The Role of Hierarchy in Modern Discipleship
Does spiritual growth require a rabbi/disciple relationship?
Eric Foley | posted 6/27/2011
| Topics: | Christian education, Disciple, Discipleship, Mentoring, Shepherding, Spiritual growth, Teaching |
| Filters: | Apprentice, Coach, Director, Group Leader, Train |
| Purpose: | Discipleship |
| References: |  |
| Date Added: | June 27, 2011 |
1 of 3
Note: this article has been excerpted from The Whole Life Offering: Christianity as Philanthropy, by Eric Foley.
How does one grow to fullness in Christ? It is the work of the Holy Spirit to be sure, but does the Spirit, like an artist, make use of a preferred medium?
The gradually rising tide of books, blogs, and sermons on spiritual growth would suggest that personal self-study is the medium most Western Christians would prefer. This is sometimes augmented by the guidance of a spiritual director or the presence of others in an intentional community of individuals earnestly desiring to grow as well.
But the Scripture and Christian history, while in no way denying that the Holy Spirit uses such tools, bear consistent witness to divine employment of a far more prosaic preferred medium—namely, each maturing Christian.
Understanding DiscipleshipAll Christians disciple whether they intend to or not. That is because, as spiritual formation leaders Keith Anderson and Randy Reese note, Christianity is an "imitative faith"—"a faith taught by one to another." The last chapter described how Christians significantly shape others' understanding of the character of God and the trustworthiness of his mercy by the way they forgive and extend mercy each time they are wronged. This chapter builds on that understanding by introducing two related principles in the area of disciple-making as a Work of Mercy.
The first principle is that the Holy Spirit equips Christians to grow to fullness in Christ primarily by means of discipleship at the hands of the more mature Christians placed around them. This is an extension of the foundational concept of Christianity-as-philanthropy that Christ pours out his fullness on those who receive his mercy, and these ones are called to worship him by pouring out his fullness first on the family of believers and next on the world (see Galatians 6:10).
The second principle is that all Christians are called to dispense the philanthropy of discipleship to the less mature Christians who are placed around them. Discipleship is, in other words, a Work of Mercy of which all Christians are called not only to partake, but also to offer. The Holy Spirit never undertakes any Christian's discipleship as an end in itself. Instead, the Holy Spirit employs each Christian's discipleship as a direct means of furthering the discipleship of the other Christians who are placed around that Christian.
Personal study may be more convenient, less likely to embarrass the subject through the need for painful self-disclosure, and more likely to insulate the subject from the alleged hypocrisy and wounding of other believers. But individual growth is forever constrained by what contemporary John Wesley scholar Gregory S. Clapper calls "the problem of self-deception":
Wesley was not one to recommend lonely mountaintop contemplation, for he knew too well the human hearts' propensity for deceit. Wesley was constantly forming new believers into classes, societies, and bands where the Christians could examine each other and openly and honestly share with each other the course of their spiritual struggles.
Understanding Hierarchy
Today, there is a steadily growing interest in the benefits of intentional and intensive Christian community. That interest is translating into a gradually declining resistance to the collective nature of discipleship, whether that occurs in the format of a small-group gathering or even a new monasticism. There remains, however, staunch resistance, bordering on contempt, for one of the core elements of Christian discipleship; namely, its hierarchical character. Receiving feedback and direction from fellow learners is one thing. Submitting to their oversight is quite another.
share this page
Preparing for Life After High School (7 session course)
You've graduated…now what?
Four Pack: Assessments and Evaluations
Keep a finger on the pulse of your groups, leaders, and ministry with five very practical tools.see more downloads
user reviews
Average User Rating:
www.randallneighbour.com
1 John 2:12-14 clearly shows three levels of spiritual maturity each believer should move through. Little Children know the father, Young Men know the father AND the evil one and have overcome him (walking free of habitual sin and the roots thereof), and Fathers have a deep understanding of God as well as the other things mentioned, and they're called Fathers for a reason: the have spiritual offspring. God has called us to make disciples and support those who are on the same path we travel, but not as far along. One might reel from Foley's label (hierarchy) but it exists in a much more supportive way compared to the worldly definition of the term, which is characterized by authoritative control. Note that the Little Child is not an infant, but a self-feeder! So even the most immature believer described in this passage has learned to grab a spoon and put food in his or her mouth. This is the problem with small group ministry in America today. It's void of mentoring.
Renee N.
I think the great missing link in discipleship today is the type of life-on-life disciplemaking that Jesus modeled. There are two main reasons: the actual existence of very few mature Christians, and a general resistance to mentors. We should be able to look back at an unbroken chain of disciplers/disciplees leading back to the apostles and Jesus himself, but somehow along the way the ball got dropped. As a result we have a weak, ineffective, immature church consisting of individual believers either independently struggling to grow on their own (which means making all their own mistakes and not being able learn from others) or believers who look around and decide that the level of mediocrity around them is good enough. This subject is extremely important for small groups. If we are not making disciples, we are wasting our time. The Great Commission was not "Go therefore and participate in small group bible studies!"
EDK
I admit I skimmed this article, as I thought it was about hierchy within small groups. It doesn't seem to contain much about small groups and leadership. My experience with small groups has been as a member. There was some leadership, but more discussion and looking to come to agreement on what had been discussed. We were there to study and discuss together, and not to be led by the leader, who was more of a facilitator. We were part of a church and our minister and church leadership were the ones we submitted to, not our S.g. facilitator. We learned together as the Holy Spirit led us. Everything does not need to be a hierchy, does it?
Tremix
The problem with this article is the lack of depth explored for sideways discipleship, not top-down discipleship. Comparing Christianity to guitar playing is a bad analogy. The better comparison would be if I tried to rank people from least to most "capable". And have the more "capable" people disciple the less "capable". The obvious fault, here, is that capability is so wide and broad. Because people are complex. People's talents, abilities, and experiences lie in different areas. True Christianity is similarly complex. First of all, one cannot "rank" Christians from better to worse because of the complexity of the Christian life. One Christian may be a great parent, but not such a wise steward. Secondly, even if there was a "ranking", only God is able to make that judgment. There are no superman/woman Christians. We all learn from each other in different ways. Therefore anyone who wants to be the "rabbi" among many, is simply, stepping out of line.
Rate and Comment on this article: *