Like Begets Like. 5 levels of the Christian Walk and Churches - Answering the high calling of God

Most churches and most believers are convinced that the prime directive from God is to get people saved. John Armstrong has a story about one such effort I question.

I have bad news. It's not.

Jesus NEVER told his disciples to go out and get people saved. HERESY I heard you say. OK, let's look and see.

Your prime directive is to make disciples. Isn't that the same? Nope. Our job as Christians and as a Church is to reveal the Risen Christ and the finished work of the Cross which saves from damnation on this side of the veil and the other. The Holy Spirit woo's who he chooses to woo. We can pray, we can hope, we can witness but in the end it's not up to us. If a person isn't called by the Holy Spirit all the witness in the world won't save them. There are professors in divinity school who know the Bible better than you do and are headed for hell. There are pastors of churches who are as lost as the worst sinner in the gutter. Hell bound, unredeemed and unrepentant.

We have a plague of immaturity in the church which means that we are unable to fulfill the great commission. We are weak and ineffective because the church is made up of whatever is replicated by it's leadership. Like begetting Like.

It's a progression. There are 5 levels to this progressive upward call.

Level One -- Head Knowledge and Emotions
A person becomes a new believer. He is excited. He tells everyone he knows. He's a witness. Other new believers come on board. They form a new believers group. They love it. They love each other. They decide to get aggressive in finding others to become part of their group. There are churches who are full of the passion and enthusiasm of new believers but who are not yet taught or stable. The door revolves as people become disappointed and go looking for more.

Level Two -- Hands of Doers of the word

They want to become a follower of Jesus. They find other people who are followers of Jesus. They wear the WWJD band. They get a bumper sticker that says Jesus is my Best Friend. They have a poster on their wall that says, "Jesus is My Pastor". The church they are in is stuck on creating Jesus Followers, doing good works and helping the poor and so forth. They are busy but vulnerable and immature. Eventually something will hit them on the head and they will leave out the back door looking for something more. They have been struck with the futility of empty good works without more. What is more now?

Level Three -- Heart Knowledge, Loving Jesus

They want to KNOW Jesus. Not know about him. KNOW him. Intimately. Passionately. Like a Bride knows her husband. They become engaged in becoming the disciple that Jesus Loves. They pursue true discipleship. They pray. They get to know him. They are really committed. They fall in love with him. The problem is they become inbred. There becomes a spirit attitude about the Body of Christ as them and us. Soon they are like the disciples on the mount of transfiguration, they want to establish a tabernacle there and stay there. It's all good and well meaning but it isn't enough. It's still not the high calling of God. People want MORE. So they move on.

I can hear you saying. This is church hopping. No, it's a spiritual longing for maturity. Each of the steps along the way are important and shouldn't be ignored but many churches are not great at bringing people to spiritual maturity. They teach, preach and take an offering. People ever hearing and never learning or growing. The sermons they hear are good but not what will help them go to the next level.

Level Four -- Feet for ministry
Here is a church with good believer flow, followers of Jesus and good discipleship. The people are ministered to by the staff. They love their pastor. Unfortunately many churches get stuck here too because the idea that only the minister, called man of God or leaders can do ministry. This creates a cult of personality. Not that they do a bad job as much as they do, but they are not what those dear people need. They need someone to come along side as a mature person. In most churches that mature Christian is not present in quantity or quality because the focus is on the professionals on staff. This is the pattern we see in many good churches but it still isn't the highest calling of God. People can live here for a long time but if they grow in maturity they will want even MORE.

Level Five -- The Master Builders using Knowledge, Hearts, Hands in Ministry
They want to be part of an equipping and sending church. When church leadership really grasps that it's highest call is to serve all 5 levels at all times they come close. I know some churches like this. Faith Center in Rockford is very close. The focus is to equip people for ministry. The church should be a place that builds apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and preachers and then become intentional in finding a place to engage their gift in and out of the church building. That is that is the kind of church a person will settle in for a long time. Become a part of and then be sent from to do the work of the ministry and replicate themselves.

It's a tough balance to achieve. This can be the stuff of Church Splits. As people become equipped they start searching for ways to be used of God in the Body of Christ and not just keep a pew warm. They want to go from being a disciple to making disciples and then to equip them for the ministry and eventually release the 5 fold gifts they have. These people become driven by the great commission.

Abraham Maslow describes this pattern in a humanistic way. I can take Maslow and interpolate it to speak to the spiritual maturity pattern.

1. We need to feel like we are saved and secure as a believer
2. Then we need to be busy doing something as a Christ Follower
3. Then we need to feel the intimacy in relationship as a disciple
4. Then we need to be focused on ministering to others. Many Churches are stuck on this with a strong leader who carries the gifts he does. He becomes the answer man.
5. Ultimately deep inside we need to be contributing to all ministry in our gift. We becomes Body of Christ focused. We become equippers.
   

That is the highest call. It is the upward call we all hear in our spirit.

Unfortunately like produces like.

If you have a church full of baby believers they will be immature and unstable. And they will replicate themselves. The church will be full of baby Christians forever.

If you have a church full of Christ Followers, they will be engaged in good works, feeding the poor, doing stuff in the community. They will be so busy they will never grow up themselves. This church seems to be productive but you know when you are there because the church judges you by what you contribute in good works. Immature believers sometimes are the hardest workers, for a while.

If you have a church of disciples who are passionate toward Jesus and tabernacle builders there will be an inward turn that will cause new believers and Christ followers to be excluded. There will be a them and us division. We're not like those other guys. You will not be judged by what you do in good works but by how much time you spend at the altar in prayer.

If you have a church of with a staff of ministers and strong leadership there will be a good sense of teaching, instruction, learning, and preaching. The pro's do the work and the people enjoy it.

But, if you have a church of mature believers who are called of God to the ministry of equipping the saints, you have a church that is reaching very close to the upward call of God. Equippers from the 5 fold (Ephesians 4). You will know they are equippers because they will select choice people and work hard to develop them. They will concentrate on developing and equipping them for the ministry. God's best is for people to operate at this level.

Jesus had the same situation.

Jesus had lots of people who believed in him. Who came to him with needs. They believed he could heal.

He had many followers who followed him around for a long time. They loved his teaching.

He had a large number of disciples. More than the 12. He sent out 72. They wanted to do the works like he did and be close to him. Intimate.

But he was careful to select out only 12 in whom he would invest himself so they could do the equipping to do the ministry later. And one of them didn't make it.

Paul in 2 Timothy 2:2 advises his spiritual son Timothy NOT to try to spend time equipping every single one for the ministry. It would only frustrate him. He says, "the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." In other words be selective and invest in only the ones who really want it and who you believe will bear fruit.

If Jesus did it, Paul did it, then what about us?

We must get people as high in the call of God as we can but some people will only go to a certain level. Even in life not everyone becomes fully self actualized according to Maslow. We wish they could be. Not all will. We must try.

I believe the high calling of God is best when churches and fellowships are constantly sending our pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets and Apostles created in their midst. Sometimes a painful church split happens because people are convinced they are equipped and ready. Some are, some are not. If they leave they leave. If we are going to error, let's error on the side of equipping and hope they grow before they split. Churches made up of followers and believers seldom split, they fracture and disintegrate. It is churches made up of Disciples, Ministers and Equippers that are more in jeopardy.

Francis Frangipane calls church splits unintentional church plants.

But that's another topic. If you are the leader of a Church, ask yourself the hard question. What is my church made up of, Believers, Followers, Disciples, Ministers, Equippers. Let's hope you have a steady flow of all 5 as they respond to the call of God. But if you have people permanently stuck on levels 1 or 2 it's time to ask yourself a hard question.

Am I answering the High Call of God in my life? Because, Dear Pastor, Like Begets Like. If you are generating immature fragile believers, what does this mean? Who are you? What are you replicating?

You can't impart what you don't possess. 1 Thessalonians 2:8