Making disciples

Luke 9: 10-17
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
June 5, 2016

            Any number of days I can attest to the notion that “God is still speaking”, but also that she says some stuff that makes the Church want to stick its fingers in its ears and sing a loud chorus of “La La La”.  For a while now I’ve been feeling it and recently reading in several sources that attracting new members to church is not and no longer will be the mission of the Church.  In fact, it’s nothing short of a huge culture shift.  Church is about making disciples; you know, that thing Jesus did.  Maybe that sounds like semantics.  What’s the difference between attracting new members and making disciples?  Aren’t they the same thing?  Not by a long shot.

            Attracting new members is more about institutional survival; especially when we mention “young families”.  Making disciples is about changing the world, one person, one life at a time, no matter who it is.  Membership is about commitment and covenant, yes, but it’s also about who has organizational rights and privileges, like voting and chairing a committee.  Discipleship is about transformation, a changed and changing life; it’s about serving others, being justice-minded and compassionate, not always getting it right but not giving up either. 

It’s the difference between a consumer church, where we get our needs met, and a missional church, where we strive to meet the needs of others.  It’s the difference between “I go to church” and “I am the Church.”  Whether or not we’re a member of this church, I would say all of us are disciples.  What makes the difference, though, is do you think of yourself as a disciple.  And if not, why not?

            In this morning’s scripture lesson, Jesus is right in the middle of his disciple-making program.  The twelve of them had just gotten back from their first mission trip.  Jesus had sent them out in pairs, taking nothing with them—no staff or bag or bread or money, not even an extra tunic.  They were to be the stranger dependent upon the hospitality of others, the guest on a Sunday morning in church.

            When they return they tell Jesus everything that happened, like anyone who’s come back from a mission trip excited to tell their stories.  Jesus tries to give them and himself some time apart but the crowds find them and follow them.  So Jesus welcomes all these people that want to be healed, who want their lives to change, and he tells them about the kingdom of God.

            But it gets late and folks are hungry.  Where’s the potluck supper, where’s the community dinner?  The disciples seem to forget the mission trip they just came from and tell Jesus to send the people away to get their own food.  How do you get people to do what you want without guilt or fear?  You can't.  All you can do is make the invitation.  Jesus tells them, “You give them something to eat.”  You be the Church.  You be the disciple.  You show them the kingdom of God. 

            The disciples say, “Hey we’ve only got so much, not enough to feed all of us, let alone this whole crowd.”  Then they say something rather interesting: “Unless we are to go and buy food for all these people”.  It sounds like a not-so-subtle hint, like maybe this is the miracle about to happen:  Jesus is going to conjure up enough money to pay for all these people to eat.  Or at least they are worried that Jesus is going to ask them to empty the common purse to feed their new 5000 friends.

            Instead Jesus has the crowd sit in groups of 50—the number of jubilee, the year of liberation and redemption, when lands are returned, slaves are set free, and debts are paid.  Then he took what they had—a simple meal of bread and fish—and he blessed it and broke it.  Everyone ate and they were filled, with leftovers to spare.

            To me the miracle of this story is diving in head first into what is needed with just what you have on you, that God doesn’t called the equipped—God equips those whom God calls.  Discipleship isn’t about waiting for our lives to change and then serving God when we’re ready; it’s about serving whenever God calls us and being transformed, our lives changed in the process.  Church, then, is about creating opportunities for people to be disciples.

            Do you think of yourself as a disciple?  And if not, why not?

            Amen.