Fellowship Leads To Discipleship

Why was I so late in learning about Christian discipleship? I’ve mused over that question many times, for I was out of seminary and ordained as a pastor before it was brought home to me. Part of it had to do with the times. Following World War II discipleship became popular, not a little due to the impact of parachurch groups at work in the military. But part of it had to do with the atmosphere in the churches in which I grew up. Typical, I suppose, of most Reformed Presbyterian churches, we did not share much about our personal experience with Christ.

When I asked K. M. Young—an obviously godly elder—if he would share with our congregation there at Central Pittsburgh church his experience of walking with Christ for 70 years, he said, “Mr. Smith, when I was growing up, we didn’t speak of such things. They were too personal.” He then added, “Let me pray about it.”

He did, and a packed congregational dinner was stirred in our souls as he spoke of Christ. Biblical fellowship provides the environment for healthy discipleship.

When I was working for the RPCNA Synod’s Board of Christian Education in the late 1960s, we lived in Wilkinsburg, an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh, Pa., not far from the RP Seminary. Living in Wilkinsburg, we had become members of the RP Church there, but for various reasons we had moved our membership to the RP Church of North Hills.

The church in Wilkinsburg had not been doing very well. The congregation was made up of old-time members whose families had long been identified with it; but there were also members who had come from other parts of the denomination in order to serve in the seminary and also in what was then known as the Christian Government Movement, formerly called the Christian Amendment Movement. This latter group was also made up of “old-timers,” but they had moved to the city and joined Wilkinsburg RPC. However, they were thus considered outsiders by the other group.

Now this latter group, the “outsiders,” was concerned to reach out with the gospel and see persons converted to Christ. But there was a stagnant lethargy in the atmosphere of Wilkinsburg RP Church, or shall I call it resistance to change? The outsiders thought if they moved their church to the outer suburbs, perhaps they would be caught up in new life and growth. But the old-timers said they did not want to leave the church of their fathers. And, they added, why not reach out here in Wilkinsburg?

The outsiders agreed and began to invite their neighborhood to church. Some came. But the old-timers were not in a frame of mind to receive persons from the black race. They said, “We did not mean that kind.” The result of all that was a request to the presbytery to send a committee to help them out of their dilemma, and the presbytery complied.

The outcome of that consultation was the committee’s advice for the two groups—still friends—to amicably part company: the old-timers to stay with their building, the outsiders to plant a new church. It was at this point that I became involved, for I was appointed moderator of the commission to oversee the new work. I had not had a great deal of experience in what we now call church planting; in fact, none of our three commissioners had. But we were agreed that the group was not ready to begin its own worship services (I am still convinced that many new plants are premature in their eagerness and begin their ministry that way). Instead, we encouraged them to go to worship wherever they chose on Sabbath mornings, but we would meet for informal fellowship in the evenings. Our concern as a commission had to do with their being a real “fellowship” with a commitment to each other in the pursuit of their vision. It was that concern prodding us to this approach.

Since our home was located near Wilkinsburg, at first we gathered there. About a dozen persons came together with our commission that night and we started. Now remember, these persons had been worshiping together for a number of years, but our commission wanted to be sure they knew each other “in the Lord.” To facilitate this, we reviewed John 17 in terms of “what Jesus had done for His disciples,” compiling a list. We then asked the group to share with each other how Jesus had done these things for each of them…if He had.

This did not exactly take the group off guard, for they were all well acquainted and loved one another. And they were spiritually minded. So the conversation began. People told about various occasions and experiences in their lives that they’d not shared before. The Holy Spirit opened up hearts in a warm fellowship for which each of them seemed to long, but had not experienced together. I’ll never forget when Dr. S. Bruce Willson, president of the RP Seminary, spoke up, “I have just come back from a seminar in southern California; and the counselors there told me that I did not share enough about my childhood, so I’m going to tell you some things I’ve never told you.”

The next week we again searched John 17 to learn what Jesus prayed would happen in His disciples. “Has he done that for you?” we inquired. They eagerly shared. The group had grown from the start, but it was the fellowship in Christ that had really blossomed! It was there all the time, but locked up. People who had looked at “backs” from their pews were now speaking face-to-face and telling how Jesus had made Himself known to them in their experiences. They seemed to sense the joy among them.

The commission took heart. We also sensed the dynamic of the Spirit. So when we remembered that the seminary chapel was empty on the Lord’s Days, we agreed to seek permission to begin worship assemblies there. Permission was received and we began regular services. But the fellowship was already in operation beforehand. They knew each other in the Lord and later would place great emphasis on living in proximity to that fellowship so they could function as a community every day of the week. And that is how Covenant Fellowship RP Church began. Our family traveled to Northern Ireland in 1971 for a year and then to Cyprus for two. During that time, the group had grown and been organized into an established church. And it’s no surprise they chose Covenant Fellowship RP Church as their name! With that in mind, we can now begin to think about Christ-centered discipleship.

Jesus Was Mentored

There is no better place to go in Scripture than into the gospels if one wants to learn about discipleship, and many books have been written about Jesus’ mentoring the twelve disciples. (Mentor comes from the name of Homer’s old man assigned by Odysseus to oversee his household, and particularly his son, while he went off to war.) It makes an interesting read to put oneself in the place of one of the twelve and be one of the learners. Listen to Jesus. Watch Him. Immerse yourself in that relationship Jesus builds and maintains with His men. I hope we can do some of that in this series.

Let’s take a look at the Lord Jesus’ having been mentored Himself in the home of Joseph and Mary. It’s too bad that we have to some degree dissociated the idea of Christian discipleship from the home, the family. We who believe in covenant theology with its accompanying infant baptism must grasp the implication: Parents are the primary mentors of their covenant children. Those children belong to God, and He gives them to parents to love and enjoy, but ultimately to bring them up in the fear of the Lord. That means in simple terms to “disciple” them. Their baptism testifies to their belonging to the Church, so they are also the Church’s first responsibility in terms of evangelism and discipleship. However—and here’s the key—parents are the agents to do it.

Scripture keeps the details of Jesus’ upbringing largely under wraps. I was often asked about that when I served in Christian education under RPCNA Synod. I’ve pondered what parents would have done had the ried to imitate every step along the way? We can be thankful we don’t have that record. But what we do have is significant and helpful.

Jesus was born to the virgin Mary who was engaged to Joseph in Nazareth, a humble beginning for the earthly life of the Son of God. From what I gather, Jesus’ earthly parents were not rich but godly. They obeyed God, a profound legacy for this baby. So it was that He was circumcised on the eighth day according to the law, and then presented as the firstborn, meaning a sacrifice was offered to cover the Law of Moses, declaring that the firstborn always belonged to the Lord. They never sacrificed a child, but provided a sacrifice to redeem him from the law’s demand. So, Jesus would have been conscious as the firstborn that He belonged to God. And speaking of “firstborn,” the term fits with Jesus’ having had actual brothers and sisters, as the Scriptures reveal.

I wonder if Mary and Joseph talked about the amazing things said about this child. I wonder if they ever discussed these things with Him. Parents must be discreet, but according to Deuteronomy the fathers talked about these things in their daily life. Note that that’s the way children pick up so much. It’s too bad when our way of life allows so little time for such dialogue. But maybe it’s more an uneasiness about discussing spiritual things openly. While the gospel record is silent about Jesus’ stages of growth, it does include a wonderful summary of how Jesus developed. Luke 2:52 says, “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Many preachers have spoken from this text with an outline already given to them: Jesus’ Fourfold Development (intellectual, physical, spiritual, and social). It does not appear as direct instruction to us parents—the text is historical. But it certainly provides a balanced perspective on our Lord Jesus’ growth that we can covet and imitate.

That word from Luke appears after Jesus’ experience as a 12-year-old in the temple at Jerusalem. Again, Jesus’ parents apparently were faithful to attend the annual feasts, and that, too, speaks about Jesus’ being taught about the corporate nature of the Church. That “with them” principle is the way of mentoring, as we will see later. But Jesus developed the custom of gathering with God’s people at the prescribed times, including attendance upon the synagogue on the Sabbath “as His custom was,” according to Luke 4.

There’s something impressive about the experience in the temple where Jesus seemed surprised that Mary and Joseph had not looked for Him there. He had said to them, “Don’t you know that I must be about My Father’s business?” But then the text says, “And He went down with them and came to Nazareth and He continued in subjection to them.” Mary didn’t miss this! She did not grasp the unusual development of this “Son of God,” but she kept it in mind. She observed His daily fitting into the family and faithfully obeying them.

Then the time came for Jesus to prepare for His ministry. He gave quite a statement to John the Baptist, who demurred from baptizing Him. It was Jesus who said, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” This baptism was a baptism to repentance, a turning to God in obedience. Hebrews would later affirm, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (5:8).

Perhaps a key principle in discipleship is: Help the disciple learn to obey God. And amazing as it sounds, Jesus as a man learned obedience!

One other step for Jesus to fulfill: He must meet the tempter in the wilderness. For 40 days, without food or water, He was confronted with temptation by Satan. But Jesus had learned to obey the word of God. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” He quoted. By the Spirit’s power, He overcame and won the victory, not only for Himself, but for all who would come to trust in Him!

Now, in relation to His parents, He was on His own. But in another sense He was not. He was obeying the heavenly Father’s call, which had brought Him to earth in the first place. While Jesus was and is unique in His fulfillment of that purpose of God, He also shows what mature discipleship is all about. Discipleship is helping another grow in Christ to the point where he or she is able to discern and follow God’s call, make sound decisions, and do them. There is one other dimension: Christian maturity is being able to help another person learn to follow Christ and so be able to do the same for still others, and hence multiply the growth of the Church and kingdom.

—Kenneth G. Smith

Ken Smith has been a Reformed Presbyterian minister for nearly 50 years. He and his wife, Floy, are members of First RPC of Beaver Falls, Pa. This series was written for the Covenanter Witness of Ireland and is used by permission.