Building a Discipling Culture

This resonates with me from Building a Discipling Culture by Mike Breen and Steve Cockram:

Jesus did not command us to build the Church; in fact, he only mentioned the word twice. But he did call us to make disciples, literally to make learners after him.

Effective discipleship builds the Church, not the other way round. We need to understand the Church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause. If you set out to make disciples, you will inevitable build the Church. If you set out to build the Church, there is no guarantee you will make disciples. It is far more likely that you will create a consumer who depends on the spiritual services that professionals like yourself provide for them.

The Lord has chosen people - not plans or programs - to spread his message. Yet somehow most of our attention and energy has shifted form making disciples to developing programs, buildings and budgets. As the next generation emerges, the endeavor must now be to move the Church away from the things that distract us from Christ's call toward that which will create and sustain a living, organic body of relational disciples.