Growing up I watched my dad disciple thousands of people. He had an unbelievable ability to get people around a table and change their lives. He can walk you through a book of the Bible and leave you a completely different person. It’s amazing.
Understandably, I worked to do the same. I would bring together guys that I wanted to build into and we would spend hour after hour working through God’s word and they would leave bored. Most of them struggled to see any change in their lives at all. It was often a complete failure.
At the same time however, I began to notice that the lives of those I served with changed drastically. People would often talk to me about the impact that I’d had on their lives. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the people sitting around the table with me. It was the people serving alongside of me. They would bring up conversations we’d had while serving and talk about how it helped them understand God and the scriptures in a life changing way. I experienced this more and more while consistently banging my head against the table wondering why I couldn’t do what my dad was so good at. Why couldn’t I disciple people?
It frustrated me for years until I realized something. There are two methods of discipleship. One involves primarily tables. Books are written for this type of discipleship. The other involves roads. You can’t write a book for this you have to experience it and model it. Both are, and this is crucial to understand, equally valid and important. Both change lives if in the hands of the right person. Both require a little of the other.
I remember realizing one day as I was listening to someone talk about the impact that I’d had on their life this is what I do. I’d never sat at a table with this person but we’d talked after service events many times. In those conversations we’d talk through frustrations we’d talk through motivations we’d talk through faith. I realized I’m not built to disciple around a table I need a road. Take a walk with me and I’ll share what God’s taught me along the road.
Below I’ve quickly broken down the two methods to give you a chance to ask yourself which you connect with. Both are valid, both have weaknesses. My goal is not to compare or champion one or the other. My goal is to help you identify which is your natural bent. My hope is that as you do, you will value the other you will address your weaknesses and you will leave behind the frustration of trying to be the one you are not.
Christopherhigh.com 