A Distinctively Adventist Take on Discipleship, how

your church can grow by choosing a uniquely Adventist path for discipleship training. By Dan Day. Book serialization, segment # 1. Word count: 1,995.

Preface: Finding An Adventist Path

Let me begin by stating, unequivocally, that like an earlier book I wrote, years ago, entitled, Why Im An Adventist, this book is personal: it is designed to be intentionally inclusive, and decidedly one persons attempt to provide a distinctively Adventist take on discipleship. If somebody else wrote it, it would be different. If you wrote it, it might well be better. But as someone who has been charged with a major role in bringing an Adventist resource for discipleship to the churches in North America(which is available as the new iFollow, discipleship resource)1this is the way I thought the case for an Adventist take on discipleship should be made. There are a lot of people who helped bring this book to life, and Ill reference some of them as we go along, both as other writers, and as partners in the process. Admittedly, for purposes of brevity, I doubtless wont give them all the credit they deserve. On the other hand, if you find stuff in here that offends you, or that describes an Adventism thats different from the one to which you subscribe (or even one that you dislike or have rejected), dont blame them: blame me. I wrote it, and Im the one who says an Adventist approach to discipleship would be this way.
resource.

1 Go to ifollowdiscipleship.org or to the AdventSource website for expanded information on the

 I dont ask that you agree with everything that follows; youre smart, and you can figure out what makes sense to you. However, as one way to describe A Distinctively Adventist Take on Discipleship, its here for us to discuss. I believe that in the depiction that follows Im being fair to the core values of the church. I recognize fully that what I say may diverge what some at the extreme edges (both edges) believe, as well as what they would like to make the church become. If you disagree substantially with what you read, Im not inferring that youre on those extreme edges. The truth is, those out on the fringe arent really likely to be reading this stuff, anyway. Still, if youre from out there, but still reading along, let me warn you that you may find the terrain ahead both strange and perilous: I will be pointing you back toward the broad middle.

Stated simply: were all to be disciples Jesus called us to be His disciples. Thats the core value that supports our entire conversation about an Adventist approach to discipleship. He called every Christian to be a disciple. There arent any Christians who are called to be something else, like enthusiastic spectators, intellectual observers, or interested bystanders. Some of us may act as though we believe we can stand on the edges and throw stones, its true (and some of us actually do throw the stones); but when we do this, were in the wrong. Jesus wants us involved. He wants us in the game, on the field, and in every way fully engaged. He calls us to be disciples. At some level, I believe, every Christian tradition understands this. Catholics get it. Baptists get it. Pentecostals get it. Adventists get it. We all buy into the core concept that

 were called to be disciples. Nobody takes the position that in their denomination

becoming disciples isnt required. Nobody even claims that there are two classes in their church: disciples first, and those who are something elsemaybe something called pewsitters, or, even worse, the audience. Nobody asserts that. But even in the face of this broad agreement, few of us have taken the time to explore in any detail what it really means for usin our individual livesto be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Some of us sense that to do so would probably change things for us (and maybe thats part of why we dont delve into it too deeply). But most of useven if we havent done anything about it, yetbelieve in the inevitability of discipleship, that at some point we will take seriously the call to discipleship and begin to make a committed effort at training to be His disciples. We may only make the commitment on our deathbed, but we expect to make it. I dont need to persuade you about this. If youre still in the church, todayin the face of all the other things you could be doingits because you have been captured by the dream of true discipleship, hoping that you may one day be changed into someone who puts his or her faith first. You dont want to be merely a pew-sitter, as I said. You want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. You want to be one of His followersin a way you havent been, up until now. You want to live the Christian life at a level you dont seem to be seeing in the lives of the people around you. Right? Dont we all dream of being disciples? But how is this going to happen? How can you and I become true disciples of Jesus? How would we start, and how would we find the tenacity to stick with it, in the face of the complexity of real lifewith all the other stuff that calls out to us?

The big, bold claim Well, one way you can start down that road is by resisting the urge to close the book (or in this case the ebook), and instead choosing to read on. In this book were going to be making a big, bold claim that demands your attention, because it affects your life. Were asserting that discipleship isnt something accessible only to a few unusually gifted individualsthose who some might call Gods electbut that it is, instead, a learned process, in which we can all be trained, if we so choose. Think about it, now. Discipleship isnt for others, but for you. Its for me. Even with all our flaws and weaknesses. If that claim is legitimate, its good news, isnt it? If we thought we could walk that road, wouldnt we want to walk it? The answer is so obviously yes, I suspect, that nobody would ever challenge it. Its like motherhood and apple pie. Its like the head elder of a nearby congregation said, recently, while holding a book in this iFollow Discipleship Series: I absolutely love these books! Theyre exactly what I need for training all my elders! Where has this sort of stuff been? But hang on: the big claim were making in this book is not just that discipleship is accessible to all of us. It includes that, of course. But it is also that there is something distinctive about Adventist faith and practice that could help us in our Christian walk; it is that within the distinctive views and values of Adventism there are implications for discipleship that change the equation in positive ways, and whichif fully explored and appliedwould make us better disciples. Now, thats a big claim, isnt it?

 But keep in mind that the claim is not really about us, at all, as Adventists. Were just the servants in the household, called to play a role. Its about the message and mission God has created for the last days. Sure, its also about the opportunity He has given us to be part of what He is doing. But its His claim, not ours. It is merely an

acknowledgment that God put us here for a reason and that hidden within that reason is a defined potential for service. He created a last-day people because He wanted us to be a blessing othersand He put us here to give that blessing, not hoard it to ourselves. If were to see ourselves as special, its only in terms of delivering a special service to others. Were just tools in Gods hands. Paul put it very clearly: From first to last this has been the work of God. He has reconciled us men to himself through Christ, and he has enlisted us in this service of reconciliation.2

Supporting the claim Is there any real evidence for the claim that discipleship training within the Adventist community would be different from what it might be in other faith traditions? Do we really have a better shot at being true disciples than the Baptists do, or the Presbyterians? The Catholics started this whole process of thinking about what the Bible means about discipleshipin the writings of the church fathersare we inferring that we can do it better than the monks and nuns, who hid away in monasteries, or hermits who lived in caves to resist temptation? Are there really core elements of the Adventist message and lifestyle that contribute in some distinctive way to the processor paceof spiritual growth? I believe there are.
2 2 Corinthians 5:18 (NEB).

6 Now, lets be clear: its not that God has hidden some secrets of discipleship for a

time when Adventists came along. The truth is, Adventists havent brought anything new to the table; its all there in the Bible. But in terms of what we emphasizein contrast with what others in the religious world are emphasizingI believe a strong case can be made. I dont know any Christian who would say, with a straight face, I dont want to grow, spiritually. Im happy with the way I am. And I dont know any Adventist who would say, Well, I understand all this stuff about revival and reformation that the church leaders talk so much about, but Im not interested in it starting with me. So, Im not inferring that someone from another faith tradition would want to be a disciple less than you or I would. This is not about spiritual intensity, about sincerity or commitment. Many other Christians have as much or more of those things than any Adventist. When I say I believe discipleship training could very well be different in Adventist churchesand perhaps even betterit is due to our distinctive priorities and values, as a denomination. In other words, I believe the forces that have shaped Adventism, making us who we are, today, lend themselves to more effective discipleship training. And even more, I believe that one of the most significant outcomes of such training could be a community of Adventist disciples with a broader clarity of mission, and a greater facility for accomplishing the Gospel Commission. I know thats a bold claim. And I also know that in making it, Im opening myself to all sorts of criticismincluding the big one: that I now have to prove its true conceptually and true in the lives of Adventist believers. But I make no apology for it. I believe the facts support the proposition, and that we should take full advantage of our distinctive beliefs, in contributing to how we approach discipleship.

 If the things that make us unique dont make a difference in how we live, of what good are they? I believe they can help shape both the way we approach discipleship and the way the church connects with the community. It doesnt always happen, of course. Id be the first to admit that both as individual

Adventists and as congregations we dont display all that we might be. But it could. And it should. And, by Gods grace, it will. A Distinctively Adventist Take on Discipleship does exist and can be experienced. So, lets go for it.

In the next segment of this serialization, well begin to see how this could be true.