Month: April 2018

Success in baseball is simple to explain but much harder to achieve.   The number of hits, errors, base runners, or any other of the myriad stats that go into making baseball interesting, do not count in the end.  All that really matters is the number of players who touch all four bases in a counter clockwise sequence in a particular inning.

Spiritual coaching/mentoring, like baseball, has 4 bases which need to be touched each time you meet.  The bases are the same regardless of the level of maturity or the type of coaching that is taking place.  Whether you are following up a brand new believer or coaching a ministry leader with years of experience, touching these four bases is necessary to create an effective discipling relationship.  The same four are important in face to face meetings or over the phone.  And they are vital in a setting that is formal or informal, structured or unstructured.

The four bases are:  Connection, Exploration, Application and Intercession.  Each time you meet for coaching or mentoring, you need to spend some time on all four areas.  It doesn’t mean you spend equal time on each one, but you should touch each one.  Just like a baseball player may spend extra time on first base before running to second and third to score at home.

An easy way to remember these bases is to think of four questions each time you meet.  Whether the questions are addressed in a formal or casual way is not important.  The important thing is that the heart of each question is addressed each time you meet.  Flexibility is important because the time spent on any one question is adjusted to the current needs of the individuals.  The goal is not equal time on each base but touching each one consistently.

The four bases are as follows:

First Base is about Connection:  “Because we care, what do we need to know?”

Often people feel isolated and are asking the question, “Who knows and who cares?” An effective discipling process creates a safe environment in which people can relate with one another on a deeper level than news, weather, kids, and sports.  Initially this question is answered by sharing personal history.  Gradually it involves more current events that are affecting lives in a positive or negative way. However, people will not feel free to honestly share real and relevant concerns unless they feel safe: confident of continued acceptance and respect.  They must also know confidentiality is strictly adhered to.

Second Base is about Exploration:  “Because God’s Word is true, what are we discovering?”       Scripture needs to form the core of a coaching relationship.  It is our source of perspective and learning (Ps 119:105).  We want to help each person become comfortable and skilled in handling Scripture, able to personally search the Word for answers to life (2 Tim 3:16-17).

This base includes teaching and/or mutually sharing what we are learning.  It can be done by reading and discussing the Word together, discussing a prepared Bible study, or sharing from personal time with the Lord.

Third Base is about Application:  “Because God’s Word is relevant, what is He telling me to do?”

In order to follow Christ on this journey, we need more than knowledge and understanding.  We need application.  Application takes the truths of the Bible and integrates them into the fabric of life.  Maturity comes as we apply God’s truth to our personal, family, and professional life.  Spiritual truth must not be isolated to a “spiritual compartment” while most of our thoughts and energy go into the business of everyday living.  God’s plan is to integrate his truth into all aspects of our everyday, ordinary lives.

A helpful way to think about application is to use the acronym SPECK.  As we reflect on Scripture we should ask ourselves if there is a:

• Sin to avoid?
• Promise to claim?
• Example to follow?
• Command to obey?
• Knowledge (truth) to believe?

Part of the coaching process includes a periodic review of previous applications for the purpose of praying for specific needs and holding one another accountable.

Home Plate is about Intercession:  “Because God cares, how can we support each other in prayer?”

Holding each other up in prayer is critical for spiritual encouragement.  Sharing needs and victories together in the context of prayer, builds a connection and puts the focus on God’s powerful, transforming work in our lives.  Continued prayer during the week is an essential part of effective discipleship.

Reflection:

Can you arrange a time when you meet with another person (or small group) and try using each of the four questions?

Before ascending to the Father, Jesus gave His disciples the mission to disciple the nations.  During the next 250 years, the gospel spread throughout the Roman world and beyond without the aid of political power, military force, financial aid, or educational clout.

The dynamics behind the amazing mission movement was very simple — as it had to be.  It spread through family and relational networks.  This strategy was central in the Old Testament where each Hebrew family was responsible for expanding the kingdom of God from one generation to the next.  It was an organic model of growth involving successive generations.

Ps. 78:5-6  “…He commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell them to their children.”

Let’s review our description of discipleship to orient where we are.

Discipleship is the personal, persistent pursuit

of knowing, reflecting, and sharing Christ

by means of critical spiritual disciplines (previously discussed)

in the context of supporting relationships, (current discussion)

resulting in the distinctive marks of an apprentice of Christ.

The supportive relationships in a healthy family involve three generations:  Grandparents, parents, and children.  With each generation there is a relationship and a responsibility.  I am referring to that structure as a relational triad.  Notice that Jesus expanded the OT model beyond the physical family, but His discipleship strategy was still through relational generations.  Although He was preaching to the crowds, He was discipling a few who would be the next generation.

The Hebrew strategy was familiar to Paul so we shouldn’t be surprised that he used it when taking the gospel into the Roman world.  He modeled it and then codified it with Timothy (the next generation) when he said, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2Tim 2:2).  Paul (the first generation) was reminding Timothy (the second generation) that what he had learned in the context of many witnesses (a band of second generational brothers), he was to pass on to faithful men (a third generation) who would be able to teach others (continue the pattern of organic disciplemaking).  The strategy for expanding the kingdom was through successive generations of supporting relationships.

Paul, in writing to the believers in Thessalonica, gives additional insight into how he did ministry.  In 1 Thess. 2, Paul reminds the believers that he shared with them not only the gospel but his own life like a nursing mother and an encouraging father. The implication is a highly relational, one to one, strategy.

With his own life as a model, Paul then encourages these new believers to build up “one another”: one by one¹.  With this strategy in mind it is not so surprising to read in Romans 16 that Paul not only refers to people in his ministry by name but includes personal commentary.  They were not a group but individuals that Paul knew personally.  So when Paul gives Timothy a relational strategy (2 Tim. 2:2) he was reminding Timothy of what he had already experienced.  He was to embrace the wisdom of “start small, go slow, build deep”.

Supporting relationships could also be expressed as a relational triad in which each person has a mentor to help him or her grow, peer relationships to give support, and younger Christians to mentor.  Consider the apostle Paul’s own relational triad.  Paul was mentored by several men along his spiritual journey.  Initially it was Ananias (Acts 9). Then it was Barnabas who took Paul under his wing, protected him, and eventually brought him to Antioch to help with the ministry.

As Paul grows in maturity and experience, Barnabas shifts from being a mentor to being a peer along with the other apostles.  They became a support team.  The elders at Antioch also became part of Paul’s support team as they send him and Barnabas on their first missionary journey to Asia Minor.

Of the many Paul mentored, the most familiar are Timothy, Epaphroditus, Titus, and Mark.  Mark’s story reflects the value of having several mentors along the journey.  From our story of Paul’s first missionary trip, we know that Mark didn’t fit into Paul’s idea of a faithful man.  However, Barnabas and Peter stepped in and invested in Mark for several years resulting in his growth and value to Paul later in the story line.

Discipling through the strategy of successive generations, one person at a time, is a proven New Testament strategy.  During the centuries since the initial expansion of Christianity, we have tried other plans, resulting in many converts to Christianity (current world estimate of 2.2 billion), but are we discipling the nations?

Reflection

1. Who are you investing in on a personal level, intentionally passing on what you have learned into the life of another?
2. Who do you have who can speak truth into your life, learn from, and if you make a 911 call, you know they would show up?

¹  1 Thess. 5:1 Roberts Word Studies:  “build up one another” – Literally, build ye, one the one.

The keel is an essential part of every sailboat.  It is basically a flat blade sticking down into the water from a sailboat’s bottom. It has three functions: it creates forward motion, it prevents the boat from being blown sideways by the wind, and it holds the ballast (counterweight) that keeps the boat right-side up.  Pretty simple, right?   Also very essential.

Utilizing our sailing metaphor one more time, the keel could represent faith.  We cannot spiritually sail in God’s direction without it.  The mast of discipline, the sails of spiritual practices, and the tiller of obedience are useless without the keel of faith that keeps us from capsizing or drifting in the wind.  Although hidden from view, the keel of faith is an essential part of turning wind power into forward progress.

The writer of Hebrews declares that without faith (our keel) it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).  The author also describes faith as assurance, conviction, and evidence of things not seen.  The Amplified translation states that faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses (Hebrews 11:1).

Sailing paraphrase:  Without the keel of faith which is the conviction of an unseen reality, we cannot successfully sail under the power of the Spirit of God.

Webster defines believing as the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority and veracity, without other evidence; the judgment that what another states or testifies is the truth.

However, biblical faith is more than cognitive acknowledgement that what is declared is true.  It includes “trust” which implies a conviction strong enough to inspire action in line with the belief.  Faith and hope are very similar but with a slight difference.  Faith sees what is real but invisible while hope sees what is real but not yet.  Faith is a function of visibility, hope a function of time.

It is important to remember that faith does not create reality; it captures it.  Therefore, biblical faith is not superstition, fantasy, or optimism.  It is the lens by which we can see what is real though not visible to the natural eye.  Our culture would have us think that science is comprised of the world of facts while religion is the world of faith; science is real while religion is pretending, superstitious, illusionary or imagined.  In reality we all live by faith.  The only difference is the faith lens we use.

For example, a faith lens used in science is illustrated by the electromagnetic spectrum.  Our eyes are excellent receivers of visible light.  However, visible light is but a small part of the total electromagnetic spectrum of energy waves.  The rest are real but invisible.

Our eyes cannot “see” infrared rays, but they are real nonetheless and we feel their effects on a sunny day.  However, when we attach a lens specifically tuned to that range of frequency, we can “see” what is normally invisible.  Night vision goggles are a type of lens that allows us to see the infrared radiation (IR) given off by living bodies even in the absence of visible light.  Our IR lens does not create reality; it reveals it.

Another example is found in astronomy.  Scientists boldly claim the existence of black holes and dark matter even though they have no lens that actually “sees” them (hence the term “black”).  But they believe (faith) that they are there because of the evidence for them.  They even conclude that most galaxies have a black hole totally based on evidence not visual sight.  These cosmic phenomena are believed because they fit the observable data or information.

As apprentices of Christ we must have a keel of faith:  the confident belief that God’s Word is true and the courageous conviction to move in the direction of that reality.  Faith, as our keel, keeps us moving forward, avoiding the dangers of capsizing or drifting in the chaotic cultural currents of our world.

We are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming (Eph. 4:14).

Learning to sail takes knowledge, skill, and practice and it involves knowing our resources and how to use them.  We are more inclined to row than to sail, but only sailing allows us to experience our new journey of life in Christ.  The conclusion is we need to take advantage of every opportunity to further our sailing skills by looking for sailing coaches who can model and instruct us in the art of spiritual sailing.

Next time I will look at the next part of our discipleship description:  The relational context of an apprentice of Christ and His kingdom.

Reflection:

1. What faith based truths are hard for you to trust and live by?
2. How has your keel of faith expanded and allowed you to see more of God’s invisible reality?