Church leaders, including myself, often bemoan the individualism of our American culture, and we lament how this individualistic spirit has invaded the church. I attended a conference on discipleship this week, and as I left the conference, I began to reflect on how individualism has affected even our thoughts on discipleship. As I look back on the last few days, I am struck by how individualistic our conversations about discipleship were. We began with the Great Commission to make disciples and then asked what a disciple looks like. From there, we tried to formulate plans or processes for making this kind of disciple. This process was helpful, and while we regularly focused on how disciples would have to be part of a group of believers, we still approached the question from an individualistic slant. What does a disciple look like? While we acknowledged that a disciple must be involved in corporate activities, we still focused heavily on building individual disciples.
The problem I have with this process is that God never intended to make individual disciples. Jesus did tell his disciples to make disciples, but long before that, God made clear that his ultimate aim was a people for himself. When God chose Abraham, God did so to make Abraham into a nation (Genesis 12:2). God promised his people that if they obeyed, he would establish them as his holy people so that all the nations of the earth would see that his people were called by his name (Deuteronomy 28:9-10). In the New Testament, Paul stated that Christ died to purify for himself a people that are his own (Titus 2:14). As Peter called his audience to holiness, he reminded them that they were a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession (1 Peter 2:9). In the new creation, God will dwell among the people that he has made for himself. He will be their God, and they will be his people (Revelation 21:3).
So perhaps the discipleship questions we ask should be corporate rather than individualistic. Instead of starting with what a disciple looks like, perhaps we should ask what the people of God should look like. This shift might seem insignificant, but some characteristics of God’s people cannot be reflected in individual disciples. For example, individual disciples cannot be intergenerational, while we know that God’s people are made up of many generations. God’s people are interracial, made up of people from many tribes, tongues, and nations, while individual disciples do not have to reflect this characteristic. Currently many churches form groups revolving around the individual: a small group for young adults, a church for horse people, a worship service for those who like traditional music. But if we began with the people rather than the individual, our churches might look vastly different. We might begin to look more like the diverse families of faith that God created us to be.
A Family of Faith 