Mediated Discipleship
Great quote here from http://emergentvoyageurs.blog.com/1655629/
"For me, the basic idea behind mediated discipleship is that millions of Christians relate to Jesus through the writings, teachings, and experiences of someone else, usually someone with whom they have no direct relationship. Quite often, these middlemen and women, these mediators we employ, enjoy a certain amount of celebrity within the Christian subculture..."I’m just wondering if it’s gone too far. As Christianity becomes increasingly commercialized, is it even possible for us to know Jesus apart from the Christianized media we consume?... When discipleship to Jesus becomes dependent, as it so often does, on the writings, teachings, and experiences of someone else, I’ve got to stop and ask myself a question: 'Is this what Jesus had in mind when he invited us to follow him?'"
For a long time the church has not been good at encouraging personal discipleship. We foster among those in our congregations a dependence on the ‘sermon’ – week by week we present our members with information about the God we worship – rather than encouraging them to connect with and develop their relationship with that God.
It seems to me that this ‘mediated discipleship’ / ‘spiritual celebrity’ is just an extension of the way we Christian leaders have abdicated our responsibilities, and an example of the laziness (can I say that?) of many of our members.
Anyway. I’m off to Spring Harvest next week for a bit of mediated discipleship of my own!!
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4 comments:
I think there is definitely a sense that discipleship is mediated. (in fact i would say everything, like colin gunton and john colwell is in a sense mediated). Paul says 'imitate me' on several occasions, to follow Paul is to follow Christ. likewise if more people in our churches were to follow the best christian examples in our churches, the better our churches would be .... discipleship needs to be embodied in someone ...
Remember that this wasn't my quote. You are quoting me as I quote Purple Pastor. Thanks!
Peace,
Jamie
Good point, Andy. Thanks for that. I think there is a danger though with Christian celebrities. Who is it that we're following? Christ or Jeff Lucas (nothing personal, just the first name that came into my head)? Who is it we most want to be like? It's easier to imitate a Christian celebrity than it is to practise the imitation of Christ!
Sorry Jamie. I knew you were quoting someone else, but didn't make that very clear on my blog.
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