Loss and Friends

My neighbor passed away suddenly last night. He was my friend. I love him and his family. And suddenly I realize that I did not spend nearly enough time with him. On my way back to my house from his house tonight, I saw another neighbor friend sitting in his car and we chatted about our friend and our loss for a while. And we decided to repent of not spending enough time with each other. We are going to try to be neighbors who actually celebrate our friendship and love by spending some more time than we have in the past.

I sincerely hope this is more than just a passing, emotional reaction...

DISCIPLESHIP

I am reading "Goodbye Generation" by David Sawler, a Canadian who is writing for the church. David's concern is that we are losing a generation of youth and young adults from the church. In the fourth chater he diagnoses our major problem. Here is my summary of his diagnosis...

We are more interested in being spiritual sperm donors than in being parents. We find it exciting to lead someone to Christ, preach a great evangelistic sermon and see the altar lined, or be part of an outreach where decisions for Christ are made. But once born into the Kingdom, what happens to these babies. They become orphans.

Ouch. I have to admit that there is truth in what he says. Discipling means getting involved in someone's life at a level that means sharing deeply, caring completely, living with, teaching, correcting, and loving enough to do whatever is needed to insure that spiritual growth is happening. Unfortunately this cannot be done in a program or from a pulpit and certainly not by one person for a whole church. Sawler believes that discipleship programs don't even cut it when it comes to true discipleship. I agree.

What do you think?