If Jesus Called the First Disciples in Today’s Church…

I sometimes find it both humorous and enlightening to collide how Jesus modeled ministry with how we approach it today in our churches. Take for example the instances when Jesus called his first disciples.

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.” (Matthew 4:18-20, NIV)

That’s how it actually happened. This is how I picture it looking if Jesus called the first disciples the same way we approach asking people to serve in the church. If Jesus did it like we do it, he would have probably done this.

First of all, he’d come up with a clever name for the ministry team. He’d probably call it the “Disciple Dudes” or something catchy like that. Then he’d find a younger guy on the team to design a fancy t-shirt. The t-shirt would be something like you’d find in the “Affliction” line of clothing, but it would include the new “Disciple Dudes” logo on some inconspicuous spot of the t-shirt.

After that, Jesus would submit a communications request form to get something in the bulletin indicating he was short of volunteers to serve on the discipleship team. If he is lucky, he might also get a PowerPoint slide before the service. Of course, if Jesus circumvented the communications process and went straight to the senior pastor, there’s a chance he might get a platform announcement to let everyone know about the volunteer opportunities on the discipleship team.

If all goes well, a few people will check the box on the comment card indicating an interest in serving with the “Disciple Dudes”. That will trigger a series of phone calls and email messages trying to track down the people who said they wanted to serve. Being very strategic, Jesus waits until evening to call people hoping he’ll find them at home. Of course, most people don’t want to be interrupted with phone calls from people they don’t know. When they see an unfamiliar number on caller ID, they send it straight to voice mail.

The email message is one of several that has gone out from the church this week. In addition to the “Disciple Dudes” follow up, there were separate email messages and phone call reminders about the men’s ministry event, the new small groups that are launching, local missions efforts, student ministry gatherings, children’s ministry updates and the message about the upcoming new series Jesus is teaching called, “It’s All About Me.” Most people, of course, view multiple messages coming from the same organization as spam, so the “Discipleship Dudes” follow up email message isn’t ever read.

After multiple attempts to call and email people who checked a box in the bulletin, Jesus grows frustrated. He starts to blame the people in the church for not doing anything besides taking up a seat on Sunday morning. He talks with his friends about how the church leadership doesn’t care about his ministry area; otherwise, they’d be helping him get more volunteers. And, because ministry doesn’t stop, he decides to ask someone who is already serving as an usher to also join the “Disciple Dudes” team because he knows that person is available and will say yes.

It’s probably a good thing Jesus decided to invest in relationships and invite people into ministry without following our process.