At the Speed of Trust

In the book, Small is Big, Slow is Fast, Caesar Kalinowski writes an incredibly important reality about disciple-making. It can transform the way we approach this ancient art of the church. Really … it is that empowering of a thought.

Caesar says, “The gospel moves at the speed of trust.”

Selah. (pause and think about these things)

These are such an interesting choice of words which create a tapestry of making disciples in the Jesus way. This is exactly what we watch unfold in the Gospels … we see Jesus engaging those around Him and patiently waiting for them to make the decision to follow or not follow Him. Think about people like Nicodemus (John 3) or Zacchaeus (Luke 19).

Powerful. Informative. Transformative.

Kalinowski isn’t finished with painting the picture as he goes on to say … “Community expands along the lines of friendships and family.”

This is a paradigm shift as old ways of thinking shift and change to new understanding of how the Good News is shared and passed along to others. It is repentance at work which brings about the renewed mind (Romans 12).

It’s revolutionary without ever leading a revolution.

This is the Jesus way, a pattern for us to follow as we follow Him.

These two comments by our brother are genuinely needed in most of the disciple-making environments in churches across the United States of America. We have to change the course if we want to see a change in the life flow of the church.

We need to wake up to the reality that there is no branding style which will transform most places of worship. The programing is probably never going to be able to compete with what is offered elsewhere. And even if it does, it will most likely fall short of what sharing our story with another person can do. We simply will never be able to buy our way into the hearts of people willing to follow in the Jesus way.

Many of us have lost our way and don’t even realize we are lost. At the very least, we know we have drifted from where we once were, and we don’t know how or why we got there. We just slowly drifted downstream, losing sight of the Gospel example set before us.

The reality is we stopped focusing on what it means to fulfill the mission Jesus gave us and started trying to do things our own way. The formulas we bought into are not capable of transforming people. While they may make converts to a Christian lifestyle, they can’t make disciples (learner-followers) of Jesus Christ. It takes people following the Jesus way… disciples making disciples, who go out and make more disciples. It is  reproductive.

Disciple-making is a relational activity that happens as people share the Gospel with other people “at the speed of trust.” It is the Good News! Do you get what we are saying?

In case you missed it, disciple-making takes time and investment. It is slow. It is  consistent. Hey … it is living out (incarnating) the Good News in meaningful ways so those we want to reach and equip can see, understand, and do it. We can’t make disciples of people who have no clue what we are trying to say. They have to understand the Gospel in order to live it. They need to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did. (John Mark Comer)

Our communities of faith will grow and develop at the pace of friendships being built and families being created. These do not happen over night. It takes more than 6 hours, 6 days, or even 6 weeks. Disciple-making is the “long game.” This is where we invest all we have discovered and learned as we give it to the people we are teaching about Jesus Christ and His kingdom.

The result is disciples (learner-followers) making disciples (learner-followers). We grow, equip, and expand like a family which starts out small and slowly over time begins to multiply and take shape. You know how it works … children grow and become adults who get married and have more children. Get the idea? The disciple making thing will never happen in just a few short months of focus … it is the investment of life on life.

This is what Jesus taught and handed off to His followers. It’s what the Early Church did as they tried to follow in the way of Jesus. And guess what? It still works today.

Followers in the Jesus way are meant to be a people movement waiting to happen. Everything is in place and ready to go viral once it is activated. We activate it through life-together exchanges, where we share the gifts of Jesus’ love, acceptance, and forgiveness and watch lives be healed, delivered, and saved as we do what Jesus did.

Wake up, Follower of Jesus, and start activating the isolated, lost people in your neighborhood, work space, or the marketplace you move through each day. Pull a group of people around you and begin something like a Discovery Bible Study, where you can all exchange the gifts of love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Then see the people grow, take shape, and mature. It is the Jesus way!