Process . But just like an abandoned infant who is raised in an orphanage isn’t an ideal situation, God’s plan A for disciples includes having someone who is further along in the process and more Spiritually mature walking beside them in relationship.
So what does the church look like to non-believers when 70 – 80% of it is made up of Spiritual infants? Not very inviting.. not very different from the world. And what does that mean to those of us who are called to be and make disciples? (spoiler – that is all of us) Well – if the scenario I described at the beginning of this post would be considered physical child abuse I guess it stands to reason that not stepping up to nurture and develop the people we are discipling then releasing them to do the same with others could be considered spiritual abuse. Sheds a whole different light on things doesn’t it?
But when God’s plan A for discipleship happens, disciples will reach maturity. And they will have a personal experience to draw from of what discipling someone looks like. And they will be sharing what they have with others. And when others are discipled by spiritually mature disciples, the church will begin to look different to those outside of it. They will be curious to see what is different. And you can read Acts 2 to see the results are of that…
Hebrews 5: 12-14 “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
You may also be interested in these posts:
Six Habits Of An Effective Disciple Maker
The Real Life Discipleship Podcast – What Is A Disciple?
The Process Of Disciple Making – The Discipleship Wheel (Free Resource!)
