students of jesus

Leonard Sweet calls it the “Big Jug” theory of learning: when one source (the expert) has all the knowledge in a big jug and the rest of us (the students) gather around: “the little jug's job is to catch all the droppings of the big jug.” I’m sure still there must be a place for this kind of learning, but that place has nothing to do with discipleship.

At the beginning of this year I began visiting other churches with a subversive agenda: to engage in conversation about discipleship rather than to lecture folks on what to do. This is the birth of DEEPER Seminars. It’s an interactive small-group setting that leads to discovery of our deepest assumptions about what it means to follow Jesus. As the facilitator of these conversations, I’ve learned more than I’ve taught. Here are three examples:

Each person’s history holds the presence of God. Through good decisions or bad, our lives confirm that Jesus really is Emmanuel, God with us. I’ve heard story after story of how the Father is able to use our past as the foundation for spiritual understanding, and how he infuses every life experience with the wisdom necessary for our good and our growth.

God’s grace is about more than forgiveness: it’s about growth. I’ve listened to men and women tell stories of how the Spirit of God whispered to them in their failures and taught them lessons that go way beyond book learning or mere doctrine. In the messy everyday situations of life, the Spirit brings insight and revelation, and this, too, is the proper operation of his grace.

Sometimes we box Jesus into the role of “Savior.” Together, as we read the scripture in intimate settings and look closely at the life of Jesus, we discover the Lord’s longing for us to receive him as “Example” as well as “Savior.” This is good news with a deep challenge: instead of merely appreciating his actions, we are called to imitate them. I’ve discovered there’s no greater transition required of us today, and lectures can never accomplish transformation.

Each year thousands of people (tens of thousands, really) descend upon Atlanta or Dallas or Chicago or Los Angeles to attend Christianity’s big shows, conferences that are the parachurch’s equivalent of mega-churches. On stage is the big jug and the little jugs in the stadium seats soak up the droppings. I’m grateful for these gatherings and the excitement they generate. I also see how much is spilled and wasted when the big jug distributes the water of life apart from listening and relationship.

I’ve found that the deepest transformations come in living room sessions, church basements, and in the circle of sharing the word of God with one another. This discovery has given me the passion to schedule DEEPER Seminars in the most unlikely places, and to realize that in God’s kingdom even the teachers have much to learn.