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Jun
19
F Leader , Paul Wilkinson

What’s So Bad about Moral Improvement?

By Paul Wilkinson

Discussion of moral improvement or behavior modification, so-called, has become taboo or equivalent to a four-letter word in much of contemporary discipleship discussion. Well-meaning comments about how we are after something other than behavior modification or after more than a self-improvement program abound in contemporary discussions of discipleship. I have even made such comments myself. However, in reading Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy this weekend, I was convicted to qualify such statements against discipleship as moral improvement a bit more than is commonly practiced.
First, the dark side of things that generate anti-moral improvement comments. I’m sure we all know of individuals who were brought to church as kids in order to get some morals. Many of us attended, perhaps endured, countless Sunday School lessons on the don’ts: don’t hangout with those sorts of kids, don’t do those sorts of things, don’t be out past such and such an hour, etc. And, if we were to faithfully avoid the don’ts, then we could consider ourselves disciples. Oh, how much more our Lord wants for us! This mentality which generally minimizes our evangelistic opportunities and places us in prime context for a self-absorbed faith is rightly condemned by contemporary, and ancient, disciplers.
Nevertheless, we follow a Lord who said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” (Matthew 5:48) and, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of God,” (Matthew 5:20) and follow the teaching of Peter who quotes Leviticus, “Be holy, as I am holy,” (1 Peter 3:16) and the teaching of John, “This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands.” (1 John 1:5) Yikes! On my best days I’m still far from perfect, certainly infinitely far from the maximally perfect being!
Clearly, moral behavior matters to our God. After lamenting the 1990’s scene on moral and ethical teaching in the university, Dallas Willard wrote that “there now is no recognized moral knowledge upon which projects of fostering moral development could be based.”[i] In other words, moral behavior or “right and wrong” are not pieces of knowledge; they are more like feelings or mere expressions of the values of a particular community. They are by no means objective truths given to us from outside the physical universe.
I was convicted that if I am not careful when talking about discipleship as distinct from moral development and behavior modification, then I will be in precisely the same boat as these individuals who reject moral truths as candidates for knowledge. Perhaps my blunder was simply selling short the calling of Christian morality, that is, perhaps I sold short the Lord’s majesty as the maximally moral being.
For example, is it moral to knowingly allow people to endure great suffering? If the answer is no, which it is, then it is immoral to not evangelize. Is it moral to have the ability to help someone mature in their faith but to refuse because of concern for our own wants? If the answer is no, then it is immoral not to invite along the lost, searching, and maturing. Is it moral to be self-absorbed about what the faith can do for me? If the answer is no, then it is immoral to act as if the entirety of the kingdom of God is about you.
In short, I am arguing that we do not need to avoid moral improvement as a major part of our discipleship. Instead, we need to properly understand morality as the full expression of the words and deeds of Jesus in our day-to-day lives. My new statement, henceforth, will be: moral improvement is God-glorifying and Christ-honoring, and to be moral we must faithfully obey the commands of God, including sharing our faith and discipling the lost, searching, and maturing.
[i]Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (New York: HarperOne, 1997), 3.

Jun
5
F Leader , Paul Wilkinson

The Discipleship Square (Apprenticing)

By Paul Wilkinson
 

A part of ministry is reproducing yourself. Essentially, we want to work ourselves out of a job by replicating ourselves. It’s no different for group leaders. Breen’s discipleship square is a helpful way to go about developing an apprentice. The dream is that every leader would have at least 1, preferably 2 apprentices at any given time with the ultimate intent that the group will be left to the apprentice as the original leader moves on or that the apprentice will be commissioned to his or her own group.
The square consists of 4 parts: Direction, Coaching, Collaboration, and Empowering. At the outset, notice that “we talk” is a part of each aspect. Debriefing is essential for developing leaders. In the Direction Phase, the leader doesn’t ask for input, help, or advice. The leader says: here’s how I do it and here’s how you should do it. This part may look like: 1. Read the Bible this way, e.g. use cross-references, use hermeneutical circles; 2. Lesson plan this way: use this kind of outline, write out transition sentences, list the discussion questions; etc. We show them what we do.
In the Coaching Phase, the leader asks for input from the apprentice after teaching, e.g. did you notice how I transitioned from the introduction? did you notice how I cut such and so out of my outline to let that person share what the Spirit put on their heart? Or perhaps you give them your outline and ask for a critique, explaining why you did this or that. You are still doing the teaching and leading, but you are pulling the curtain back a bit to show more of the conceptual thinking behind what you’re doing. The apprentice is learning why we are about the task of teaching. This stage is often the toughest because the apprentice comes to see what it actually takes to lead God’s people and repeatedly regresses in discouragement. The key words for the leader here are: grace, time, and vision.

In the Collaboration Phase, you put the apprentice to work. Have your apprentice make outlines even if he or she is not teaching. Have them write out an introduction illustration or the like. And then let them teach. It is crucial that you continue debriefing in this stage: here’s what went well; here’s what you could do different; here’s how I dealt with such and so an issue; etc. During this time, you must guide the apprentice in prayer for who he or she is called to lead.
In the Empowering Phase, you either leave the group in the hands of the apprentice as you move on to launch a new group or you commission the apprentice out to whomever they are called to lead. We revel in the joy of watching a leader that God allowed us to pour into as they disciple others. And we continue to talk as iron sharpens iron. Ideally, this pattern will continue for generation after generation as God glorifying discipleship family trees are developed, illustrated by the image below:

 
Jesus led His disciples this way.

  • Stage 1: In Mark 1:15-20, Jesus calls the disciples telling them about the great kingdom of God and the good news to come. I can imagine their incredible excitement: here’s the Messiah and we get first dibs on the kingdom!!
  • Stage 2: In Luke 12:32-34, Jesus tells them the cost: sell your possessions to give to the poor, your treasure is in heaven, not to mention the rocks hurled at them and their leader and the vitriol poured out at Jesus. I can imagine them thinking: this ain’t the kingdom I had in mind!! Imagine their discouragement and recognize why Jesus needed to minister to them personally for over two years: He had to establish them.
  • Stage 3: In John 15:12-17, Jesus is speaking to adult disciples, metaphorically, as He gives them the vision of loving one another by washing their feet.
  • Stage 4: Finally, Jesus gives them the Great Commission: I’ve given you all authority, go reproduce yourselves!