As I finish my weekly checklist of Christian activities, I often wonder if any of it made me look more like Jesus. I connect with a small group, serve with a ministry team, attend a Sunday service, and maintain personal devotion time - all of this helps me learn and grow, but I sense the need for a comprehensive plan whereby I, and others around me, become better disciples of Jesus. It kind of feels like church structures are hoping that discipleship just happens on its own somewhere in the immersion of church activities.

I feel like we need a plan. We have to do more than hope discipleship happens. No commission from Jesus was more clear than to make disciples. Discipleship is the most fundamental unit of the Kingdom of Jesus - if we cannot reproduce a disciple, we cannot do anything else for the Kingdom. With a plethora of activities and the absence of planning, I fear our lives will do little more than wander in the direction of Jesus, never reaching the destination he intends.

Here are a few overarching questions I have:

1. Do we need a Model? It sounds rather holy when people say that all we need is Jesus, all we need is love, or all we need is the Bible. However, I believe that stewardship of the resources and goals Jesus has proscribed to us requires an intentional plan, and therefore in all probability, a structure/model to maintain that intentionality.

2. Can one Model work for Everyone? In other words, should a church focus their efforts on one discipleship plan or an open a buffet line of options? I’m personally leaning toward one focused plan within any given church, yet we also have to find a way to foster creativity and flexibility so as not to suck the life out of it. We also have to question here whether a standard curriculum/workbook helps or hurts us.

3. Can Discipleship be Measured? It is going to get really frustrating if we have no way to measure progress toward the end destination, but I’m still not sure how. I’d like to think that we can focus life in Jesus toward three-five key directions, and then establish mile-markers of maturity in each of those directions.

4. Action Orientation. No questions here, just statement. For too long we have assumed that learning more will translate to doing more. Any discipleship plan that educates more than activates is worthless. Faith is something you act on more than think on.

Last month I hosted a blog discussion on these questions (http://root48.wordpress.com/groups/discipleship-models/) but am more confused than ever.