The General Assembly of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) in November 2019 in Jakarta, Indonesia declared the next ten years to be a decade of holistic disciple-making. Without a doubt this is a very timely decision, especially for Western churches, since discipleship for many Christians and also Evangelical churches seems to have assumed secondary importance. The American expert on church matters Dallas Willard rightly claims, ”So far as the visible Christian institutions of our day are concerned, discipleship is clearly optional.” He laments the great omission in Western churches when it relates to discipleship. No wonder churches lose their attraction in a society in search for spirituality. A spiritually attractive Christian life is an expression of spiritual maturity, a result of discipleship understood as a process, that takes place within accountable relationships over a period of time for the purpose of bringing believers to spiritual maturity in Christ.
This said, we must yet acknowledge the fact that there is a growing awareness of the ongoing importance of discipleship all around the world, including the Evangelicals. Quite a number of Christian conferences on the theme have recently been conducted. The WCC organized a World Mission Conference in Arusha, Tanzania in 2018 under the heading “Moving in the Spirit: Called to Transforming Discipleship.” A number of national initiatives have grown out of this conference.
Researching various publications, it becomes obvious that the term discipleship is used in many, at times even contradictory, ways. One author speaks of “spiritual”, another of “messianic”, “organic”, “life-style”, “sacramental”, “community”, “collaborative”, “outreach”, or also “transforming” discipleship. Thus, an urgent call for a clear definition of what discipleship and more specific transforming discipleship really means is needed...
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