Pastoral Ponderings...

Welcome to the 'Pastor's Page' of the 

Oelwein Evangelical Free Church. 

Here you will find ramblings from the 

Church's pastor, Dan Driscoll.

"Disciples are born to be made." That's a quote from Bill Hull in The Disciple-making Pastor. Jesus gave the Church the command to go and make disciples. That's our mandate, our mission. 

On order to make a disciple, we have to know what we mean when we say 'disciple.' And of course, it behooves us to form our definition of a disciple from the Bible. The Greek word for disciple is mathetes, a learner, a student. Jesus gives an invitation to discipleship in Matt. 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." He gives the invitation to 'learn from Him.' The 12 disciples that Jesus trained during His earthly ministry were 'with Him' day and night. They took their meals with Him and watched Him minister and teach. They were His followers, His disciples.' 

My rough draft definition of a disciple is: a disciple is a follower of Christ; one who is in the process of learning how to sacrifice his life in effective service to the gospel. A relationship with Christ is foundational to this life-long educational process. Unless a person is saved, they are not able to be a follower. This follower is in an educational process - learning from Christ (through the church - the discipling agency). He or she is learning to give themselves self-sacrificially to the service of the gospel. And he/she is learning how to minister effectively.

This process is education with accountability. It is not just theoretical, though it is heavily doctrinal. But it must be practical - teaching the disciple not only what things should be done, but also how to do them. A disciple is one who has the image of Christ formed in Him. That means the discipleship process must be transformational in order to be effective. Accountability is the only way to ensure that transformation is taking place.

Because it is an exercise in accountability, it is relational. Only in relationship can accountability be applied. There are several 'layers' of accountability inherent in the discipleship process. There is a deeply personal level with a very small circle for character development. There is a larger group accountability that is crucial to parts of the process, especially the basic commitments to the Body and later in leadership training. There is also accountability to the Church as a whole and especially to the Leadership Board or Team. And finally, there is a recognized accountability to the Lord Jesus.

There are many skills necessary to be an effective leader. Any discipleship process that does not include leadership training will certainly fall short of its goal. Skills must be practiced to be mastered, and that means that a part of the discipleship process must include supervision in ministry.

And any process of discipleship that did not take the measure of the ability of the disciple would never expose the disciple to areas of needed growth, or expose weaknesses in the training process itself.

Discipleship is the mission of the Church. It is the responsibility of the Elders to guide the Church into the discipleship cycle, so that the Church might be established, and successfully complete her mission.

And it all starts with the individual. Are you following Christ? Are you growing in the skill sets of basic Christian living? Are you reading your Bible? Are you praying for your needs and the needs of the brethren? Are you keeping a journal of your spiritual journey - so that you can evaluate your progress? Are you involved in a group of people who pray for you, support and encourage you and hold you accountable?

May the Lord bless you as you seek to follow Him.