By DAVID EPPS
Pastor

A number of years ago, I led a church in an effort to win 10,000 people to Christ in the coming decade. We called it "10,000 in 10." It sounded like a good idea at the time and, for a church of what was then about 150 in worship, it was a bold vision.

By the end of my tenure at that church, our denominational statistics revealed that some 4,000 people had made decisions for Christ or had been "saved." That was certainly short of the 10,000 but 4,000 is still a bunch of folk. As I look back on that effort, however, I see it as an abysmal failure. As well intended as that effort was, it was simply unscriptural.

In Matthew 28:18-20, we read the following:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."(NASB)

The word exousia (authority) in this context refers to absolute power and jurisdiction. That is, there is nothing outside the sovereign control of the risen Christ. The authority that has been given to Jesus is greater than that of the High Priest, greater than that of Rome, greater than that of the devil. The authority, the power, is absolute. It is on the basis of this authority that the disciples are to go and make disciples of all the nations. But what does it mean to "make disciples?"

This process involves as least two actions on the part of those who are producing disciples: baptizing and teaching. Actually, the gist of the sentence is "make disciples by baptizing and teaching." Neither baptism nor teaching is an option in the making of disciples. One might say that baptism is the beginning of the discipleship process while teaching is the ongoing action that, literally, never ends.

This baptism is Trinitarian in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and covenantal. In the New Testament and in the early church it was inconceivable that one could be considered a part of the church without baptism. It was also inconceivable that one would not be taught the faith. The two are inseparable in the disciple-making process.

There is an expectation of the one who is to be discipled. It is expected that he or she will learn to obey the words of Christ (vs. 20). In the first Star Wars movies, Yoda is a grizzled Jedi master who has the task of making a Jedi warrior out of a farm boy by the name of Luke Skywalker. However, this discipleship process is interrupted when Luke decides to respond to an emergency and leaves his training early. Yoda implores him to stay but Luke has his mind made up. By following his own will and failing to obey, Luke gets himself into all sorts of trouble in later scenes. The message is clear: even heroes have to learn to obey their masters. Disciples are to be taught to obey the words of the master, Jesus Christ.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his disciples that they are to be his witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. By the 100's A.D. historians tells us that the church was in Gaul, or present day France. By the 200's A.D., the Christian message was in what is now England. By the 400's, St. Patrick would declare that, with the conversion of Ireland, the gospel had been preached to the ends of the earth.

He was incorrect, of course, for he couldn't know of a vast land across the seas; but he was correct in declaring that the church had penetrated and permeated the world as it was known. What began in Jerusalem continued, and continues, to reach all of humanity. Through it all, Jesus is present in and with and working through his Church.

I said all that to say this: The church is not in a numbers game to see how many one can "get saved." Several years ago, as an outreach effort of a church I pastored, members of the congregation visited every home in the city to witness, share the news of Christ, and invite people to church. We were somewhat surprised to learn that nearly everyone we met had some Christian background. Most could even point to a date that they had "been saved," but a large number of those people had not been in worship services in years and had no active relationship with God. Because they had walked an aisle, lifted a hand, or filled out a card, they considered themselves Christians.

Yet, the commission given to the disciples infers that some sort of ongoing relationship is involved. If one is to be a "disciple," the notion of another who is to be the "discipler" is required. In ancient times, a young person desiring to learn martial arts would attach himself to a learned sensei and stay with him for long periods of time, usually years, submitting himself to the teacher. The teacher would teach him martial arts skills from the simplest, advancing to the more complex, all the while imparting knowledge and molding character. There was no shortcut for the one who desired to learn the "martial way." Similarly, there is no short cut for those who would enter the Christian journey.

The question, then, a church must ask is not, "Are we getting people saved?" Rather it is, "Are we making disciples?" The question an individual must answer is not, "Are you saved?" The question that must be answered is, "Have you been baptized, are you learning the ways of God, and are you walking in obedience to the commands of Christ?" If not, then you are simply playing a numbers game.

[The Reverend Canon David Epps is rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church, which meets in Peachtree City Sundays at 10 a.m. in the chapel of Carmichael-Hemperley on Ga. Highway 74. He may be contacted at FatherDavidEpps@aol.com.]

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