Can you sneeze it?

We all know how unpleasant or even, these days, dangerous it can be to sit next to someone who sneezes all over you. Within a moment you can have caught a cold or even the flu. But it's the simplicity of a sneeze that can help us think about how replicable our faith could be.

 

When trying to explain faith, many of our churches over-explain or over-confuse something that is really meant to be so simple. For example, if you asked most church attendees what it means to be a disciple they would struggle to give an answer in one sentence. Because a simple answer can’t be given, the danger is that nothing is said that is useful at all. If you can’t repeat something, you can’t replicate something.

 

The church movement thinker Alan Hirsch would argue that it was because the “early church could sneeze ‘Jesus is Lord’ as a simple doctrinal statement” that the 12 disciples became a global movement. It was the simplicity that was replicable. Can you simplify the idea of discipleship down to something that could be sneezed? At Making Disciples we like to talk about discipleship in this way….

 

“Discipleship is loving and obeying God with your head, heart and hands”.

 

The simplicity of this statement means that if nothing else someone can remember that discipleship is about your head, heart and hands. It’s this simplicity that means anyone can replicate, share or show a new individual what it means to follow Jesus. Loving and obeying God with your head is all about what you know, and how you think and reflect. Loving and obeying God with your heart is about having a heart that is broken for the same things as Jesus and being willing to love, care and serve. Loving and obeying God with your hands is about using what you have for his kingdom and his work. Yes, your resources but also your voice.

 

CHALLENGE:

Can you communicate the simplicity of the following areas quickly and clearly so that they can be reproduced?
 

Discipleship

The gospel

Salvation

Who was Jesus