Lecture-ship or discipleship?

Church has replaced discipleship with lecture-ship. But no discipleship equals no New Testament Christianity!

Jesus came to give you direct access to God. You don’t need a human go-between to lecture you once a week.

Jesus said to make disciples. He never said to make sermon-hearers. 10,000 sermons won’t make you a disciple. You’ve got to stand up, speak up, and live the Gospel! Jesus didn’t say go hear a sermon once a week. He said, “Follow Me.”

church lectureship

Christians sit in rows and hear talks about the Gospel. But why not meet together and actually do the Gospel stuff? Discipleship is not the theology we’ve heard preached; it’s how free we are to flow in obedience with the Holy Spirit.

Discipleship is not about merely instructing the mind. It’s about transforming the heart and the lifestyle!

Discipleship is relational. It must be based on genuine heart connection, not on following a curriculum. Trying to preach someone into discipleship is like trying to preach a non-swimmer into swimming. It takes more than preaching.

Many churches say they believe in “the priesthood of the believer” but then they expect one person to do almost all the ministry. But, why should we expect only one person in a congregation to get a word from God when God is speaking to all?

Faith in Christ doesn’t come through a religious institution. It flows from the heart. So why are churches so against letting ordinary people speak out in worship services?

In the book of Revelation, gatherings of Christians are called lamp stands, not lecture halls. Preaching tells unbelievers about Christ, but once Christ is living in you, you can listen directly to Him and share what He tells you with others!

A Christian & a minister or preacher are the same thing. Christ lives in all His followers, not just in preachers. Let all proclaim His reality. The silence of Christians can keep Christ hidden, but open, heart-felt sharing makes Him known! Perhaps pastors need to recognize that the Holy Spirit can use ordinary Christians to freely speak out in church services.

Some people want to follow Jesus without the Holy Spirit; others without the Bible.
I desperately need both. Many want to ignore the Bible. Some want reverence it. I want to read it & live by it.  Do you want a more powerful message than any preacher can give? Open the Bible, ask God to speak, then read!

When church is lite, it doesn’t make people uncomfortable. When it is light, it does! How can ordinary Christians get in the game and let their light shine, when church has trained them to merely sit on the bench and be lite? Jesus said: “Let your light shine,” not “Let your lite whine.”

Casual sermons produce casual Christians. The fire of God produces spiritual warriors. “Send the fire!”

A gathering of the body of Christ needs input from numerous people, not just from one! (1 Corinthians 14:26) When Christ-followers begin to meet to engage in spiritual warfare as a Spirit-led team, all Heaven breaks out! Church presents a formal talk about the Light. Ekklesia let’s the Light shine.

To claim grace without obedience to Christ is ingratitude and disrespect. Let’s be grateful to Jesus for His free sacrifice for our sins and follow and obey Him with all of our heart!

“To speak the Gospel without attempting to perform the Gospel is a false proclamation of the Gospel.” –William Willimon

“The preaching that this world needs most is the sermons in shoes that are walking with Jesus Christ.” –D.L. Moody

“If Jesus preached the same message minister’s preach today, He would have never been crucified.” –Leonard Ravenhill

Get beyond preaching with Beyond Church available on Amazon at http://amzn.to/2hI2ru9

About Steve Simms

I like to look and think outside the box. In college I encountered Jesus Christ and I have been passionate about trying to get to know Him better ever since. My wife and I long to see the power and passion of the first Christ-followers come to life in our time. I have written a book about our experiences in non-traditional church, called, "Beyond Church: An Invitation To Experience The Lost Word Of The Bible--Ekklesia." If you need encouragement, search for: Elephants Encouraging The Room and/or check out my Amazon author page. Thank you!
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4 Responses to Lecture-ship or discipleship?

  1. Thanks Steve! Action does speak louder than words. People don’t know how to walk the talk. You can’t get in the game as long as you keep hugging the bench.

  2. Jon says:

    About 1/2 through Beyond Church. Good stuff!

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