The Distinction Between Discipleship & Disciple-Making: A Q&A With Dann Spader

 

Dann Spader developed a passion for disciple-making and has spent his life sharing that passion with others. In his church consulting work, training events, and books, he has sought to help others take someone from being a seeker to making disciples themselves.
In his latest book, 4 Chair Discipling: Growing a Movement of Disciple-Makers, Spader talks about the distinction between discipleship and disciple-making and how the church can get back to the pattern Jesus modeled for us.
Facts & Trends spoke with Spader about some of those issues and what church leaders may need to do differently to accomplish the Great Commission.
Facts & Trends: You draw a distinction between discipleship and disciple-making. Why do that? And what do you see as the primary differences between the two?
Spader: In his book With Christ in the School of Disciple Building, Carl Wilson makes the point that in 1850, a man by the name of Charles Adams was the first to separate evangelism from disciple-making. Evangelism, stemming from the Greek word euangelizomai, became synonymous for bringing people to Christ; and discipleship became synonymous for growing people up in Christ.
But by separating these as two parts of the disciple-making mandate of the Great Commission, people began to prioritize one as more important than others. Some prioritized evangelism, while others prioritized discipleship.
But both of these are like two wings of an airplane. When I am at 30,000 feet in a commercial airliner and look out the window of the airplane, I don’t argue that one wing is more important than the other. Both wings are critical. So it is with disciple-making.
When Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples, He was not saying, go and do discipleship; nor was He saying go and do evangelism. He was saying go and “make disciples” and that involved the whole process of winning people to Christ (evangelism), growing them up in Christ (discipleship), and then sending them out to repeat the process.
This distinction is critical for me. For years I have taken thousands of pastors and church leaders through training on Christ’s mandate to “make disciples.” When I mention disciple-making, so many just think of deeper bible studies (discipleship) or more church involvement (another form of discipleship).
Discipleship is a part of the disciple-making journey, but just one part. Biblical “disciple-making” involves the whole process of winning the lost (chair 1), building the believer (chair 2), equipping the worker (chair 3), and sending out proven multipliers (chair 4). This was the original intent of Jesus, when He gave the command. This is what Jesus so masterfully modeled for us.
Discipleship is not bad—it is one part of the command to “make disciples.” Disciple-making is the biblical mandate and therefore I prefer using that term.
F&T: In your opinion, what’s the biggest mistake churches and Christian organizations are making with regard to disciple-making?
Spader: In my doctoral study, our research showed that out of 100 churches who said they were committed to “disciple-making” (both evangelism and discipleship), 87 of the 100 had all their programming targeted primarily to help believers grow.
Very little, if any, programming was designed to equip the workers who were after more. Oh, sure, there would be some training to teach the teachers to teach, ushers to “ush,” and the deacons to “deac.” But all of this training was designed to equip the few to do more church programs for the believers.
Biblically, equipping is done out in the harvest field, where the workers are taken out to learn how to bring in the harvest (see Mark 1:21-2:19). Jesus said, “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Then you find Jesus taking His disciples on fishing trips to teach them how to fish for men out in the harvest field.
This was the model of Jesus. Until we return back to that model, we will continue to develop ingrown believers.
F&T: You say not many disciple-makers are looking to Jesus as the model. Why do you think this is?
Spader: I understand that as Christians, all of us look to Jesus as our model, at least on some level. But there are many levels of understanding the life of Christ.
On one level, you can study only the message of Jesus. In my experience, 95 percent of the books written about Jesus try to exegete His message. This is good.
But on another level, you can study Jesus’ methods. Fewer get to the place of analyzing the methods of Jesus. What was His prayer life like, how did He use questions, what was His relational strategy, how did He invest in the few. The methods of Jesus make the message of Jesus even more profound.
But to me, the deepest level of exegeting the real Jesus (Hebrews 5:7), comes when we begin to study the model of how Jesus built a movement of multiplying disciples.
What did He do the first year and then the second year and the third year? Why did He do what He did? What did He not do and why? What was His intentional process of building a movement?
We are told more than 40 times to “do what Jesus did” (John 14:12), “walk as Jesus walked” (I John 2:6), and to “follow the pattern He gave us” (I Peter 2:21). What was that pattern? What did Jesus do that we can learn from?
How did Jesus build a movement that within two years “filled Jerusalem” (Acts 5:28), within four and a half years had “multiplying churches” (Acts 9:31), within 19 years “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6 KJV), and in 28 years it was said that “all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing” (Colossians 1:5-8).
In a simple way, Jesus modeled in the Gospels how to build a movement of multiplying disciples. The book of Acts shows us how to multiply that movement to the ends of the earth. And the Epistles show us how to maintain that movement long term. But so often we only study the Epistles for how to do church.
Without a good Christology (an understanding of Jesus’ life and ministry), we will not have a good missiology (an understanding of what are we called to do), which in time will shape our ecclesiology (how we do church).
We need to return to a passionate and fresh understanding of the “real Jesus” who walked on this earth.
F&T: What role do small groups play in the disciple-making process?
Spader: Over 270 times the term disciple is used in the Gospels, but after Acts 21, the term disciple is no longer used. Why?
One of the reasons is because when Jesus created the Church in Acts 2, the Church became Jesus’ primary vehicle for the making of disciple-makers. Disciple-making in the New Testament comes in the context of loving accountable small groups that are relational (follow me), intentional (I will make you), and missional (fishers of men).
From my perspective, these types of small groups are non-negotiable for New Testament disciple-making.
F&T: What will the future of the American church look like if we get disciple-making wrong?
Spader: We will continue to decline in impact and influence as “salt and light”.
The command to “go and make disciples” is not an option. This is not a great commission as much as it is an everyday commission for every believer, every moment of their everyday life. Nowhere does the Bible call this a “great” commission, even though in concept it is great. In reality it could be translated “as you go, make disciples.” It is for everyone, every moment of their everyday life. We are not called to just “go to church,” we are called to “be the church” where we live and work.
As the church, we must see that anything less than “walking as Jesus walked” is called sin. As church leaders, we must see that our failure to model and make disciples is nothing less than sin. And we must repent of that sin. After we get up off of our knees, we must then go and ask God to help us make disciple-makers. Anything less, will be Churchianity not real Christianity. It is our only hope.
F&T: If you could give one piece of advice about taking someone from unbeliever to fully-trained, reproducing disciple-maker, what would it be?
Spader: Go back to the real Jesus of the New Testament. Do what Jesus did. Walk as Jesus walked. Follow the pattern He gave us.