A 2009 study by the Center for Bible Engagement (CBE) says that among Christ-followers in their study, the number one indicator of spiritual growth was not church service attendance, as has been the common marker in studies by Gallup and Barna Research, but that a far more accurate marker is amount of time spent reading the Bible. Their reasoning was, the tipping point between action and inaction, seemed to be that those who spent at least four times per week, engaged in Bible reading, were less likely to engage in risky social behaviors, and more likely to share their faith, and know what the Bible actually teaches.[1] The data collected by the CBE would seem to reinforce Whitney’s conclusions about the impact of Bible reading upon discipleship, as it relates to obedience to Christ, and ultimately glorifying God. However, this is not to imply that by ceremonially reading through the Bible that a person will become more like Jesus Christ. In response to this idea Eugene Peterson writes,
The reading style employed more often than not by contemporary Christians is fast, reductive, information-gathering and, above all, practical. We read for what we can get out of it, what we can put to use, what we think we can use– and right now. “We . . . we . . . we . . . we . . .” all the way home.
If we are serious about following Jesus and living out the gift of his life in detail in our bodies and circumstances, we must swim against this whitewater river We and familiarize ourselves with the world in which Jesus and his gift of life are revealed to us. We do it by reading our Scriptures slowly, imaginatively, prayerfully, and obediently. Each adverb is important.[2]
It is precisely this kind of intentional reading and soaking in the Scripture that brings about the deep-seated change that enables the disciple to engage in the vocation of Christ. In his book, Invitation to a Journey, Robert Mulholland points out that much of the literature on discipleship and spiritual formation centers around the assumptions that we are in control of our relationship with God. Thus we believe that we can apply some quick formula fix-it and move on to spiritual wholeness. He suggests that we instead view life more as a journey filled with opportunities to give a faithful response to Christ, and learn to trust God’s control.[3] This is direct conflict with the world of the twenty-first century. Today, people live in what Dallas Willard calls, a society smothered in slogans, and cluttered with commercials, catch words and political slogans which have tiny bits of truth but not enough to live by, that fill the world with noise, and refuse silence.[4] The need is not for more of the same in a Christianized format. Over the last twenty years of American Christianity, there has been an incredible increase in Christian media, but there is no corresponding incredible increase in the number of Christians or in the quality of Christian living to suggest that it has been money well spent for discipleship. The church today needs authentic discipleship that will teach people how to live like Jesus. Willard laments the loss of Jesus’ central role as teacher in the modern church and asks if anyone can name a Christian Education program that regularly (or ever) teaches about “how to love your enemies” or “how to do good to those who persecute you” according to Matthew 5:44.[5] If the vocation of the church is the ministry of Christ, then central to that ministry is the intentional formal and informal discipleship of the individual. Robert Mulholland writes, “Spiritual formation is not an option. Spiritual formation is not a discipline just for “dedicated disciples.” It is not a pursuit only for the pious. Spiritual formation is not an activity for the deeply committed alone. It is not a spiritual frill for those with the time and inclination. Spiritual formation is not a fad. Spiritual formation is the primal reality of life.”[6] The church too often, either intentionally or unintentionally, gives the community of faith the impression that all one needs is to get saved, and that everything else is optional, but the discipleship motif is central to the New Testament and to life of the church.
[1]Center for Bible Engagement, Bible Literacy & Spiritual Growth: Survey Results, (Lincoln, NE: Back to the Bible Press, 2006), 16.
[2]Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVaristy Press, 2000), 204.
[3]M. Robert Mulholland, Jr., Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation, (Downer’s Grove, Il: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 12.
[4]Willard, Divine Conspiracy, 9-10.
[5]Ibid., 57.
