12 Results when a Church Does Not Disciple Well

I have written other posts about poor discipleship n the church, including how not to fix that process. For this post, though, I’ve updated a previous one to show 12 results I’ve seen when a church does not do discipleship well. You will find most of this list in my upcoming new book, Disciple.

  1. Biblical illiteracy. Listening to sermons and attending small groups are great for learning the Word, but many believers who attend both still know very little of the Word. Strong discipleship deepens the knowledge gained and helps believers apply biblical truths.
  2. Faith struggles. That’s what happens when people don’t really know the Word. That lack of knowledge makes it difficult to trust God when believers face their own obstacles and impossibilities.
  3. Inward focus. Churches typically default into an inward focus; that is, their attention is more on themselves than others. Only an intentional discipleship strategy to direct believers to the Word and the Great Commission can change that focus. 
  4. Lost church members. People must know the gospel to respond to the gospel and to proclaim the gospel to others.  Apart from being taught and equipped, how can they know the gospel enough to evaluate their own lives and then evangelize others?    
  5. Unqualified leaders. Churches often select leaders based on their faithfulness and willingness. Both of these characteristics matter, but poor discipleship sometimes leads to faithful, willing, yet unqualified people in leadership positions.
  6. Few church workers. When the church does not disciple well, members are more spectators than participants. The result is few workers doing most of the jobs in the church—and burnout is often the result. 
  7. Continual whiners. This one is almost inevitable when discipleship is lacking. Baby believers remain babies unless they are fed and learn to feed themselves. Babies who never grow up, but who nevertheless lead, often become whiners.
  8. Sin struggles. One reason believers wrestle continually with sin is that they have never been taught how to deal with temptation. It’s tough to win a battle when you don’t understand the armor you have to wear. 
  9. Weak families. Even healthy Christian marriages and strong God-centered parenting are the result of discipleship. When we assume couples and parents will just “get it right” apart from the church’s teaching, we’re often proven wrong. 
  10. Powerless churches. God’s blessing falls on churches that walk with Him in obedience and pray to Him in dependence. Undiscipled people, however, seldom do either one – and the church goes through the motions without the power of God.
  11. Weak missions focus. The Scriptures resound with God’s heart for the nations. The church that is not intentionally grounded in the Word through discipleship, however, usually lacks this focus. The result is #3 above. 
  12. Generational problems. When one generation is not discipled, the next generation also pays a price. The unhealthy, unbiblical cycle continues, and the church suffers for decades – though (and here’s part of the tragedy), they don’t always recognize the problem because they haven’t been equipped to do so. 

What other results of weak discipleship have you seen? 

2 Comments

  • Robin G Jordan says:

    Among the results of poor discipling in the local church that I have observed are the growth of theological illiteracy and the spread of beliefs that the Christian Church has historically considered heretical or unorthodox, beliefs like Arianism and Pelagianism; the growing tendency of the younger generations to embrace some form of religious syncreticism, incorporating elements from several different religious and spiritual traditions, for example, reading Tarot cards, meditating, smudging, and sayng the Rosary; declining church attendance; the rise of the “Nones” and the “Dones;” the increasing politicalization of evangelical Christianity (albeit the politicization is not confined to evangelical Christianity); and the shrinking influence of Biblically orthodox Christianity in the United States and Canada. Other factors may have contributed to these developments but inadequate or non-existent discipling has played a significant role.

  • Charles Kile says:

    This article is from thesinglesnetwork.org, titled “How Has Singles Ministry Changed in 20 Years” Item 3 “We have seen a massive trend to singles ministry outside starting outside the Church.” I use Meetup.com exclusively. $200 annually I get a platform, a security team, and a legal team to manage predators. If someone does something wrong at an event or uses my ministry as a dating site, meetup security team will manage the problem. In ministry, you can create a Community Bible Study in a Grocery Store as I am about to do and teach discipleship to those who want to learn and work in their own church. Item 9 Singles are not members of just one church and women are the primary leaders in singles ministry due to not discipling young men how to lead. Seventy percent of my ministry is women. Item 14 Singles Sunday School is almost gone thus the reason to have an online singles ministry.

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