*This is the sixth installment in a series of articles that are designed to help unpack the practical implications of the We Have a Dream declaration that has been entrusted to us as a family of Friends here in Mid-America. Using Acts 2:17 as a holy compass, We Have a Dream seeks to discern and describe the specific directions that God is currently calling the people of EFC-MAYM to take so that the “dream of the gospel is lived out … in our local churches, in the communities where our churches serve, and in the family of churches called Evangelical Friends Church-Mid America Yearly Meeting.”
We have a dream that every local church was actively participating with God in the process of making disciples. What if church culture changed from maintenance or preservation to multiplication? What if we knew exactly who God was sending us to, and we knew them by name? What if every church made at least one disciple in the next year, starting with non-disciples? (cf. Mt 28:19)
On Sunday, February 7, the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. It was the eighth Super Bowl appearance by the Broncos and the second appearance by the Panthers. There are four other NFL teams, however, that have never been to the big dance: the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, and Jacksonville Jaguars. Of the four, the Browns and the Lions are the only non-expansion teams that have yet to play in a Super Bowl.
Cleveland does stand alone in the sports world in at least one category, however. The city holds the record for the longest-standing drought when it comes to winning a championship of any kind in any major sport. Millions of long-suffering fans from northeast Ohio have not seen a winner in Cleveland since the Browns beat the Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship. This means that the vast majority of Cleveland sports fans have never witnessed a championship in their lifetime, thus giving rise to the widespread adoption of common creed: “Just one before I die, baby!”
In case you haven’t guessed it by now, I am a Cleveland sports fan. Offering up such a confession feels a bit like a standard introduction to a 12-step group: “Hi, my name is Dave, and I’m a Cleveland sports fan. It’s been 52 years since my last championship.” And just to prove the point beyond any shadow of a doubt, you should know that I am highly confident that this is the year that the Cavaliers will bring home the Larry O’Brien trophy for the first time in their 46-year history.
Now then, you may be asking yourself, what does all of this nonsense have to do with disciple-making? In my mind, at least, the connection is very clear. Making disciples always takes times. Sometimes it takes what may seem like a very, very long time. And it can be very, very messy. As a dear friend of mine is known to say, “Disciple-making is a process, and the process doesn’t always look like progress.” Or as I frequently remind my spiritual formation students, “Disciple-making is not a snapshot. It’s a motion picture.” It requires a willingness to wait patiently for the finished product to appear.
Just ask the Apostle Paul. Acts 9 and Acts 13 may be just a few pages apart in our Bibles, but most New Testament scholars agree that it was probably at least ten full years between the time that Saul of Tarsus saw the light on the Damascus Road and the day he was ready to embark on his first missionary journey as a fully devoted disciple of Jesus.
Or you might ask our foreign missionaries who are called to lead disciple-making initiatives among unreached people groups around the world. On many of these fields, there is no tangible interest in the gospel for many months, or even years. And when new converts do profess a desire to follow Jesus, there is almost always a lengthy “waiting period” before they are ready to be fully incorporated into a local church and make a wholehearted commitment to the rigors of Christian discipleship.
Or you might ask our home missionaries about the generally slow, painstaking process that is typically required to reach the lost and plant new churches among our unreached friends and neighbors here in North America. In our increasingly post-Christian culture, many people have very little knowledge of the Bible, very little respect for the clergy, and very little interest in the church. And often for good reason. More than ever, we must earn the right to be heard, and building this kind of trust takes time.
Or you might ask any of the farmers who work the land here in Mid-America. When you drive by their wheat fields this time of year, it may be tempting to assume that nothing is happening. But below the surface, hidden in the rich soil that lies beneath the dormant winter wheat, a mysterious and truly miraculous process is unfolding. By God’s grace, the seeds that were skillfully planted in well-prepared soil last fall will slowly but surely produce a bountiful harvest just a few, short months from now. In the meantime, the farmer must patiently watch and wait.
This type of sanctified stick-to-it-iveness does not come naturally for most of us, especially in our current fast food, microwavable, high speed Internet, Instagram culture. But it is this “long obedience in the same direction” that is absolutely essential when it comes to the ministry of disciple-making. Jesus made it clear in his final marching orders, also known as the Great Commission, that there is no higher calling in life (cf. Matthew 28:18-20), and he pulled no punches about the fact that it would not be easy (cf. Luke 10:1-11).
So where does this leave us as a family of Friends who share a dream that every local church was actively participating with God in the process of making disciples? As Olympic champion Jesse Owens would remind us, “We all have dreams, but in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.”
Just ask Jesus. No one in human history has ever demonstrated a greater level of stick-to-it-iveness than our suffering Savior. He patiently endured opposition, denial, desertion, betrayal, arrest, condemnation, flogging and crucifixion in order to make a way for each one of us to experience the redeeming love of our good and beautiful God. And through his resurrection, we are empowered to persevere in our unwavering devotion to the fulfillment of his Great Commission, “to make disciples of all nations.” No matter how long it takes, we must remain fully engaged in the work of disciple-making as we patiently and expectantly wait for that great and glorious day when “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
So what are you waiting for?
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:9
– David O. Williams, General Superintendent
Follow Us!