Thoughts on Church Membership & Discipleship Pt II

Discipleship is a lot like parenting. It involves teaching, showing example, correcting, and encouraging individuals from a state of near complete dependency to guided independence. I don't see a difference between the growing perception that parents have abandoned their responsibilities to raise their own children and the belief that the Church has drifted from the proven model of Biblical discipleship. Even the reasons are eerily similar: the caretakers are not properly trained, they were never cared for as a "babe" themselves and were raised to fend for themselves, or they just may be unwilling to invest the time.

I believe an overarching issue in this discussion is the concept of Personal Salvation or having a "personal relationship with Christ". In our modern self-focused society, many in the Church have perverted the very valid scriptural teaching that each individual must take account for their own salvation to deny the very clear and concise teaching of a common community of believers bound together, who continuously engage, support, and walk beside one another in the Faith. I can't count the number of times I've heard someone express how they don't have time for another believer's issues and struggles because they "have to work our their own soul salvation" in either a blatant misappropriation of scripture or as a poor excuse for their lack of concern for their brothers and sisters in Christ. Fact is, scripture very clearly states that we are accountable AND responsible for one another. This especially applies to mature saints who are tasked with the development and growth of the newly converted and those weak in the faith.

Romans 15:1 (NIV)

¹We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

elder todd