Lausanne World Pulse – Imperative of Transformational Discipleship in the Global Church Pursuit of the Great Commission
By U. Obed
But the fact remains that making converts among the unreached people groups and planting churches in every hamlet on this globe cannot necessarily equate to making disciples of all nations.
The Challenge of Declining Spirituality
The research of Johnstone and Mandryk not only indicated that the twentieth century Church prospered greatly. It also identified nine needs emanating from such a rapid expansion of Christianity. The authors suggested that these needs should be regarded as important prayer points. But upon a closer consideration, each is undeniably symptomatic of spiritual decline. They are the strongest research evidence that the Church is experiencing a problem of spiritual decline.
We know that people are being won to the Church. Figures of the rate of conversion in countries around the world are often quoted. Pioneer and saturation church planting are going on. But what is the spiritual health of the Church? And, why is it taking Christian leaders so much time to appreciate and acknowledge that there is an increasing gulf between the growth of the Church in number and spread, and her spiritual growth?
Two possible answers would be that:
- Most leaders of the bodies which drive the pursuit of the Great Commission are not pastors by calling. Consequently, they tend to be more program-oriented, and less mindful of believers’ spirituality. Their understanding and presentation of the Great Commission constrain everyone else to missiological concepts and theology.
- Pastors’ emphases in the last few decades have shifted from concern for believers’ spiritual growth to more humanistic issues.
Africa’s incommensurate growth of spirituality has been described as “one mile wide and one inch deep.”
In June 2006, I shared at the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission that church leaders, particularly mission proponents, should not shy away from the critical challenge which observations like the “one mile wide and one inch deep” phenomenon poses for the global Church.
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Dr. U. Obed is international coordinator of the Apostolic Discipleship Movement and the continental coordinator for the African Initiative on Transformational Discipleship. He was a senior lecturer in physics education and is currently the senior pastor of the Glory Tabernacle Ministry in Ibadan, Nigeria. |