Disciples or Decisions

Ministry teams from Westside Gathering recently got together to kick off our fall season with a morning of connecting, eating, and equipping. The theme centered around the YOU in Acts 1:8.

That YOU can only be defined as a follower of Christ (I'll write more about this later)

A follower can be described in many ways, but as Alan Hirsch once blogged (I think) - to respond to the gospel leads you to become a DISCIPLE, WORSHIPER, and MISSIONARY. (HT: @bobrobertsjr for quoting this in his book).

It leads me to consider if I'm making disciples. If my church is making and nurturing disciples or merely people who've made decisions about Jesus and faith.

Are we into Disciples or Decisions?

Read this excellent post highlighting the 'gospel of sin management' made popular by Dallas Willard. Jeff Clark writes a great summary, forcing us to ask what kind of life we call people to in Christ (what kind of life I'm called to in Christ). Here's a quote:

However, by reducing the story of Jesus, a story that calls people to a life of devoted discipleship, to a system of salvation that only asks people to make a decision, we effectively short-circuit the power of the gospel. As McKnight says, ‘we have created a salvation culture, not a gospel-discipleship culture.’

Disciples or Deciders?

What has your understanding been of what it means to be a Christian?
Have you reduced your life in Christ to a decision?
What's your understanding of discipleship?