Dear family,
The mistakes we make
Making disciples had been part of Kingfisher’s DNA right from its inception two decades ago. We had successes as well as failures in our approach. On a more personal level I have been in ministry for about 40 years now and had many opportunities to make disciples throughout the years. Enough opportunity to make many mistakes as well! Good intentioned mistakes, but mistakes, nevertheless. Johann Theron often would speak about excellent mistakes – mistakes that help you to learn and do better.
So hopefully these are our excellent mistakes that you and we can learn from:
- Teaching all we know in condensed form to a group of people in a few days. Yes, I am speaking about workshops that we often do as part of our strategy. Workshops can be an effective way in providing information about making disciples. Just knowing the truth is not being discipled yet! Jesus carefully created an integrated learning experience that took three years of personal guidance and exposure to disciple the eleven who would go on to disciple others. We must be realistic that teaching a seminar or running a workshop is nothing more than preparing the ground for a disciple-making movement. It is necessary, it gets the message out there, it energizes spiritual leaders who are looking for a Biblical alternative to entertainment-based ministry, but a few days of intensive teaching can at best have people who will go back and teach.
- Setting the wrong example by not showing how it should be done. We lecture and teach and unconsciously this is what people try to repeat when they are back home from a workshop. People learn from what they see you do and not from what you say they should do. It is incredibly challenging to do this in a workshop setting, but using simulations and enough practical work in small groups, may help just a little bit. Jesus taught his disciples, but He connected his teaching with practical exposure and real-life examples. Inviting a group of people to come and live with you for a few weeks and then teaching while demonstrating and exposing them to different experiences leads to real discipling. It may be difficult, but we experienced this to be the very best approach of all. It is challenging, often taking every ounce of energy from you, but this is how Jesus made disciples and if we want others to learn from us, we will have to invite them into our lives and do it the Jesus way.
- Forgetting about the other ministry modes. We are teachers with an apostolic bent and easily forget about the prophets, evangelists, and shepherds. How would they disciple others from the angle of their calling and giftedness? And even more, how would they disciple others to do the same as they do and as well? How would a shepherd disciple someone with the same heart and calling to be effective in nurturing and healing and caring? How would an evangelist guide and shape a new disciple who has a natural bent for establishing relationships with even strangers and connect them to the rest of the body of Christ in a meaningful way? Jesus ministered as apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher and shepherd and He is doing the same today through his body. Discipling from and within a disciple group where all these modes of ministry flow naturally, Jesus himself does it again and again. The teacher or evangelist or even pastor cannot disciple anybody well enough – but the body of the living Lord can. Because He is doing the work!
So, what did we learn from these excellent mistakes?
We learned that we must make disciples the Jesus way.
We cannot only teach but need to live the life of a disciple-maker and draw others into the circle of the disciple group so that Jesus can do the work. Knowing that, our approach needs to change and the outcomes we desire will change as well. We discovered that a guided reading and application of the gospel of Matthew lays the foundation for making disciples like Jesus did. And in obedience, this is what we do.
God bless!
Your brother,
Piet