Paragraph 135 of the Book of Discipline is the clearest articulation I can find of what we United Methodists mean when we speak of disciples.
Christians experience growth and transition in their spiritual life just as in their physical and emotional lives. While this growth is always a work of grace, it does not occur uniformly. Spiritual growth in Christ is a dynamic process marked by awaking, birth, growth, and maturation. This process requires careful and intentional nurture for the disciple to reach perfection in the Christian life. There are stages of spiritual growth and transition: Christian beginnings; Christian birth; Christian growth; and Christian maturity. These require careful and intentional nurture for the disciple to come to maturity in the Christian life and to engage fully in the ministry of all Christians.
Unfortunately for me, this paragraph does not really nail down too much. It does not explain what a disciple is so much as speak of a process of discipleship. So, my best surmise for the moment is that a disciple is someone who is in this process somewhere. To be a disciple is to be somewhere on this line of development and growth and moving toward maturity and perfection.
If that is the case, I wonder what we mean by saying our mission is to “make disciples”?
I find myself longing for John Wesley’s mission statement – spreading Christian holiness. I have a pretty idea what that means and looks like. I struggle a great deal more with being able to define or explain exactly what we mean when we say we are in the business of making disciples.
I am a part-time local pastor serving 
The doctrine of original sin is surely more humbling to man than the opposite: And I know not what honour we can pay to God, if we think man came out of His hands in the condition wherein he is now.
Looking at the Gospels I have noticed that at least two words are used for the people that followed Jesus: the disciples and the multitude. In these definitions there were more disciples than the Twelve. At one point it talks about many leaving Him because His teaching was too hard.
Although some don’t like it, I find it helpful to divide people into two groups. Some are willing to accept Jesus as their savior but are not willing to make Him their lord. Others go on to the fuller commitment. This was what I think Wesley was always seeking as he went to societies and interviewed the people there.
Disciples are people who seek to grow, as imperfect as they may be at the time. The quotations above refers to this twice. The first time:
“This process requires careful and intentional nurture”
points it out.
It is often almost impossible for us to tell who is really seeking to grow in grace but God can see the heart and knows which ones are His sheep.
I guess our first concern is to make sure that we are on that process of discipleship.
Grace and Peace.
All good thoughts.
The issue I’m hung up on in this post is whether we United Methodists even know what we mean when we say – as we do – our mission is to “make disciples for the transformation of the world.”
If you asked 5 United Methodists what that means, would they have similar answers? Would they have any answer?
It seems like something we might want to do if it is the center of our mission as a church and all.
John,
I think you are correct. Ignoring the obvious problems with the “making” part of the mission statement (ie, manufacturing disciples by human hands just doesn’t work) as well as the congregation-centric venue, the question of what, exactly, a disciple is remains unclear. One of the polity professors at Candler while I was there, Tom Frank, makes exactly the same point you do: our heritage, theology, and practice suggest “spreading scriptural holiness across the lands” would be much better.
PS: I’ve been appreciating your thoughts so much recently, even if I have only been lurking. Thanks for sharing with us your transparent & rigorous intellect!
Thank you for the kind words. I’m certainly glad to know someone such as Tom Frank has the same thought I do. His thought – no doubt – is based on much more careful thought than mine is.
Thank you for reading.