If you’ve never really been discipled and are interested in what that might look like, stay tuned.

Yesterday I offered to “disciple” those who would disciple others. The offer is: I’ll take on seven and they in turn can take on others, who potentially could take on others. I propose to send out the book I wrote, A Warrior’s Journal in daily installments. The idea is that I’d discuss the subject matter and how it’s applied with them and those people would email others and do the same.

I put “disciple” in quotes because an authentic discipling experience comes in many different shapes and sizes and involves relational commitment, not just curriculum. All I’m really attempting to do with this little experiment is demonstrate two principles: Intentionality and Multiplication.

Jesus commanded us to make disciples, yet many of us are cloistered in a world where we don’t know anybody who really wants to be a disciple, plus we ourselves have never been discipled in the first place. My experience is that we can sometimes find people with whom we can make some kind of a start if we don’t raise the bar too high and if we’re just seeking to get to know them and add value to their lives. This is the essence of the principle of intentionality.

In response to my offer, 20 of you have responded and said, “I’d like to disciple people and try this out.” I know most of these 20 people and can vouch for them. I’ll pick seven of them to help me and they’ll work with me to help disciple the rest. My responsibility is to ensure that those seven get whatever help they need from me. It will be their responsibility to do the same with others of you. If I do my job well and they do the same, then the experiment should work.

I’ll begin sending out the curriculum to them on a daily basis beginning next Monday, March 31st. Here’s the principle of multiplication – if each of these 20 have another five that they’re discipling and some of those possibly sign up a few, then over 100 will be impacted through our small effort. And along the way, because we’re posturing ourselves not as experts, but as learners and servants, we should learn something about discipleship.

I’m guessing that there are many others of you who may not have the confidence or connections to actually disciple someone, but you’d like to go through this process with someone else at this point. And if so, let me encourage you to try this out. The question is, how do we “set the bar” at an appropriate height so that it can be a relatively safe learning experience?

So here’s my idea: If you’re interested, please email me and we’ll try it out for a week. If the week goes well for you, then continue. If not, then opt out. If you stay with it and if anything starts to feel weird along the way, just email me and I’ll correct things and hold the person responsible to account. Here’s the way it works: some of my 20 disciplers (and I’ll take more if you’re still interested) have volunteered to take on disciples. If you sign up, I’ll give your name to one of them. Guys with guys and girls with girls. Only they will have your email address. If you’d like, I can ask them to send you emails by blind copy so no one else knows of your involvement without your permission.

I grew up without ever being discipled (though my mom taught me well as a kid). And most people are in the same boat. We as a church need to change this. My thought is that small experiments like this will help us take baby steps in that direction.