“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age!” (Mt. 28:19a, 20)

Mark said Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God. When he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew, fishing. Jesus said unto them, “Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become  fishers of men!” (Mark 1:16-17) And they immediately dropped their nets – their basic livelihood – and followed Jesus! Yes, Peter failed Jesus on the night of His crucifixion and returned to his old ways of life. But when Jesus came to him again and challenged him— “follow thou Me!”, Peter abandoned himself to Jesus. (John 21:22)

The time and effort between those two calls is the process our Lord referred to as discipleship –a life changing a life, one truth at a time. Even though each gospel writer worded what we know as the Great Commission a little differently, the original language is the same! The Greek verb translated “make disciples (matheteuo) is a command: just as Jesus invested three years of His life in twelve men, His followers are to make disciples out of those who come to them for a deeper understanding of what it truly means to be a “born-again believer” - they are to become “living epistles” of all Jesus Christ revealed to them of Him, and prayerfully and patiently communicate those truths to those who will teach others also.

At the beginning of the church, the Apostles (Pastors) followed the Lord’s example –preaching the gospel to the crowds, inviting them to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and surrender unto Him as Lord, and then spending the rest of the day and night, “teaching them” all that Jesus had commanded them. However, as Christianity spread, the world become more “Christianized” - it became easier to identify with those who called themselves Christians, even though they didn’t know or understand the doctrines of the Christian faith, and the church became more “secularized” - one could become a follower of Christ without having to take that first step of discipleship—death to self!

In his writings on the Cost of Discipleship, German Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ! It remains an abstract idea which has a place for the Fatherhood of God, but omits Christ as the living Son. There is trust in God, but no following of Christ!” As one who stood firm against all those pastors who sided with Adolf Hitler, Bonhoeffer well understood the essential cost of discipleship was nothing less than the absolute surrender –yea, the sacrifice of one’s life!
But it was William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army who forecasted the decline in discipleship. A newspaper reporter asked Booth what he regarded as the chief danger facing the church in the 20th century, and Booth replied without hesitation: “Religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God and heaven without hell!”

It is without questions that the evangelical church is weaker today than at any other time in its history. Not only are we not transferring that body of Biblical truth to the next generation, we are trampling on that truth in the name of “church growth” - afraid to even mention the very claims of discipleship, much less the necessity, for fear of losing attendance.

On the surface, it may appear the church in America is growing, if you look at the mega-churches and the many new “kinds” of churches being started for certain “kinds” of worship styles or lifestyle choices. But underneath the façade of the bright lights and loud music, reality is raising its ugly head and the church as we know it is dying. The “cheap grace”  of the contemporary concept of Christianity has failed to capture the minds of the post-modern generation or convince them of their need for Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

  I believe we are on the verge – perhaps within this decade – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity, not only because of the percentage of Americans who will or will not attend church, but because, in our efforts to keep our children entertained, we have failed to pass on to them an orthodox form of faith that can take root in their hearts and survive the secular and socialist onslaught they are about to endure from every facet of society!

This decline in the American church began in the early 90’s, but began to show up in 2000 as Christians attached their movement with the culture wars rather than God-focused worship, Biblical education, evangelism and discipleship! During this same period,  billions of God’s tithes were spent by Pastors and Youth Ministers on things that had absolutely nothing to do with Spiritual Growth! And as a result, we have a generation of youth, some who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, but who know next to nothing about the Bible or about the essential doctrines of the Christian Faith.

Since Linda and I entered the ministry in 1974, we have intentionally discipled hundreds of youth and many young adults who committed themselves to such a study. Yes, many of them walked away from the challenge, because they didn’t see the need for such devotion, or they weren’t ready for the sacrifice required. But as we look back over these 30+ years, we rejoice in the “continued fruit” of those who dedicated themselves to their own discipleship.

Over the last five years, I have also spent hundreds of hours with today’s youth – listening to their questions, pointing them to the Scriptures, and encouraging their Spiritual Growth. I discovered that today’s youth are hungering and thirsting for the same thing as the youth were 30 years ago—someone to be bold enough to tell them the truth, without trying to fit it in with their culture or tone it down to fit in with what they are hearing in other places. They want to know the old, old story of Jesus and His love and how they can trust Him and hold on to Him in these days and in the days to come!

“Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of the church” said Bonhoeffer in his last days. David made the same statement when he refused to accept the threshing f loor as a gift from Araunah. David said, “No; I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God of that which does cost me nothing!” (2 Samuel 24:24)  Yes, our salvation is a GIFT of God—not as a result of our works, but it was not cheap! God’s forgiveness of sin cannot be “on sale” at the price of “attendance”, for apart from the evidence of genuine repentance on the part of the penitent, there is no forgiveness!

Yes, every sinner can come before the Lord “just as they are, without one plea!” But if they truly receive God’s gift of grace, they will not remain as they are, and to even allow them to do so is to cheapen the very grace of God! Apart from that intrinsic desire to “follow Him”, which is true discipleship, there is no trust in God, no faith in Jesus Christ and no assurance of salvation. The cheap grace we see being offered today is marketing God’s forgiveness without genuine repentance, believer’s baptism without death to self, communion without confession—in essence salvation without a cross, and that is just not possible! wje

On any given Sunday, only 17% of Americans are involved in anyone’s church – that’s down from a little over 20% in 1990 – just 20 years ago!

If the trend continues by the year 2050, the percentage of Americans attending church on Sunday will be less than 10%.

(Barna Research Group)

“Christianity without discipleship is nothing more than another empty religion!”