| Five years ago my family and I started a new | | | | Disciple: A More Potent Word |
| church in the suburbs of Philadelphia. When | | | | |
| we arrived I wanted the first dollar our | | | | I want us to dust off an old, seemingly out |
| church spent to make a statement about the | | | | of date and often misunderstood word. In my |
| kind of church we were going to become. So I | | | | mind, replacing the word "Christian" with |
| took every penny we had in our church's | | | | this word is a vital key to understanding |
| checking account, which wasn't much, and blew | | | | what it means to be a Christ follower. What |
| it all in one day. | | | | is it? |
| | | | |
| I called the police station in our area and | | | | "Disciple." |
| asked, "Where is the most drug infested, | | | | |
| crime-ridden neighborhood in our entire | | | | In fact, from now on, I want to challenge you |
| region?" Without hesitation he named a | | | | to use the word "disciple" every time you are |
| neighborhood twenty-five minutes away. He | | | | about to use the word "Christian." Say both |
| said, "We send a car there every night, why?" | | | | of them out loud. "I'm glad I'm a Christian." |
| I said, "I'm a Christian and I want to show | | | | Now try, "I'm glad I am a disciple." At first |
| people God's love in a tangible way. I | | | | it is going to seem a little awkward. Your |
| thought I would buy groceries for the entire | | | | neighbors might think you've joined some |
| neighborhood." "Why the %!@+% would you want | | | | strange chicken sacrificing cult. But that's |
| to do that?" he said. "I wouldn't go there | | | | precisely the point. Jim Jones and Charles |
| without a gun. Knock yourself out." That | | | | Manson stole this word from us. We're |
| afternoon I drove to a wholesale grocery | | | | stealing it back. |
| outlet and filled every inch of my van with | | | | |
| boxes of groceries. | | | | "Disciple" occurs not three times, but over |
| | | | two hundred and sixty times throughout the |
| When I arrived you can just imagine what I | | | | pages of the New Testament. As philosopher |
| saw. It looked like a scene from a war zone. | | | | Dallas Willard says, "The New Testament is a |
| Broken windows. Graffiti everywhere. Trash | | | | book about disciples, by disciples, and for |
| throughout the street. Cars on blocks. People | | | | disciples of Jesus." Derived from the |
| passed out on the sidewalk. And here was this | | | | original Greek word "mathetes," which means a |
| young suburban kid looking like Barney Fife | | | | "learner or student," a disciple is someone |
| with his arms full of pancake mix and peanut | | | | that learns from a teacher. But according to |
| butter. To say I was petrified is an | | | | Matthew 28:18-20, our mission on earth is not |
| understatement. | | | | just to create Christ followers that learn |
| | | | his teachings, but ones that obey his |
| "Okay God," I muttered as I knocked on the | | | | teachings. |
| first door, "work through me, your chicken." | | | | |
| I was taken back by the response. For the | | | | Changed Vocabulary - Changed Behavior |
| next few hours I gave away groceries and | | | | |
| prayed for a prostitute, a drug addict, a | | | | So why use the word disciple instead of the |
| guard at the local penitentiary sleeping on | | | | word Christian? |
| the floor of his apartment, and a dozen or so | | | | |
| others. These people had nothing. Zilch. As I | | | | When we use the word "Christian," we |
| moved slowly through the neighborhood I | | | | mistakenly give the impression that obeying |
| touched and hugged and prayed for as many | | | | Jesus' teachings is something that can be put |
| people as I could. | | | | off until later, like dieting or changing the |
| | | | oil in the car. We tend to communicate, |
| When I finally got in my empty van, instead | | | | "First you become a Christian, and after that |
| of feeling a sense of joy, I recalled my | | | | you can work at becoming a disciple." |
| conversation with the police officer and got | | | | Discipleship is treated sort of like honors |
| angry. "Why would that cop be surprised that | | | | courses in high school. They're not essential |
| a Christian would want to do this?" I asked | | | | for graduation but a good thing to do if you |
| myself, "Why is it that people have grown to | | | | so choose. According to Jesus, discipleship |
| expect so little out of Christians?" That | | | | begins at conversion. Trusting Christ to |
| word, "Christian," has become as tantalizing | | | | forgive your sins and getting baptized are |
| to an unbelieving world as drinking a warm | | | | simply the first steps of a lifetime of |
| soft drink at a summer picnic. | | | | "discipleship." With the word disciple, life |
| | | | change is expected. Transformation is assumed |
| The Problem With The Word "Christian" | | | | from the beginning of one's spiritual |
| | | | journey. |
| One of the problems with the word "Christian" | | | | |
| is despite its wide use in our culture it is | | | | Sadly, our culture has caught on to the fact |
| not a real popular term in the Bible. In | | | | that when it comes to behavior, there is |
| fact, it only occurs three times in the | | | | virtually no difference between the way |
| entire New Testament. It never crossed Jesus' | | | | "Christians" act and the way "non-Christians" |
| lips. Paul never used it. In fact, on every | | | | act. Upon completing a poll for U.S. News and |
| occasion when it does occur the biblical | | | | PBS' Religion & Ethics Weekly, the |
| author quotes a non-Christian who used it to | | | | researchers concluded, "...Evangelicals-their |
| describe followers of Jesus. Acts 11:26 tells | | | | distinctive faith aside-are acting more and |
| us, "...The disciples were first called | | | | more like the rest of us." Should we be |
| Christians at Antioch." By whom? The | | | | surprised? |
| unbelievers in Antioch. "Christian" comes | | | | |
| from the Greek word "Christianos" which means | | | | We are simply reaping what one author calls, |
| "belonging to Christ." Not a bad word. But | | | | "the cost of non-discipleship." |
| it was a nickname non-believers gave us, and | | | | |
| for some reason it stuck. | | | | By far the most important reason we need to |
| | | | re-engage the word "disciple" is for our |
| Another difficulty with the word "Christian" | | | | skeptical friends. When Christians become |
| is our market-driven culture has taken it | | | | disciples we become the "salt and light" |
| hostage. Rather than evoking hostility and | | | | Jesus exhorted us to become. |
| persecution, as Jesus said might happen to | | | | |
| his followers, "Christian" has become a | | | | A few years ago I was driving in center city |
| corporate marketing niche. "Christian" | | | | Philadelphia and got lost, which is a common |
| offends no-one. In America we have | | | | occurrence for me. Without knowing it, I |
| "Christian" paraphernalia galore. We have | | | | pulled onto a narrow one way road. Cars |
| Christian bookstores, Christian television | | | | started barreling towards me. Horns were |
| stations, and Christian websites. Those who | | | | blaring. Cars were pulling out of my way. |
| are curious can flip through a Christian | | | | People motioned for me to go back the other |
| bestseller, thumb through one of hundreds of | | | | way and said things I can't repeat. It |
| Christian magazines, or sit back and enjoy a | | | | reminded me of that bumper sticker, "If you |
| blockbuster Christian motion picture. One can | | | | don't like the way I drive, stay off the |
| quickly find Christian solutions for any and | | | | sidewalk." Say what you want about my |
| every problem a bewildered American faces. | | | | navigational ability, there wasn't a person |
| There are Christian exercise videos, | | | | on that street that (A) didn't know I was |
| Christian weight-loss programs, and now, much | | | | there and (B) which direction I was headed. |
| to our relief, Christian vitamins. | | | | That's what happens when Christians become |
| | | | disciples. |
| But the biggest problem with the word | | | | |
| "Christian" is it doesn't capture what a | | | | People notice disciples. Disciples do not |
| Christ follower does. I like titles that are | | | | blend in very easily. Disciples do not just |
| behaviorally descriptive. A baseball player | | | | believe differently, they behave differently. |
| plays baseball. A stockbroker buys and sells | | | | They stick out. They provoke. They cause |
| company stock. A "Christian" tells us to whom | | | | people to think. They jar people to evaluate |
| we belong but not what we do. It isn't an | | | | their lives, even without uttering a word. |
| action word. It doesn't carry an inherent job | | | | Disciples point people to the kingdom of God |
| description or implied set of behavioral | | | | simply by their behavior alone. |
| expectations. It communicates that we "belong | | | | |
| to Christ," a solid idea in and of itself, | | | | The result is people want what we have. |
| but one that has lost its edge in our | | | | |
| culture. | | | | Isn't this what Jesus intended? |
| | | | |