Over the last few weeks, we have looked at the Jewish rabbinic style of discipleship and how it forms a pattern for the way in which we can grow in our faith today.

Now I want to explore the ways in which this Jewish model of discipleship and what God wants to do in his church converge, especially in the light of the pandemic we are living through.

Currently, one of the challenges we face is how services, groups and programmes have been stripped away, or forced to be a screen experience only. So often in the past we have said that church is not just about services or programmes, yet it has been too easy to live as though it were, as if we were on autopilot.

Now, instead of simply returning to our old model, I believe God wants us to rediscover what the life of discipleship we have been discussing looks like in practice.

A life of discipleship

Proactive engagement Disciples are not limited by services or programmes, they are not waiting for someone to create the perfect circumstances for them to encounter God, they are developing their faith for themselves proactively, seeking to follow the master and become like him through their own intention and heart engagement.

Journey Disciples understand that they have not reached a finish line called ‘being saved’ but crossed a start line and stepped into the journey of following and becoming.

Questions Disciples are committed to the journey, however messy. They understand that their questions help them grow, however dumb they may seem, and that since life is a classroom and God the teacher, he welcomes questions and invites discussion.

Humility By extension disciples walk with humility, knowing they are still a work in progress and extending that grace to others. A community founded on discipleship is therefore one where people can come in and take masks off rather than adopting an artificial Christian identity to fit in.

Disciples are committed to the journey, however messy.

Discipline Disciples aren’t afraid of discipline, fearing it will become a legalistic drag on their faith. They set up their lives and lifestyles with routines to help develop their faith and prioritise what they believe is first place – a relationship with the living God.

Imitating Jesus Disciples don’t look to imitate the customs of the world, but to imitate and become like their master. Anything that helps this is good. Anything that hinders it is not. Passion, not a tick-box, is the driver for disciples.

Community Disciples operate in community rather than keeping their faith ‘personal’ or ‘private’ in some secretive way. They know that "iron sharpens iron" (Pr 27:17) and only in community can they learn how to ‘love one another’ (and also serve, pray for, prefer, and forgive one another etc.).

Action Disciples are looking to put their faith and love into action, not simply to hold or argue about beliefs or opinions. A disciple is more like an apprentice than a classroom student. The emphasis is on 'halakah', lived wisdom, as opposed to just intellectually held beliefs. And this leads to individuals and churches that have greater impact and influence on those around them.

A church of disciples

I believe God is longing for a church of disciples, whose identity is firmly fixed in their loving relationship with God and one another, above any congregational style allegiance or credo.

We cannot be the light of the world simply by trumpeting strongly held beliefs or proclaiming what we think are godly morals. We must reconnect with the Jewish framework for discipleship and community and become the people God has called us to be, individually and together. It is about incarnation not just information, so we must yield ourselves to him and give him room to move.

Since discipleship involves all of life, we must make our homes into 'mikdash m’at', or little sanctuaries, so that the church space is an extension of this rather than the other way around.

It is about incarnation not just information, so we must yield ourselves to him and give him room to move.

The bottom line is that Jesus has not invited us to become Christians if that means adopting a label or joining a religion. He has only invited us to become his 'talmidim', his disciples. It is a much more costly but also a more fulfilling and fruitful venture. One which also thankfully makes us much more aware of our desperate need for him and one another.

Creating this community

The challenge for church leadership is to adopt this kind of model, community and mindset, even at the expense of long-held and dearly cherished forms. We must be willing to let go of our old wineskins or ways of thinking if we are to find the truly exciting journey of transformation that God has for us.

The first step in this journey for leaders is to recognise that their primary responsibility is not to create a programme but to become a person who aims to model Christlikeness and the humility of a true disciple following, as Tozer said, hard after God. A rabbi is not fundamentally an organiser but an example, an inspiration through their way of living, not just their preaching or teaching. The bar for leadership in Jewish thinking is therefore both higher and, in other ways, more realistic and more empowering of others.

This kind of Jewish model inherently has a less top-down emphasis, and a greater sense of each person’s responsibility for their own walk, both spiritual and natural. Moreover, whilst fans only make fans, disciples make disciples. So evangelism and growth is a natural by-product, carried on by the body not just a select few.

Returning to this means having the courage to trust that God’s methods, the ones Jesus and his disciples used, really work. The programmes and structures we need are the ones that truly facilitate community and learning together, and empower people in their own walk with God.

Discipleship isn’t good because it’s Jewish. God gave it to his people as a method because it is good! It may seem a longer route but ultimately it is shorter than trudging endlessly around the mountain of tradition. And it leads to multiplication and exponential growth, rather than just addition.

I believe we have an opportunity to become uniquely relevant to the current situation and the wider questions society is asking – about the nature of success, community, the environment, the idea of true justice and returning to a compassionate society, etc – but only if we yield to what God wants to do.

There is dead tradition and glorious life in all expressions of the Christian faith, and we need each other.

To embrace the Jewish framework is not about adopting a layer of Jewish culture as a token or celebrating festivals out of a romantic notion or feeling. It is about truly allowing God to show us what this means, because the biblical (and only) revelation we have of him is through the Jews, from Abraham through to Jesus and the apostles.Often reformation starts with a new way of seeing and thinking

Some revivals come from dramatic moves of the Spirit, but often reformation starts with a new paradigm or way of seeing and thinking. God is looking to strip from the church all dead or lifeless ways of thinking (dead religion), and re-grow the healthy, life-giving, fruit-bearing organism that the church is called to be. This stripping away will bring us to the root and trunk of our faith, the covenant-making, life-giving God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, upheld by the tap root that is Christ himself.

This is not simply about traditional versus modern or charismatic churches. There is dead tradition and glorious life in all expressions of the Christian faith, and we need each other. The wonderful thing about coming back to the trunk is that we can focus on what unites us rather than details (twigs and leaves) that divide us.

Returning to the source

Returning to the source – the trunk and the roots – helps us to embrace this process, align our hearts with God, and grow to greater maturity as individuals and communities. Not simply as ‘churches’ but as a whole body. We can dial down denominational and theological divisions as we learn to keep the main thing the main thing, walking as disciples together on the journey. The world is waiting for this kind of church, though it doesn’t know it yet. Are we willing?

My prayer is that the church worldwide would come back to the authentic Jewish Jesus, and all that entails. It may seem scary to let go of our lazy usage of terms like ‘Old’ and ‘New’, our over-dependence on Sunday services and other people’s sermons, our idea of ‘being a Christian’ as a comfortable ‘moral’ identity, or ‘going to church’. But in reality, reconnecting with the truth about Jesus, Israel and the Church will only lead us to a place of greater blessing, power, and influence for God.

Dave HoffbrandDavid and his wife form part of the team responsible for the spiritual oversight of Citycoast Church, Brighton. In David’s weekly resource 52 Sabbaths he unwraps a different aspect of the Sabbath each week, and looks at how we can apply it to our lives. Anyone can sign up for free. His book The Jewish Jesus is available at www.thejewishjesusbook.com as well as most major booksellers.