What has the modern church done that has led to unproductive and unbiblical discipleship methods?

According to Paul Washer, one of these methods is mass motivation through conferences. These events often stir up emotions and fire up attendees to walk more closely with Christ, promising radical transformation. However, when the participants return to their daily lives, they often find themselves back where they started, sometimes even more disillusioned than before. This cycle can be demoralizing and doesn't lead to sustainable spiritual growth.

True discipleship, Washer argues, is not complex but requires discipline. It involves being part of a community where the Word of God is expounded, leaders exemplify the life of Christ, and disciples are taught not just to read and study the Bible, but shown how. Similarly, they should not just be told to pray, but taught how to pray effectively. Other elements of the church, like the Lord's Supper, baptism, and the community of brothers and sisters in Christ, are all mechanisms designed by God to create disciples. Unfortunately, these simple but difficult methods are often overshadowed by the spectacle of large-scale events that promise quick results but deliver little.

2 Timothy 2:2 (NKJV): 'And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.'

What is the modern church done with regard to discipleship that has been unproductive but also unbiblical? Unproductive, but also unbiblical. I think it would be trying to, first of all, motivate people in mass. You know, these conferences where you get people fired up and you get them, you know, moved emotionally. So you have these people who recognize, you know, I'm not walking with Christ as I ought to.

So A conference comes along that makes all these promises, acquire the fire, become something new, follow Jesus, radical, that type of thing. And so they go, the music's there, everything, they're fired up, and they're sincere. But then they get home, and they're kind of like a wind-up toy. They've been wound up and after about three or four days or maybe a few weeks, they find themselves right back where they started, except this time they're even more bitter. Like, is there a way?

And true discipleship is fantastic. It's difficult, but it's not complex. And that is being in a community where the Word of God is truly being expounded, where the leaders are truly seeking to exemplify the life of Christ and they're able to say imitate me as I imitate Christ and then people are told look there are means of grace And these means of grace require discipline. And we ought to teach them, not just tell people to read and study the Bible, but show them how to read and study the Bible. Not just say pray, but teach them to pray, exemplify prayer.

And then there's so many other things in the church, everything from the Lord's Supper to baptism to the community of faith, all of it God has designed to create disciples. There's one other thing, is we have this idea today that a man or a church is successful because it's big, you know, a mega church. That's not true. Elders are supposed to be able to invest in the lives of their people and to train men to train men, to train fathers, to disciple their own children, to catechize their own children, to train mothers. And so there are so many things that God has given us to create disciples.

It's very simple, but very difficult. And so we pass it over for some big show that we think is going to produce a lot. And really, after it's all done, it's just smoke and mirrors.