From Forest to Tree: Changing our view of discipleship to value the individual

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:1-3).

Have you ever felt like the only tree in the forest that wasn’t like the others? Like all of the trees around you have roots that suck water through huge PVC pipe while your roots are trying to suck through a coffee stirrer?

At some point I am sure each of us have felt this way.

This awkwardness is felt by many when entering a discipleship group on a week night in the dorm.

You know what I mean–you are so envious when the person next to you starts spouting off quotes from last week’s reading.  They eloquently recite half the book of James while you struggle to stay focused and wade through the material in order to participate.

You wish you could remember all that you read.  Each day you read and reread the passages to find the answers to the questions you can’t remember, because your mind keeps wandering to your to-do list.  You just don’t seem to function the same way as your super-spiritual friend with the ability to memorize every word read!

This is me!  I’m not the super- spiritual head of the class.  When I became a believer, I literally prayed there was another way to “store up” God’s word in my heart “that I might not sin against” him (Psalm 119:11).  Please, oh Please, I hate to read!

The Lord has made me adaptable, but it is still a struggle, and it does not come naturally.

Now hear me out! I am not at all presenting a discipleship plan excluding Bible reading.   Psalm one tells us to meditate on God’s word day and night and there is no question that this is an imperative, but I do want to challenge our approach to meditation in order to reach each uniquely designed tree in the forest.

Each of our students is an individual created by a creative God who has designed them for life in intimate relationship with him.  That relationship may not look like the tree next to them (but why would it since their personality, gifts, strengths, and learning styles are different?).  If variety is the spice of life, let’s remember to incorporate variety into how we help our students develop as a student of Christ!

Reading, journaling, listening to podcasts, taking a passage and creating a spoken word piece,  living out a passage of Scripture through service in the community, fasting from a meal to engage the entire body in an experience of true feasting on God’s word, confessing brokenness through oil on canvas as you create a visual depiction of what God is teaching through his narratives, discussing with friends a revelation which has acted as a lamp to illuminate your soul, allowing your body to dance before the Lord as you joyfully or sorrowfully burst with the realities he is sharing in your silent moments of scripture meditation.

This list could go on and on because the creativity of our God goes on and on.  We have been made to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

For some, this love is deepened through disciplines of intense physicality partnered with the revelation of the word, while others drink deeply of the water through their roots as they read, listen to, or even visually see the scriptures played out as a film.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6)

The hunger is there, but the means to feast have not been unleashed.  It is our job as guides along the path to take the wiring of our students and enable them to see that they aren’t like the other trees in the forest.

Discipleship is a way of living, not a list of passages and questions.

What if we took the time to empower each student to find their learning style, strengths, passions, and wiring in order to help find his or her natural worship expressions?

What if each hungry student could feel like he or she was a tree planted by the water drinking freely from roots as wide as huge PVC pipe, and he naturally lived out a life of discipleship that fit who he was as a whole person?

We must honor our creative God and his creatively created image bearers by investing time in the discovery of natural worship expressions.

Once we see our students realize they aren’t dull, but instead they are wired for discipleship differently from their neighbor, I truly believe we will see satisfied trees who hunger, thirst and drink deeply of the living water.

 

[ BACK-TO-SCHOOL HOMEPAGE ]

 

5 thoughts on “From Forest to Tree: Changing our view of discipleship to value the individual

  1. Hmmm, I fear I may jump in here seeming to just be a negative, but it’s difficult because I agree aaand disagree here. I’m not sure though if my disagreements might really just be a matter of terms though… ??? I dunno.

    See I think that we take great liberties with the term “discipleship” these days and neither small groups nor individualized one-on-ones are “discipling” as Jesus and his time knew it – the go where I go, say as I say, live as I live kind. However, I’m not sure that’s what we should be doing either since it’s Jesus we are to be disciples of, not Riley or any human.

    Then, the term “worship.” Are we who determines what that is? It seems a popular notion these days, but I can’t line it up with scripture really. So Kimberly I’m not saying you’re saying this, but I think there’s a vagueness to telling our students something to the effect of “your natural worship expressions” that could become a dangerous thing. I ask myself, “what did the world do the last 2000 yrs w/out all the possible ‘ways’ and ‘expressions’ of worship we talk about now… and really say there must be?” They had to read, sing, speak, and that’s about it… but all that is commanded in scripture… so what’s all this other stuff now? Improvements? Or are we are own Gods now? I dunno, I’m just talking crazy now.

    Maybe it doesn’t matter, but maybe it does. This is for sure one of the most clear and well said messages in this direction and it does help me think it through better. I do also agree that we have far strayed in the other direction with the church forsaking God’s vast creativity and love for it. So, good message!

  2. Riley,
    Thank you so much for taking time to read and process the post! I totally agree that we as the church “take great liberties with the term discipleship.” It is exciting when you see disciples living life together though!
    I believe that Paul helps us as leaders to see that we can confidently guide disciples of Christ in their journey without fear of making disciples of ourselves, but we must always be aware of the responsibility to clearly communicate who the real teacher is in the relationship. Paul warns against this in 1Cor. 1:10-17 when he addresses division in the church because there was a misplaced understanding of who believers in Corinth were really following. Paul and the writer of Hebrews talk about imitating those leading the church because those leaders were imitating Christ (1Cor, 4:16, 1Thess. 1:6, 1Thess. 2:14, Heb. 6:12 and 13:7). Paul of course also speaks of imitating God (Eph. 5:1).
    To address your concern with my thoughts on the “natural worship expressions” I definitely believe all of the examples presented in the post can be traced back to the scriptures and are not improvements: studying God’s word, journaling (writing out your thoughts to God), listening to teaching of the Scriptures (obviously podcasts are not mentioned but podcast are just us being fancy these days), spoken word (poetry), service, fasting, creating artwork (2 Chronicles 2 in the job assignments for building the temple), discussing the scriptures (iron sharpening iron), dancing (Psalm 149:3).
    I will say that even though I did not mention it, my time with the Lord has been blessed by the practical wisdom of such writers as Donald Whitney and Richard Foster who have written on spiritual disciplines. No, you do not see specific references in the scriptures of the meditation practice of “centering down,” but the principles of the discipline are most definitely found in Scripture. Their research on the disciplines has helped me to better engage my full body, mind, and spirit in worship.
    I get so excited about discussing intimacy with God and I hope that such dialogue can continue! Thank you again for posting!

    1. Hey thanks that really does help me see where you’re coming from in this, and to know it isn’t simply a cry for “freedom of expression” but also a biblically thought through idea. I appreciate that.

      On that, I suppose that I see things in scripture as an obvious given to be forms of wHey thanks that really does help me see where you’re coming from in this, and to know it isn’t simply a cry for “freedom of expression” but also a biblically thought through idea. I appreciate that.

      On that, I suppose that I see things in scripture as an obvious given to be forms of worship if God himself did say, “do this or do that.” Such as the creation of the God-specified things for the temple to use your example. But, my concern is then when we start specifying what we count as worship. Do you think we can have the freedom to do that? I’m really not saying either way as much as I’m just wondering.

      Do you see what I’m saying? Do you think it’s a valid concern, and if so, how would you say you guard for that in also seeking to affirm a person in the gifts and personalities they have when you individualize?

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