Sevenfold Solution for Discipleship

Message by Charles T. Crabtree
General Council of the Assemblies of God
August 9, 2007

I want you to understand clearly that I am not here to preach to you tonight but to appeal to you at the most critical level. In all of my ministry, I have never felt such a dependency upon God. My deepest prayer is that the Holy Spirit will be allowed to communicate to each of you using my inadequate words to spark a new passion for discipleship which will result in more than a temporary “amen” but an intentional application. As someone has observed, “We are overtaught and underapplied.” Just a few weeks before his death, I had the privilege of taking T. F. Zimmerman to lunch. Near the end of our time together, I asked him what he thought would be my greatest challenge as the national director of the Decade of Harvest. I will never forget how he paused and looked past me, thinking deeply, and then quietly said, “We talk a lot.” His comment had a profound effect on me. May we let the Holy Spirit speak to us. Let us be hearers and then let us determine to act. I believe the Lord is speaking to us very forcefully about discipleship. I am convinced He wants us to make some profound changes and begin acting with intentionality to do His will.

Much of what I will say to you tonight is from the report from the Commission on Discipleship found in your registration packet and presented officially during our business sessions. It is further expanded in the new book I have authored entitled Transformational Discipleship. In order to bring context to this vital subject, I propose to speak briefly about discipleship in the Assemblies of God historically and then touch on the present state of discipleship. Most of the time we have together will be spent on the future and what steps must be taken.

I. Let us look for a moment at the past. Historically, discipleship can be summed up from a national and local structure. From the very beginning of the Assemblies of God, our forefathers addressed the need for a systematic study of God’s Word at every age level. Before the establishing of a national Sunday School department in the early 1930s, the Assemblies of God had hundreds of functioning Sunday Schools. For over 70 years of our existence, we have had a strong emphasis on Sunday School and Christian Education at the national level.

At this point, I want to say something to you with much clarity of thought and kindness of spirit. Our spiritual fathers and mothers of this Movement have been unfairly criticized for being strong on experience and weak on education. Let me caution all of us not to become overly proud about our great strides in higher education, especially in the area of Christian education and discipleship. Let me ask you a question, and I want you to answer it with all honesty! Do you think a class of Assemblies of God young people in 2007 is more biblically literate than a class of Assemblies of God young people in 1957? Let me ask you another question. Has our emphasis on education in this movement made us more dependent upon God or more dependent on human expertise? I submit the Assemblies of God historically took Christian education very seriously. For years, Sunday School attendance rivaled church attendance. To put it in perspective, our spiritual fathers may have and, in most cases, did neglect and resist higher education; but they did not neglect Bible knowledge and spiritual disciplines. I fear many are emphasizing education and neglecting Bible knowledge and spiritual disciplines. Let us not be guilty of neglecting either.

In addition to nationally structured programs, the Assemblies of God on the local church level has had more informal or less structured ministries with a goal of building stronger disciples. The precursor of the small group ministry was the cottage prayer meeting. The results of my study have confirmed a personal conviction the cottage prayer meeting was overall ineffective because it was not guided by strong input from church leaders. The prayer meeting became less and less prayer and more and more of a meeting of people of like precious gossip.

The cell ministry became popular in the 1970s and 80s because of the influence of the Korean model. Those who tried to follow the Korean model in its purest form eventually discovered the model did not fit the American culture. Churches that adapted the cell ministry to their local situation, using biblical principles, soon recognized the realities of their culture and changed their cell ministry programs. These changes led to the growth of the small group movement. There are literally thousands of small group ministries now active, and in many instances flourishing, in the Assemblies of God. I will speak to this important development later.

II. Let us now look at the state of discipleship in the Assemblies of God in the present. The present mandate for discipleship has not changed. We are still under the Lord’s mandate given to us. In the Great Commission, the orders of General Jesus are clear. It is our task, our mission, our number one priority to “make disciples who think, act, and live like Jesus.” I am going to tell you some things you do not want to hear. I will tell you by every measure that as a Movement, we are not fulfilling the Great Commission. Please know throughout this message, I am speaking to general and unmistakable trends. There are churches in this Fellowship that are producing powerful, Spirit-filled disciples.

Two statistics haunt me. They prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that for the past decade and more the Assemblies of God has been in a crisis of discipleship.

From 1995-2005, we recorded 5,339,144 decisions for Christ in and through the Assemblies of God U.S. In the same period, our growth in Sunday morning attendance was 221,790. The raw figures state a retention of 4.2 percent. Understanding there are mitigating circumstances such as deaths and transfers from one place to another, the Assemblies of God would have a very hard time proving we retained more than 9 percent. In my opinion and I trust in the opinion of every person in this room, we are presenting a Savior from hell but not a Savior from sin. We are accepting Jesus as a nondemanding teacher, as a spiritual influencer who graciously fits into our plans resulting in a new polytheism grounded in universalism. These are some of the reasons why a decision for Christ in this culture means a no-cost discipleship, a deceptive faith, and lip service to a God of convenience. The time has come to decide whether we accept the unacceptable or decide to go to work in faith to please God rather than man. If we choose to make biblical discipleship a priority, God will bless us and enable us. With deep conviction, I present to you a sevenfold solution to discipleship. It is not the solution in and for every situation, but I believe it is a solution for us at this moment in time. I am well aware I have no authority to make anyone here do anything, but I am responsible to present this look at the future for discipleship. You are responsible to hear it, let the Holy Spirit confirm all or part of it, and then implement all or part of it with the wisdom of God.

A. A NEW COMMITMENT TO THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH MODEL.

The Assemblies of God has a great decision to make. “What kind of disciples do we need to produce to please God and fulfill the Great Commission with integrity?” I submit every pastor, church member, and credential holder should want Christlike, Spirit-empowered disciples who are not ashamed of the gospel and love God more than the world or anything in it. I believe that is the standard for basic Christianity. If so, we are going to have to admit our total lack of ability in our own wisdom and turn to God in abject humility. After all, it is His church, they are His disciples, and whether you believe it or not, He is smarter than any church growth expert.

To tell you the truth, I am blown away by Pentecostal leaders looking for new church models. Some of them are going so far as to adopt non-Pentecostal church models. Let me inform you that when applied properly, the New Testament church model is the most cutting-edge model available. It involves and includes everything necessary to attract and produce Spirit-filled, Christlike disciples. It includes apostolic teaching, biblical training, effective prayer, fulfilling relationships, and small groups and fellowship with attending supernatural ministries with miraculous results.

The New Testament church model resolves ethnic problems; meets social needs with compassion ministries; resolves high budget costs; provides for Holy Spirit anointed apostolic and prophetic ministries; plus raises up the right kinds of pastors, teachers, and evangelists; and equips the church with every kind of gift needed to make up for human inability.

We owe it to our world and especially to our children to build according to the Lord’s specifications. The church is an ark of spiritual safety. It must be built on the solid rock. It must be maintained and used for the purpose of helping people to heaven. Do not build on sand. The storm is coming. Now if you want to study other models for the sake of curb appeal or more efficient appliances or new ways to pay bills or decorate the house and buy new furniture, excellent. May your church house be attractive, efficient, and functional. But do not neglect the safety of the house itself nor compromise the relationships of those who live there. Number one: a new commitment to the New Testament church model.

B. A NEW EMPHASIS ON MINISTRY BETWEEN SUNDAYS.

The next great revival in the Assemblies of God must happen between Sundays or it will not happen at all. Notice the results of the New Testament church model: “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47, KJV). We must decide to move from a weekly event at a building as an end in itself to a ministering body of believers. We need to understand the ministry gifts have been given to the church to equip the saints for ministry between Sundays.

It is at this point the laity will better understand the purpose of Pentecost. In many places and situations, the application of Pentecostal ministry has been relegated to a few people in the church for the church. The supernatural is too often viewed as the prerogative of a few super-faith people. The gift of the Holy Spirit is too often viewed as a single dead-end experience to qualify people for an office in the church.

We have pretty much placed Jesus, His ministry, His witness, and His miracles under “house arrest” in a “time capsule” on Sunday morning resulting in a powerless, ineffective church in the world and the marketplace.

Our modern day disciples need the fruit of the Spirit, they need the gifts of the Spirit, they need a prayer language, they need to be comfortable praying for the sick at work, believing God to use them to heal marriages and present Christ effectively. We need pastors to release people to ministry and encourage them when they fail. A person cannot become mature in Christ without a ministry. We need a new emphasis on ministry between Sundays.

C. A NEW PRIORITY TO CARE FOR NEW BELIEVERS.

This is perhaps the most critical part of our discipleship solution. We have all heard how important relationships are in our high tech world. The New Testament church was known for loving relationships. The Bible says, “Love never fails,” and we try everything else. High tech is no substitute for love. Expensive programs are no substitute for love. Babies do not need expensive toys or entertainment or a palatial house; they need love.

Some time ago, I was chairing a committee dealing with the need to retain and conserve the spiritual health of the church. During that meeting, one of the committee members told us what happened to his brother. He had been counseling him over the phone when, to his delight, his brother made a decision to follow Christ. Naturally, there was deep concern about what church he should attend. The committee member made seven phone calls to seven different churches on behalf of his brother who lived in another city and state. He even told them he was a minister. Two churches did not return his call. Three churches said they did not have a follow-up program (and apparently were unwilling to start one). Two said they had follow-up programs; but both said, in different words but with the same meaning, “If your brother is serious, he will show up.” Both churches refused to call him and invite him to the church. The entire committee was profoundly moved when the committee member said, “My brother is not serving God today. He never found a church and was wounded that even I could not make a connection for him. My brother’s distrust of the church was only confirmed by their lack of concern for him in his time of spiritual hunger.” Anyone who thinks a new Christian can survive in a hostile spiritual culture without tender, loving care is entertaining a fantasy. Any pastor or spiritual leader who thinks a newborn spiritual baby knows how to grow up overnight is not realistic.

Please do not tell me a church is Pentecostal if people are not being saved and discipled. Please do not tell me a church loves people when it is not a safe place for spiritual babies to be nurtured and developed. Please do not tell me not to be righteously indignant when I hear new believers are not given special care and attention. I wonder—out of the five million people who made decisions for Christ, how many are lost to the kingdom because of a lack of care? We do not need expensive programs; we need a new love. If you have love, you have a program.

For the sake of new believers, I beg you—I plead with you, do not let another spiritual baby be aborted on the front door of any Assemblies of God church because of an excuse. Let me assure you, we are doing everything possible at the national level to create basic resources for a new emphasis in discipleship, among them a new discipleship resource kit. Available in this kit are two new booklets we have prepared called The New Believer’s Handbook and The New Believer’s Friend Handbook. If you do not have an intentional ministry in place to care for new believers or if you need an additional resource, these booklets are ready for your use.

Here is the plan. Pastors will identify and enlist the help of mature believers who would be willing just to be a friend to a new believer, no special training or complex application required. The “friend” would use The New Believer’s Friend Handbook to guide them in their relationship with the new believer. When the pastor is introduced to a new Christian, the pastor would assign a friend (a spiritual mom or dad) from those already identified and enlisted. The pastor would introduce the new believer to the friend or in the case of a husband and wife—a couple of friends and explain that the friend will help the new believer over the next 8 to 12 weeks to become acquainted with the people in the church; introduce them to a Sunday School class or small group; sit with them in church if they desire; and meet with them weekly to guide them through the booklet, The New Believer’s Handbook which the pastor would then give to the new believer and encourage them to begin reading it. The pastor will let the new believer know that the friend will schedule a time to meet with them at their convenience and will encourage the new believer to call the friend if they need any questions answered.

Of course, no one has to use these resources or follow what I am suggesting, but I beg of you to have an effective ministry in place to take care of these new babes in Christ. They need a spiritual mom and dad to be there for them. Please do not leave them to chance. Everybody’s responsibility is nobody’s responsibility. Remember, you do not need highly trained people to be effective; you need loving people. This leads closely to the fourth part of the solution.

D. A NEW INTENTIONALITY TO KEEP OUR CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND YOUNG ADULTS.

Every study I have read concerning church dropouts concludes that the most critical times are when we “hand off” a child or a young person to a new class or a new group in the church.

As with the care and keep of new believers, we must seek to understand where people are in their spiritual development and church experience. It is quite clear many students are very apprehensive about moving into a new grade level and/or being thrust into a new group of peers with new teachers and new programs. This fear is intensified if the child or young person does not have strong encouragement at home. It is incumbent upon everyone in these age groups to be well-prepared to move into a new environment. Children moving into the middle school grade level in the church should be introduced to their new teacher or leader months before they actually are promoted to a new class or group. The same is true of those moving from middle school to high school. Youth leaders need to know all about the new group coming into their department. They should already have had the opportunity to minister to them. Just as our colleges have “College Days” on every campus, so the grade school kids in the church should have some special “Middle School Days” where they can get to know new teachers and leaders and have special activities together so kids will look forward to moving up upon graduation.

The church should have cross-generational and multigenerational activities and ministries that involve all age groups. Children and youth should have the opportunity to interact with the senior pastor and attend the main service.

The loss of disciples between high school and college and between college and career is staggering. Here again, the church must be intentional in doing everything possible to have caring people make certain college young people have a spiritual safety net. Thank God for Chi Alpha who is doing a phenomenal job on secular campuses. The bad news is that Chi Alpha is on only 250 of the 4,000 plus secular campuses in the U.S. Several studies have been made concerning college students lost to the church and, most tragically, to the faith after attending a secular college or university for four years. The most optimistic studies agree over half are lost, and a recent in-depth longitudinal study showed over 70 percent are lost. In a follow-up study of our students who graduated from one of our endorsed Assemblies of God colleges or universities, the retention rate was around 95 percent, but only 5 percent of our 350,000 high school graduates attends one of our Assemblies of God endorsed schools. Our Assemblies of God parents need to clearly understand the spiritual risk of sending their children to a secular campus. Churches need to be more intentional about encouraging our young people to attend one of our endorsed schools. Churches in college towns need to have a strong, intentional outreach to draw students, especially the Assemblies of God students, into the life of the church. Trust me; many adults could not survive spiritually on most of the secular campuses of America.

E. A NEW APPROACH TO TRADITIONAL MINISTRIES.

One of the great discipleship ministries in the Assemblies of God remains the Sunday School. It should be noted 92 percent of our churches have a Sunday School. Contrary to what some are saying, Sunday School is still viable and practical. On a given Sunday, approximately one million people are in an Assemblies of God Sunday School (2006). In the last biennium, 70 percent of our churches bought all or some of the Radiant Life Sunday School curriculum. Any ministry or program that can enroll 1,425,000 people into a systematic study of God’s Word is significant and should be celebrated and promoted.

Saying that, spiritual leaders need to be very concerned that just because the traditional Sunday School has worked effectively in the past is no guarantee it will work in the future unless they take new approaches to meet contemporary needs. In order to have an effective Sunday School in the twenty-first century, it is going to be necessary to have well-trained, anointed teachers who are able to grow in the use of technology. Furthermore, the traditional Sunday School overall has not been relational enough, both inside and outside the church. The days of simply attending a class to listen to a lecture with no interaction, discussion, and opportunities for wholesome fellowship are almost over. More and more churches are going to an Adult Bible Fellowship where 60-90 minutes are allotted with approximately half the time to fellowship and interaction and the other half to the systematic study of God’s Word. The potential for good, strong Sunday Schools in the Assemblies of God is still enormous if they are Spirit-empowered and used creatively.

The traditional family altar and bible study have almost disappeared from the radar. The need for individual spiritual growth and development in the home remains. If we cannot reestablish the traditional family altar in large numbers, let’s encourage families to read the Bible through collectively or individually. Promote a daily devotional such as the revised God’s Word for Today. Establish an all-church Bible reading program. Encourage devotions on the internet. Promote the power of prayer in the home. Let us take traditional discipleship ministries and find new and exciting applications.

F. A NEW FAITH TO USE NEW METHODS.

The Holy Spirit is the source of divine creativity. This is a fundamental fact which has been proven in all generations and is a cause of great consternation by the noncreative mind, especially in the church. You see, the fundamentals of the faith are eternal and must be defended with our lives. As we have seen, the New Testament model is the timeless blueprint with the Lord uses to build His Church. It provides the spiritual ethos, so there are timeless truths and eternal principles we must implement and defend in theology and in practice such as prayer, discipleship, sanctified lifestyles, and more. These are the things and the priorities of the kingdom we must all agree upon and speak the same mind and heart with united conviction.

Problems arise when we choose to confuse the expression and application of these truths. Take evangelism for instance. Go and preach the gospel; the gospel—Jesus Christ—Him crucified—the only way to heaven. No compromise on the message. Do not you think the Holy Spirit gives powerful yet different methods and applications of evangelism? Paul was aware of this. People seemed to do it for the wrong reason, but he said, “Praise God, the gospel is being preached.” Evangelism is being done in a hundred different ways with a thousand different methods in the Assemblies of God. In my thinking, some of them are a bit weird; but I rejoice when people are being saved and delivered from drugs. Take worship. We are to worship in Spirit and in truth. The different expressions of music and corporate worship are so varied it boggles the mind. I recognize the creative genius of the Holy Spirit in the worldwide body of believers. I was in Indonesia last month at the World Pentecostal Conference in a church seating in excess of 20,000. The music was so anointed I had to weep and shout at different times. I am a strong traditionalist; I love pipe organs and robed choirs. But in Surabaya, there was an energetic worship team full of the Holy Spirit attended by a great band with laser and light robots and six cameras focused on the band and worship team, but I was blessed because the anointing was evident. I am in some churches where they sing hymns without a breath of the Spirit; and I am in some where they are jumping all over the place and so loud I need a divine healing service at the end or an eye, ear, and nose specialist because in all the noise, there is not a breath of the Spirit.

Why am I saying this in a message on discipleship? Because the Assemblies of God is about to emphasize the ministry of small groups as a creative tool of the Holy Spirit to help develop strong believers. I am appealing to this Fellowship to show respect for different approaches and creative methods. I am appalled at the lack of respect of supposedly Spirit-filled believers who denigrate worship styles and new innovative ministries or programs. Be careful! Do not quench the Spirit. It is wrong for those who believe the Spirit is leading them to establish small group ministries to criticize those who are strong proponents of Sunday School, and the reverse is true. We are asking that those who start or promote small groups use them beyond fellowship and a good time. Use them as laboratories of the Holy Spirit. Use them to feed a hunger for the systematic study of God’s Word. Use them to teach people how to minister and pray in the Holy Spirit. We are going to produce the best resources possible to the glory of God for all areas of discipleship. I encourage you to pick up one of our discipleship brochures from the tables in the back when you leave tonight. The brochure highlights all of our new discipleship products as well as giving you the address for our discipleship and small groups website. But small group materials are no more the answer to building strong believers than good Sunday School curriculum. They are simply tools. The effectiveness of any instrument or tool is not in the quality of the tool but in the ability and skill of those who use it. For it is “not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6, NIV). This leads to the final part of our solution to discipleship.

G. A NEW PASSION FOR CHRIST AND PENTECOSTAL MINISTRY.

There has been a crisis of discipleship in the Assemblies of God for several years. None of us can go back and change the factors, readjust the numbers and rewrite history; but all of us can decide tonight that we are not going to accept the unacceptable. All of us know the times we live in. We have studied this culture until we are blue in the face. We know our world as no other Pentecostal church knows it. We understand the times. They are spiritually dangerous times. An age of rebellion, cynicism, unbelief, immorality, and pride. We understand the times, but we know what to do. We know what to do tonight. Beginning with repentance.

We are going to repent of religious pride and personal ego trips. We are going to make a fresh and new surrender of self and become passionate in our love for Jesus until He is truly Lord, not because it is a duty but because it is a privilege. He must become the Lord of every credential holder, lay person, and Assemblies of God church. I submit we do not need a revival of blessing and emotion. We need a revival of humility and obedience.

We are going not only to repent of pride, but we are also going to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to make Jesus the Lord of this church and our nation. We are going to be used of God. We are going to believe again that we can do nothing of ourselves, but with Him all things are possible. We are going to love one another. We are going to respect one another. We are going to edify one another. We are going to bless one another. We are going to defend one another.

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