Christian discipleship is frequently dehumanizing and undignifying, emphasizing behavioral results over realized Christian personhood.

Stephen Crosby

Realized Christian life expression is often far below its potential. While we are not saved by our behavior, our behavior has kingdom impact. Few things hinder Christ's interests in the lives of unbelievers more effectively than the poor testimony of His own. Our evangelistic efforts can be near impossible because of the flotsam of bad testimony left by the Christian who may have gone before us. This doesn't excuse the unbeliever, but it sure doesn't make our task easier!

It is not a matter of living some sort of idealistic, perfect, or fault free existence in order to qualify as a bona fide Christian witness. Rather, what the world is longing to see is genuineness in relationships: with God and the world. When I worked in various industries, I found that my most effective Christian "witness," (which earned me the most respect in the eyes of unbelieving co-workers) was not my mastery of the Bible, nor my perfections, but rather my willingness to repent and ask forgiveness of unbelievers when my behavior betrayed my Lord. Unbelievers are used to know-it-all Christians telling them they are going to hell. Expressed humility can be a breath of fresh air for all parties involved.

Perplexed leaders throughout history have attempted to address the profession-expression gap by preaching and teaching various forms of "discipleship." However, the press for discipleship is often counter-productive. In the US, 80% of young people raised in the church will leave by the age of 21 and never come back. I would suggest that indicates something is wrong in our mindset, means, and methods.

It is no accident that Jesus preached and taught in a pre-industrial society. The images and metaphors He used are agricultural. Too often in a post-industrial society, we inadvertently bring our unconscious industrial, managerial, and production mindset to the matter of discipleship. Jesus' kingdom does not operate by management and production. It operates from life, not manufacturing. The model of Christian discipleship must be one of abiding and fruit bearing, not behavior modification and production.

If a seed is good, planted in good soil, provided with the necessities of sunlight, food (fertilizer) and water, kept from disease and animal abuse, it will, in its time and season, yield fruit that is consistent with its nature. A faithful gardener will care for the tree, but understands that no amount of exhortation, anxiety, or pressure can produce the fruit he/she desires. The potential of fruit is in the life of the seed. There is nothing the gardener can add. He must rest in hope and in trust of the nature of the seed. It is no different in Christianity . . . or at least it should be no different.

It is a mistake for Christian leaders to put uniform pressure on groups of people expecting them to produce discipleship. It is absurd to demand of an apple tree, fruit, just because it is the peach tree's season to bear. The problem with one-size-fits all demands of production discipleship is that it is undignifying and dehumanizing. It pays no attention to the individual. It values behavioral results over realized personhood, in Christ.

This demand-discipleship propensity commonly happens in youth groups where sins and behavioral weaknesses are often glaring, and the nervous eyes of parents are watching, expecting to see "appropriate behavior and change." Individuals with scrupulous tendencies will criticize leaders who are not maintaining the standard in what they perceive to be a uniform way. Often young people will conform to the expected strictures of behavior simply because they have no authority to do otherwise. If a young person wants to prosper in the context of a Christian sub-culture (i. e. find acceptance and stay out of trouble), they will "produce" the expected behavior, regardless of whether it is rooted in organic life relationship with Christ or not.

To be a discipler, or shaper of the lives of other human beings is a sacred responsibility. It is much easier to preach a "high standard" and exhort people to live up to it, than to actually study someone, relate to someone, know that person's identity, gifts, and calling in Christ, know the times and seasons of God for that individual, and cooperate with the death and resurrection life process in that individual's life that yields the lasting fruit of discipleship. To actually give your life for another, and walk with them through the seasons and processes of God, is a spiritual investment that most in Western culture are simply unwilling to make in interpersonal relationship. It is easier to present the manufacturer's standard, pass out procedural notes, and measure others conformity to standard: "accountability." Accountability is the spiritual production manager's counterfeit substitute for death and resurrection life.

If we view discipleship in any motif other than organic life, we will inadvertently find ourselves superintending a spiritual factory, a relational gulag. Rather than producing devoted followers of the Lamb, we will produce spirit-crushed prisoners who cannot wait to escape the foreman's stop watch or the guard's whip. Christian discipleship cannot be produced, exhorted, or nagged into people. Fruit cannot be produced by determined effort. Discipleship is the fruit of a clear seeing of Him, for who He is, and the responsive act of the will to pick up His cross and follow Him daily.