Looking over the state of the church, AMI has realized that there are several holes in the current church model. Any one ministry may not be able to fill all the gaps, AMI strives to fill what we believe is a significant blind spot. The writing below is an attempt to present the focus of AMI in a concise manner.
In the current model, there are three phases to a person’s development in faith. First, there are those outside of the church. The church works tirelessly to get people into the building. It could be through new programs, hip music, flashy children and youth programs, community engagement activities, holiday celebrations, and even free food. This does attract some new unchurched people, but mostly it shifts individuals from one congregation to another.
The second, phase in development of a person’s spirituality comes after they arrive in the building. This stage is moving people from the front door of the church to the foot of the cross. Many churches are able to shift individuals from the front door to a place of “accepting” Jesus as at least Savior. You may think, “Great! They are saved!” But can Jesus truly be your Savior without being your Lord? Will He rescue anyone over whom He is not Lord? A true interaction with the Savior leads to an acknowledgement that He is Lord and Savior. This is the point of being “born again.” (See John 3)
The third and final stage of development is spiritual growth. This phase is entirely dependent on the second phase. If someone does not have a divine encounter with Christ, they are not “born again.” If they have not received the Holy Spirit of God and been turned into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), they cannot understand spiritual matters. At that point, the person’s eyes are opened and they are able to see the work of the Holy Spirit. Just like a baby, a new spiritual creature cannot begin to grow and mature until he/she are born. They will remain an infant and die. The same is true for the infant who only eats sporadically, they will eventually waste away.
Out of the three phases of development, the third is often most neglected by the evangelical church. The focus is on getting people in the door, converting them to “follow Christ”, and getting to work for the Kingdom.
Ask yourself, how effective is your church at developing mature Christians who live a life dedicated to Jesus Christ. Do your life and the life of fellow believers spill over into the work place? Do people see the difference in the way you live and act? Is this an efficient model for sharing the gospel? Was this the format for the early church? Is this the process needed as we move into the future? What is your answer? If you are like most churches, you would honestly say that there is not much focus on maturing those individuals who have had a “salvation experience.” Much of the focus of the church is to bring people in the door and hopefully convince them to “accept” Christ. What is currently resulting from this model is a group of converts to a mental assertion of Christianity. It at best creates baby Christians who are easily swayed when life turns difficult.
Let me share a concept first introduced to me while reading, “Tally Ho the Fox”, by Herb Hodges. Sitting in a sermon every week is like standing 20 feet away from a bunch of milk bottles. You throw water at the milk bottles in the attempt to fill them up, but you only end up getting water in a few of the bottles and they never seem to get full. True maturity comes when a disciple of Jesus Christ is able to move from throwing the water from 20 feet away and walks over to the bottle and fills them one at a time. This is called DISCIPLESHIP.
Discipleship is the core focus of Awaken Ministries International. This ministry was created out of the need to make disciple makers (2 Timothy 2:2). We are intentional on building up Christ followers who will build Christ followers. Through building disciple makers, the work place will see the difference in those who follow Jesus Christ. People will come to Christ out side of a physical location and the church can then be filled with maturing followers of our Lord and Savior.
