How to Be Discipled by Committee

For years the church in the West has been guilty of abandoning babies.  Not actual babies, but spiritual ones.  From the outside looking in one might think that the end of the spiritual journey was baptism rather than the beginning.  But that conversation is changing as more and more churches are beginning to focus on discipleship.

Most of the literature on the subject focuses on how to create a discipling culture or how to disciple a person.  Some of these books, like Mike Breen’s Building a Discipling Culture, have been especially helpful for me.  My assumption though is that if it is good to disciple others, it’s probably good to be discipled as well.  This is something missing from the lives of many pastors.

In seminary, I had it hammered into me that it was important that I have a spiritual mentor.  I developed this understanding that I needed some kind of spiritual guru or coach that would instruct me in how to live the Christian life.  So I prayed for and sought out such a person.  I even asked a few people along the way to play that role only to come up disappointed each time.  Despite this void, I continued to grow in my faith.

Last year, I went through a Life Plan process with Marcus Bigelow.  I shared my angst over not being able to find a spiritual coach to disciple me.  Marcus began to help me explore where my spiritual influences had come from.  There were many.  Several men and women along the way that I had spend time with, observed, studied alongside that had a role in discipling me.  There were even authors that I’d never met, but still had a significant influence in shaping me.  What I learned was that discipleship happens in committee.  The picture of who had discipled me was not a snapshot of one person, but a collage.

This understanding has helped me greatly.  God has placed many Christians in my life who serve to disciple me.  Some have close proximity to me.  Others play this role from a distance.  Some know they are discipling me and some have no clue.  Some are around only for a season and others have been around my whole life.

So as you work out your discipleship plan both for your life and for the church, consider discipleship by committee.  After all, the Church is the Body of Christ not one super-spiritual person.  We can become more like Jesus by submitting to the discipling of the body of believers that God has blessed us with.

Do you agree?