One thing that I have noticed is that too many churches are scattershot in their approach to forming disciples of Jesus. They go about forming disciples in a disorganized way, rather than taking a focused approach. This was true in the evangelical churches in which I was involved as well as the mainline churches. Only one of these churches took an organized approach to its discipleship process but even its approach was not as organized as it might have been.
The early Methodists were known for being methodical in what they did. Hence they were derisively labeled “Methodists” due to their methodical approach to spiritual formation. But I do not believe that we can say that today.
Most churches follow a pattern that Methodists churches have followed since the nineteenth century—a service of public worship, preceded or followed by Sunday school. This, however, is a scattershot approach since the Sunday school teacher and sometimes the class itself determines what it studies. More attention is given to the acquisition of knowledge than is given to the application of knowledge.
Sunday school classes may give a nod to the Great Commandment and to a simplified version of John Wesley’s three general rules for Methodists taken from Reuben P. Job’s A Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living. They are “"Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God." While they may be easier to remember, Job’s simplification of Wesley’s general rules does not do justice to them. It does not convey quite the same meaning as Wesley’s original rules.
Wesley’s first rule required Methodists to avoid all forms of evil as well as do no harm to anyone.. His second rule urged Methodists to help their fellow believers as well as to do good to all people. The third rule required their attention to the “ordinances,” the recognized means of grace such as the Lord’s Supper. Adherence to Wesley’s general rules was expected of those who wished to become a member of a Methodist society in their community.
Regrettably Job’s three “simple rules,” like the Great Commandment, get quoted more than they get put into practice. One of the reasons that they are not practiced as much as one might expect them to be is that local churches do not offer systematic instruction to their members and attendees on how to specifically go about it.
This problem is not particular to Methodist churches. Churches of other denominations are weak in the area of forming their members and attendees to be practicing followers of Jesus. However, Methodism’s history of being methodical in its approach to spiritual formation suggests that Methodist churches should not have this problem to the extent that they have it.
I am not going to speculate on how this problem got out of hand. Everyone has their favorite theory.
Methodism began as a movement and movements can lose their dynamism after a time. They run out of ideas and enthusiasm and go stale.
Local churches also fall into the habit of doing things a particular way. This way of doing things may have worked in the past but times change and what worked in the past no longer works in the present day.
In scouring the internet for useful resources, I visited The Methodist Church in Britain website. The British Methodist Church is a sister-church of the United Methodist Church. It appears to have recognized the need to make changes in this area and has developed an approach called “A Methodist Way of Life,” which focuses on 12 things that Methodists do individually and together as they grow as followers of Jesus. While this approach is designed for a particular context—England, Scotland, and Wales, it appears to be adaptable to a different context. The approach allows for a wide variation in the circumstances of the Methodists using it.
Further information regarding this approach may be found at The Methodist Church in Britain website, on the A Methodist Way of Life page at https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/a-methodist-way-of-life/ and on the A Methodist Way of Life Resources page at https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/a-methodist-way-of-life/a-methodist-way-of-life-resources/.
A Methodist Way of Life approach provides a common direction which is needed in many local churches. It does not serve the best interests of a local church when every Sunday school class or ministry team is moving in a different direction. This approach enables them to line up with each other and move in the same direction, fulfilling what is seen as the calling of The Methodist Church in Britain.
When these subdivisions of the local church are moving in the same direction, the local church becomes much more mission-shaped. It is actually a very simple principle but too often it is ignored to the detriment of the witness of the local church. As a consequence, the spiritual formation processes of the local church do not fulfill their main purpose—to transform its members and attendees into disciples of Jesus who not only live their lives according to his teachings and example and faithfully represent him in the world but also are capable of replicating themselves.
A pastor or lay preacher’s weekly sermon cannot by itself carry the burden of forming disciples of Jesus from those who attend a local church’s services of public worship. People do attend these services as frequently as they once did. As well as Sunday school classes many churches would greatly benefit from the formation of small groups like John Wesley’s Classes and Bands. These groups can carry a part of the burden of spiritual formation in the church. They can also serve as points of contact with the community and entry points for newcomers into the life, worship, and ministry of the local church.
One such group is the Covenant Discipleship Group, which was developed from the Class Meeting. They were the brainchild of a British Methodist minister, David Lowes Watson, who spent most his ministry in the United States. You can learn more about Covenant Disciple Groups from this article, “From Class Meeting to Covenant Discipleship Group,” by Terry Higgins, a British Methodist minister: https://www.methodistevangelicals.org.uk/Articles/523298/From_Class_Meeting.aspx Further information may be found at the UMC Discipleship Ministries website at https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/covenant-discipleship-groups-an-introduction and https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/getting-started-in-covenant-discipleship-groups and at the UMC Davao Episcopal Area blogsite at https://umcdea.wordpress.com/2014/06/06/covenant-discipleship-groups/. An updated version of Watson’s book, Covenant Discipleship: Christian Formation through Mutual Accountability, can be purchased from Wipf and Stock: https://wipfandstock.com/9781579109530/covenant-discipleship/.
As we can see the tools exist to help a local church become more focused in its spiritual formation of its members and attendees and, in turn, to become more mission-shaped. The challenge is moving from a scattershot approach to forming disciples of Jesus to a laser-focused one. This requires a commitment by all subdivisions of the local church to a common vision. It must be a vision to which they are committed regardless of who is the church’s pastor and to which an incoming pastor accedes.
One of the weaknesses of the United Methodist Church is that its local churches are subject to frequent changes in pastors, a carryover from the days of the circuit rider. This practice denies a local church the kind of long-term leadership needed to implement a more focused approach to forming disciples of Jesus and accounts in part why so many local churches never move beyond a scattershot approach. A new pastor may not support the work of the previous pastor and the local church will lapse back into its old unproductive ways. For a local church to become more focused in the area of spiritual formation and in turn the area of mission, there must be a long-term commitment to sharpening the focus of the church and moving in same direction.
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