These are half-baked thoughts. Maybe not even that. No, not even—I’m still just gathering the ingredients.

My title at the church I serve is Family Discipleship Minister. The Family part refers to church family, as in the household of God (1 Peter 4:17). But I am becoming more and more interested by how the word discipleship is used in the Christian world.

Because while discipleship has become quite the buzzword in Christian culture in the last half century or so, there’s certainly no standard definition for it. It’s kind of a Wild West, really. Now, that’s a problem, because you have this buzzy concept, but there’s a veritable Babel around it, because it seems everyone has their own definition of the thing. I cannot be sure I know what a person means when they say it.

Now, two really crucial things emerge from this situation.

First: If discipleship means whatever this popular conference speaker, that editor bishop, or this other cultural influencer says it means—and none of them are saying quite the same things—it’s a wax nose that can be bent any which way. Well, in that case, at best, it’s a meaningless phrase; and at worst, it’s manipulative, because anyone can use this pious-sounding word to advance whatever agenda they want. So either we have to arrive at a standard definition, or we need to reconsider our use of the word.

Second—and this is directly related to the first—whoever controls the definitions controls the culture. I mean, isn’t this what we see in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, with the phenomenon of Newspeak? The point of Newspeak was to impoverish the language so that thinking became narrow. Ultimately, for the good of the Church, we either need a standard definition of this term (like we have for Trinity, sacraments, or eternal generation); or we need to abandon it.

If discipleship is baptized jargon, that’s a problem. Because the point of jargon is always either a) to deceive through euphemism (see “officer-involved shooting,” instead of “a police officer shot someone”; thus using language to distance the officer from his use of deadly force); or b) to mark yourself as part of an In-Crowd, while others who use outmoded plain speech are inferior. This tendency towards jargon is already a huge problem in Christian culture. Think of all the churches now rebranded as “Christian centers,” and preachers rechristened “communicators.”

With those concerns in mind, I want to make it clear that I think discipleship is a fine word that deserves a hearty definition for honest Christian vocabulary.

I would like to see and be part of good-faith conversations, then, to ensure that there’s a more stable and serviceable definition of the word, so that folks can’t simply reinvent it so that it trots around with them on whatever hobby-horses they’re riding at the moment.

There are necessary commitments involved up front.

First, it needs to be a robust concept, not a technique.

Second, it has to be deeply rooted in historical, orthodox Christianity—not to some fad in Christian culture, like so-called “Red Letter Christianity”; or in the revisionisms of the scholarly world, like the “New Perspectives on Paul,” with its friends “the King Jesus Gospel” and “Salvation by Allegiance Alone.” The fads—and that’s what they are, even supposedly serious biblical scholarship these days is built on fads, trends, and eventual obsolescence—are Pied Pipers that are going to lead Christ’s little lambs into ditches.

Third—and most importantly—it has to center on Christ as He is presented in the gospel. That is, as our complete Savior (Hebrews 7:25), as our whole wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption given by God (1 Corinthians 1:30); and not simply as moral example, or teacher, or a King who tells us to do stuff.

Fourth, and finally, it must be geared to the ordinary Christian in an ordinary church. I heard a quote once, Everybody wants to save the world, nobody wants to do the dishes. For discipleship to be an actual serviceable category, it needs to be able to produce men and women who are glorifying God among the pots and pans of life, you see. Frankly us mids (to use a bit of the popular jargon) are sick and tired of being looked down on by the managerial caste of church experts and consultants. Some of us would rather see your merch tables overturned, your fees given to the poor, and you chased out of our sanctuaries with a whip.

All of that is prologue for this. It’s this paradigm I’m playing around with I’m calling DiscipleShape. And before you protest, Wait! That sounds like another program with jargon!—yeah, I get it. But please hold your horses. Again, this is all just kind of thinking out loud, gathering ingredients.

Here’s what I’ve come up with. There’s going to be quite a lot of overlap with these ideas, which actually signals to me that it’s probably pretty close to right and could be the basis for a constructive conversation around defining discipleship.

1. Our concept of what it means to be disciples of Jesus must contain many notes.

The word discipleship is never once found in the Bible.

You do see the word disciples used quite a bit in the Gospels and in Acts, for those who believed in Jesus and followed Him as their Good Shepherd. You never see it in any of the Epistles, which is interesting. The letter writers are more fond of terms like saints, brethren, elect, called, and beloved.

I mention that, not so much to say that the concept of being a disciple has been supplanted by these other terms; but that any conception we have of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus must include all those ideas in it—along with the robust theological and practical notions that go along with them. For example, if I emphasize disciple as follower—there’s a good chance I’m going to focus on my decision to follow Christ (however one defines that, because that’s a conversation that needs to be hashed out, too). But if we make sure our understanding of what it means to be a disciple comprehends the idea that we are called and elect, we’re going to focus more on Christ’s gracious choosing of us.

What I’m really calling for is that we understand discipleship according to the rule of faith. You don’t want to frame it in any way that’s going to create confusion or tension with gospel realities like calling, election, the body of Christ, or the household of God.

2. Our concept cannot divorce disciple-making from growing the Church.

Honestly, because the term disciples as a usual word for those who believe in Jesus drops out after the Gospels and Acts, there was a brief moment once-upon-a-time that I did wonder: Is this still a standard way for us to conceptualize what it means to be believers?

But I couldn’t escape the so-called Great Commission, where Jesus summarizes the ongoing work of the Church until He returns: All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬).

So it seems that Jesus Himself understood disciple-making as an ongoing reality. But notice that He tied it directly to the building up of the Church. You make disciples through baptizing and teaching them, and you do it under Christ’s authority and where He dwells (the Church).

Another important insight we can glean here is that discipleship is really disciple-making. This insight is going to form the basis for my other ideas here. But the TL;DR is that discipleship is aimed at gathering people into the Church.

3. Discipleship is a team sport.

To the extent that disciple-making gathers people into the Church, we must never, EVER, EVER! present it in such a way that it’s a sort of “next-level” Christianity (There’s converts, and then there’s disciples!); or that it’s somehow detached from the life of the gathered Church (i.e., that it’s primarily pursued by individuals, or in one-on-one mentoring or small groups). That doesn’t mean there’s not individual commitments in discipleship, nor does it deny the value of one-on-one counsel, or small groups. Rather, it realizes those opportunities are serving the mission of the Church. It is, after all, for the gathered church that St. Paul prays: that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬, emphasis added).

See also: body of Christ; household of faith; temple of living stones where Christ dwells by the Spirit.

4. The Lord’s Day assembly is the primary context of discipleship.

Okay, this is the one that’s probably going to be most controversial, but the fact that it’s controversial only proves how far we’ve drifted from the proven faith of our fathers.

This is also where I’m going to finally explain this term DiscipleShape I’ve been using.

What interested me was this idea that the term discipleship is never used in Scripture. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong. The word Trinity isn’t found in Scripture, either. But it’s a true concept, indeed, it is the truth about God. The idea is truly expressed in Scripture, even though the word isn’t there. Trinity is simply shorthand for: Three Persons, One God.

Okay, so what do we mean by adding the English suffix –ship to the word disciple? Okay, well, think about the words apprenticeship, craftsmanship, or penmanship. The suffix –ship actually comes from the same word as shape. The idea is that there’s a formation happening, a training, a shaping. Someone displays good penmanship because they’ve been trained to form their letters correctly and even elegantly. A carpenter displays fine craftsmanship because he was well-trained during his apprenticeship.

Now, let’s go back to ideas 2. and 3. Where are disciples shaped, primarily; and how?

And that’s going to be in the gathered Church, typically on the Lord’s Day. Here’s why. Scripture gives us four ordinary means of grace—that is, the regular by which God gives grace to and grows grace in His people.

The first is the Word—the Scriptures. It is, after all, the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Likewise: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy‬ ‭3‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). The Word of God is the primary tool God uses for disciple-making and disciple-shaping.

And it’s not just confined to private Bible reading. Because God has invested special power in the preached Word. So Romans 10:14, 17: How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (NKJV‬). Disciple-making and disciple-shaping requires a preacher!

And where do we primarily hear a preacher? In the Lord’s Day gathering.

The second regular channel by which God works to make disciples is baptism, which, of course, follows preaching. In Mark’s version of the Great Commission, Jesus says: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned (NKJV).

These days, many believers have experienced their baptism “outside the camp,” as it were—at Christian summer camps, youth conferences, or dramatic midnight conversions via campus ministries. I’m certainly not saying all those baptisms are invalid—there’s biblical precedent for the dramatic midnight baptism (Acts 16:25-34). But we should be questioning why so many of our baptisms are more like quickie Vegas weddings, than village affairs where everyone in town comes to hold you accountable to the vows you made.

The third regular channel of disciple-shaping grace is the Lord’s Supper. And again, ideally, where should this be happening? On the Lord’s Day, with the gathered saints. Sadly, too many churches have an anemic understanding of what’s going on in the Lord’s Supper, because they confine it to a bare memorial. Yes, Jesus told us to, Do this in remembrance of Me. But that’s not hardly all Scripture teaches us about the Supper! For example, here’s 1 Corinthians 10:16: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? (NKJV) Jesus is communing with us, and we with Him (and yes, with each other) in the Supper. He’s giving Himself to us—His body, given for us, His blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins—in the bread and wine. He’s there in the Supper, feeding our faith, hope, and love; so that we’re fortified to go out for another week and glorify God and serve our neighbor.

The Lord’s Supper is food and fuel for disciple-shaping. Without it, we grow malnourished.

Finally, prayer. Like studying the Scriptures, we can and should pray on our own. But since the earliest days of the Church, God’s gathered people have been a praying-together-people (Acts 2:42). And talking to God—when done well—is spiritually formative. It’s an exercise in disciple-shaping.

The Lord’s Day assembly is indeed the primary context for disciple-shaping. What does the author of Hebrews tell us? And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). Did you notice that? The venue in which we are stirred up to love and good works is the assembling of ourselves together.

Once we understand discipleship as disciple-making and disciple-shaping, we can’t help but admit that the Lord’s Day assembly is the normative arena for it. It’s where God forms us and feeds us through His Word, the sacraments, and prayer to go out and live as disciples in our homes, neighborhoods, jobs, and schools.

Now, why should this be controversial? Because for the last forty years or so, we’ve had this concept drilled into us: What you do the other six days a week is what’s really important! Now, I get the sentiment. The idea is, What’s the use of playing church on Sunday when you’re going to act like a heathen Monday through Saturday? And I would gladly and heartily Amen! the sentiment.

But in practice, all of our pious-sounding calls about discipleship “outside the walls of our church buildings” have actually denigrated what’s supposed to be happening in the assembly. Because it’s so, so, so easy for people to step from those admonitions; to, “I can be a Christian anywhere!”; to, The real work of discipleship is happening in coffee shops and living rooms; to, Hey, it’s how I live the rest of the week that matters—I’ll go to all my kid’s travel soccer games and manifest the fruit of the Spirit, and that’s better than “going to church.”

There’s actually a lot more ideas I have, but this is already longer than I intended. These ideas include the absolute need for discipleship (discipleship-shape!) to be focused on Christ, not on what “I need to be doing”; why Gospel clarity is essential for discipleship; why the 23rd Psalm is probably the best “big picture” discipleship text in all of Scripture; and how essential liturgy (or, to use the language of today, worship planning) is to discipleship.

But anyway, there it is. Some ingredients for this model of discipleship I’m proposing—DiscipleShape. Because, yes, everything has to have a catchy name these days or no one will pay any attention. But more to the point—I believe it’s a concept more faithful to the biblical picture, and with deeper precedent in historical Christianity.

There’s a lot more that can be said, and that ought to be; and much to be fleshed out. I would be delighted if some like-minded ordinary ministers, seminary professors, and informed churchmen and women would join in this conversation. Especially so we could take control from the managerial caste of experts, consultants, and outright Mad Scientists.