“Engaged and Growing Disciples”
Vital Congregations Initiative
For the Sake of the Church and World
Rev. Tully M. Fletcher IV
Decatur Presbyterian Church
Deuteronomy 11:18-21
18 You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead.
19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.
20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.
Luke 8:5-15
5 “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed,
some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up.
6 Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture.
7 Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
8 Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.”
As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” 9 Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.’
11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
12 The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
13 The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away.
14 As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
15 But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.
I often hear people talk and lament about the state of the church in America.
It is not big secret that Christianity has been on the decline in the United States for the last 40 years. Church attendance and membership is down across the board.
The largest religious group in our country these days is “no religion at all.” Nearly one in 3 people claim no faith.
I see a lot of people who say they are Christian but don’t act like it.
People who go to church, who sing the songs and pray the prayers on Sunday, but then on Monday go back to their daily lives as if nothing changed.
I once heard the statement, that sitting in church doesn’t make you a Christian in the same way sitting in your garage doesn’t make you a car. This somewhat humorous and harsh statement makes the point that engaging and growing your faith requires more than just sitting in church.
Not just are the numbers down, but the practice of faith is down.
We Protestants have relatively few ritualized practices. They certainly exist, but in general, are not practiced broadly. If worship participation is on the decline, personal prayer and/or devotions are much more so.
We are vastly more likely to depend upon the proclamation of the Word than adult bible study, small group participation or even intentional time for prayer and meditation.
Nor is it sufficient to rely upon examples. “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” is a great hymn but unless we can differentiate between good social work and Christian mission, it will be very difficult to nurture discipleship in ourselves, much less others.[1]
God is at work
Now I’ve seen the beauty of God’s creation in the mountains of Honduras.
I’ve felt the holy spirit breathe new life into a Jamaican prison.
And I’ve seen the face of Christ when I broke bread with a Muslim man in Denmark.
So I know first hand that God is alive and active in the world, the whole world, and just because America is not the center of Christianity it once was doesn’t mean all hope is lost.
After all we are a people of the resurrection and death does not scare us.
Carlos theory
Professor Carlos, I took his class the second half of my last semester at CTS…
The center of Christianity moves from place to place over time. That’s the way of things.
From Isreal, to Turkey, to Greece, to Rome, to Germany and other parts of Europe, to the United states.
The next center of Christianity will be South America or China.
DPC is vital
Just because the church in America is on the decline doesn’t mean the church right here is dying.
In fact, I look around this room, and I see all the people worshipping from home by YouTube, and you know what I see?
I see a growing vibrant church.
I see a vital church.
Self assessment
So let’s do a little self assessment. I have 3 questions for like a little pop quiz.
- Does the word of God permeate all aspects of your life?
- How many hours a week do you spend practicing your faith? How does that number compare to hours spent watching the news or following a sports team?
- Is your faith stronger than it was 5 years ago? Then it was 10 years ago? Or weaker?
How did you do?
Is your faith where you want it to be?
The good news is that if you a part of this church your part of a church with deep roots and a long history of faith. Nearly 200 years of history.
That is something to be celebrated in deed.
Let’s look at these questions, and see what they mean.
Question 1
Does the word of God permeate all of your life?
If you want to be an engaged and growing disciple, you have to drink from the Word of God.
let’s turn to Deuteronomy for some guidance…Deuteronomy 11:18-21
18 You shall put these words …in your heart and soul… 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.
We are suppose to not just read the Bible, but we are supposed to live in it. We’re supposed to let the words permeate our deepest being.
The way to do that is to read and think about the scriptures each day, and in a variety of places. How does this scripture affect my work? My School? My friends?
The passage also tells us:
and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead.
20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
The idea here is that you can’t escape the scripture. That you will encounter the words when you aren’t expecting it.
Leaving for the day, “oh yeah, there’s God’s word.”
Question 2,
- How many hours a week do you spend practicing your faith? How does that number compare to hours spent watching the news or following a sports team?
If you want to be an engaged and growing disciple, it takes effort and work.
Example of 1080 hours to go from one grade to the next.
State of Georgia department of education requires 1080 class room hours for a student to move from one grade to the next. 180 days of school, and about 6 hours a day, that’s what it takes for a student to move from 4th grade to 5th grade.
Imagine you go to worship and Sunday school, and that’s it. 2 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, that’s 104 hours a year. At that rate it would take 10 years, for a person to accumulate 1080 classroom hours.
10 years to move from 4th grade to 5th grade in your faith.
Question 3,
- Is your faith stronger than it was 5 years ago? Then it was 10 years ago? Or weaker?
This one is hard to measure. And even harder to compare from one person o the next.
If you want to be an engaged and growing disciple, it takes time and reflection.
Example of the book shelf with Eleanor’s height on it
Montreat is my spiritual doorpost.
- As a high school attendee
- As college student a bit more mature
- As a Small Group Leader
- As a back home leader
- On planning team
- Getting to tell my own story from the Montreat Stage
- This summer, watching 3 of the DPC youth lead worship
My story
To close this morning I want to share a bit of my own story.
I’m talking about the Luke Scripture, the parable of the Sower.
My own faith, I was the seed that fell on good soil, grew up strong in the faith, nurtured by my church, and my Sunday school classes.
- I was baptized when I was 4 years old, one of my earliest memories.
- My family was at church each week, my dad taught Sunday school, my mom helped count the offering.
- Later in life, my mom even worked at the church. Youth group was like a second home to me.
Now don’t get me wrong, my life and faith had struggles and challenges. There times when the storms in my life were fierce. Times when the wind blew so hard a branch or two was broken off.
- Like when my dad died.
I went through periods of my life where my faith was neglected, where I tried to ignore God. But the roots were deep and my faith survived the drought.
I was like the seed that fell on the good soil.
Then I went to seminary,
Shout out to Victor Aloyo, new President of CTS.
Then I went to seminary. And that was like being the plant And I was like the plant that was pruned back to nothing but a stump.
Story of plant in my backyard 
When I moved into my house at the end of 2018, I had these 3 bushes in my back yard that were way overgrown. Each bush was as wide as a VW bug, and they made getting in and out of the driveway somewhat difficult. So, I went to Lowes, I bought a hedge trimmer and I went to work… I got a little over zealous, and over trimmed the one on the left.
After a few months, spring time rolled around and that bush on the left was not doing so well. It was practically dead. So I went back to Lowes, and bought a chain saw, and trimmed that bush down to the stump.
I thought that bush was dead.
But God works miracles, and now here we are 3 years later, and that bush is back. It’s grown to 2 or 3 feet tall. Because it had deep roots.
This bush is like what God can do wityh your faith and life. If you feel like a plant that has been pruned back to the stump, keep hope, for God can provide new life and new growth.
We are a people of the resurrection, and death does not scare us.
Your faith roots are deep.
And God can work miracles, bringing things back from the dead.
So, put in the time, effort, and word
and you will be an engaged & growing disciple.
Benediction
Go forth into the world
With compassion and justice in your heart
Give strength to the weak
and Give voice to the silent
See one another truly,
Hear one another’s story
And love one another
It’s all that easy
And it’s all that hard
Now may the grace of God
The love of Christ
And the power of the Holy Spirit
Be with us all, now and forever more
AMEN
[1] From Vernon’s FIRL BLOG from the 08/11/2022
