The Forgotten Ways: Disciple Making

In his description of mDNA and Apostolic Genius, Hirsch believes that discipleship is the most critical factor. He writes, "For the follower of Jesus, discipleship is not the first step toward a promising career. It is in itself the fulfillment of his or her destiny. We never move from being a disciple on-the-way" (p.. 103).

He believes that the Western church, by and large, has lost the art of making disciples. He attributes this to a number of factors, the most important of which is consumerism. I thought this was the most powerful and challenging part of the chapter. Consumerism functions in many ways as an alternative religion, according to Hirsch. Traditionally religion has functioned to offer people a compelling sense of identity, community, purpose, and meaning. He argues that currently advertising functions in just this way: offering people identity, community, purpose, and meaning. He writes,

Much that goes by the name advertising has nothing to do with inherent aspects
of the products themselves. Rather, advertising has everything to do with
managing the value and significance people give to products and the relative
status we derive from them. In our day there is little doubt that as a
culture we have totemized the product. In other words, it has
acquired religious significance for us (p. 108).

How consumerism works itself out in the church is that it creates an ethos of religious consumerism. People attend a church as religious consumers, and based on what the church can do for them will determine to a large extent their involvement or connection to the church. The church becomes a dispenser of religious goods and services, in other words. The underlying attitude is "What's in this for me?" "What can I get out of this?" Rather than surrendering our lives to this God who calls us to radical obedience and discipleship; rather than an obedience and discipleship that includes suffering and bearing the cross; rather than following Jesus in a life of transformation, people want to pick-and-choose from a smorgasbord of ideas and behaviors that will conveniently enhance their lives.

Hirsch argues that churches need to make discipleship the top priority of their mission and ministries if they intend to regain apostolic vitality. What do you think?