What Is Disciple-Making? is the second question exploring the Disciple-Making process. It describes what Disciple-Making is at its core and the creative tensions it helps people identify and navigate.

A New Way to Be Human (Emergence)

Disruptive Idea

The disruptive idea that we want to emerge in “What is Disciple-Making?” is that Disciple-Making is a supportive process that helps people find a whole new way to be human¹ in relationship with, empowered by, and modeled after Jesus.

Thought Question

What experience do you find dehumanizing? Tell the story. This could be something subtle, or something major. How did it feel? Why do you think it effected you this way?

Question Objectives

Get the participant to think about what it means to be human and a person by thinking about the converse: namely what it feels like not not be treated as a human or a complete person.
Hint at or identify problems and categories of problems where discipleship must bring the Kingdom into the human condition.

Premise

Discipleship to Jesus is a person-to-person connection to Jesus on a personal level: all that he was as both God and human — and this causing the disciple to become more fully who they are as a human united with God. To be a Disciple is not merely a student-teacher connection with Jesus, where he just a teacher of certain ideas. Nor is it merely a follower-leader connection with Jesus just the leader of a cause. It includes these two things, and may even start as these two things, but the core of The Way of Jesus is Jesus – a who, not a what. Jesus saves us because of who he comprehensively is, not just what he taught or what he did to influence the world. Because discipleship is person-to-person, we have to consider “what does it mean to be human?” or “what does it mean to be a person?” to understand the core of discipleship to Jesus.

See the Codex entry on Disciple for research into the historical distinction between discipleship to Jesus as compared to discipleship to contemporary rabbis (information-tradition) or Greek philosophers (information-cause).
Much of the current problems of Christianity (nominalism, syncretism, traditionalism, and impotence) can be linked to lack of discipleship, or, where discipleship exists, it focuses on formation of the disciple as information-tradition so they can serve a church role, or information-cause so they can serve a strategic role. Only person-to-person discipleship will form people holistically — as complete people without dehumanizing them — and connect them with the living God in Jesus who is still very much alive.
This relates strongly to Extrinsic vs Intrinsic Motivators. Over time, as movements institutionalize and reach a large scale, they tend towards creating system of extrinsic motivation that use carrot or stick motivators rather than connecting directly to the heart. The information-tradition and information-cause types of discipleship are impersonal in their core because they are principal or ideologically based, therefore they do not require personhood — the people are involved as more or less expendable to the system so long as the principle and ideology remain intact.² This tends towards the creation of extrinsically motivating systems. The point is that extrinsic motivators are only useful in the short term and must eventually give way to intrinsic motivators for the good of the motivated and the long-term success of the objective.
This relates directly to the 3Ls: That Discipleship to Jesus represents growth in his Lordship, Likeness, and Life-on-Life mission. All there of these Ls can be thought of as aspects relating directly to personhood.

Deconstruction

3 Dimensions of Being Human.

Anything that doesn’t refuses to acknowledge or restricts any of these areas is, at least to some degree, dehumanizing.

This applies to solutions as well. If a solution isn’t personal, it’s ultimately dehumanizing. Therefore, all solutions must be a person. The only true solution could be a person.

Think about a solution to a problem. Welfare. Do the people who get welfare feel dehumanized by the process? Why? Would they feel dehumanized if the process was completely personal? If they were seen for who they truly are in all three dimensions?

Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest.”
Matthew 9:35-38 WEB

Jesus’ journey through the Jewish nation as he preached the Kingdom Gospel had provided him a great opportunity to survey the condition of the people. It was painful to witness what people’s lives were like. Their sheep-like problem was two-fold:

Harassed: They lacked the ability in themselves to resist disruption and exploitation.
Scattered: They had no safety in community and no unity of effort to improve their condition.

This resulted from a lack of effective and compassionate leadership: like sheep without a shepherd.³ The solution Jesus proposed is that we pray that God increase the number of workers who will go out into the world full of these problems do the work of Disciple-Making.

Related: Harassed and scattered – Research shows bullying is most effectively confronted by build self-knowledge/acceptance and a unified community approach.

What kind of leadership?

Thought Leadership (Knowing) | Systemic Control (Political, Social, or Economic) | Technical Leadership (Doing)

We think that knowing or doing is what will improve our life. But the reality is that being is the core of what improves life because who you are defines both what you know and and what you will do to apply what you know.

Discipleship is a way to be human; the way to be human. Because Jesus is the ultimate human.

Deconstructing Disciple-Making and Human Change

Describing a Disciple

Safe Space Community

Aspiration and Situation (Balance)

Besides wanting and choosing and being moved to do this or that, [humans] may also want to have (or not to have) certain desires and motives. They are capable of wanting to be different, in their preferences and purposes, from what they are. Many animals appear to have the capacity for what I shall call “first-order desires” or “desires of the first order,” which are simply desires to do or not to do one thing or another. No animal other than man, however, appears to have the capacity for reflective self-evaluation that is manifested in the formation of second-order desires.
Harry G. Frankfurt, “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person”⁴

These second order desires are central to personhood. Discipleship is all about personhood — one person becoming like another person: Jesus. From second order desires arise the fundamental human tension: we uniquely aware of our situation in life, yet we have the ability to aspire to be and experience something different.

__________________________________________________V all the possibility one can envision (embodiment of reality, both that which we create and experience)

Origin (society, history, genetics, heritage, etc.) > person < all you will effect (embodiment of will, not just of the individual)

__________________________________________________^ all the systems that effect and define

^ How does this relate to the background of the Quad?

The person is then a unique Holarchy or nexus of all these dynamics meeting in the unit of one life.

Mark 1:16-20 aspiration (over situation): connect to Peter’s plea in more detailed account: “depart from me, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:1-11).

Mark 10:17-31 rich young ruler situation (over aspiration): [Was vs 18 reference to OT vs Rabbinical idea that true religion is revelatory of Divine activity, therefore there are no “good teachers” or “good men,” only those who faithfully transmit the revelation of the One good God? See TDNT vol. IV pp. 415-441 discussion of role men in OT religion and concept of master-disciple in Hellenized and pre-Hellenized Rabbinical tradition.]

Luke 9:57-62 Three examples of situation keeping people from becoming disciples.

Jn 1:43-51 Jesus notices Nathanael in a particular mercy-space way, and calls him an Israelite without guile. This innocence and honest meant no alpha or beta moderation was necessary — he was ready to believe in and experience more of Jesus.

Preaching in book of Acts (in fulfillment of “make disciples of all the nations”): Jews were the people who should know God, but missed Jesus because they needed to repent (situation moderating aspiration). On the other hands, the Gentiles did not know God, so his activity and regard was shown to them (aspiration moderating situation).

Situation includes “intersectionality” see The Three Revolutions.

DM as agent of peace (as balance that preserves space to grow)

What Is Disciple-Making?