The Big Discipleship Question

Let’s talk about the discipleship debate, and what pastors can overlook about how their churches are already forming people.
Since 2020, pastors everywhere have been waking up to a quiet crisis: our discipleship isn’t deep enough.

It’s not that we didn’t care. But the pandemic pulled back the curtain.
And what it revealed in some churches was encouraging: mature believers, deep roots, resilient faith.
In others… not so much. There were gaps. Fragility. Shallow foundations.

Whether you call it formation, discipleship, spiritual maturity, or sanctification, the truth is: we’ve had a growing crisis on our hands for a while.

The world has ramped up its capacity to shape us.
Constant content. Personalized algorithms. Twenty-four-seven access.
All of it forming people, deeply and daily.
Meanwhile, many churches, often unintentionally, drifted toward a Sunday-centric, seeker-sensitive, experience-driven model.
Success was measured more by salvations than formation.
Midweek groups and classes quietly disappeared as life got busier.

And the result?

Let’s be honest. In some places: shallow Christians.
Mile-wide, inch-deep churches, where people can quote more lines from The Office than Bible verses.

Now, you know me. I’m not here to bag on the Church.
There are countless faithful people in churches everywhere, and no pastor meant for this to happen.
But it’s important to name some of how we got here.

Anyway, back to the big discipleship question:

If discipleship is what we need, how do we focus more on it?

A young pastor asked me something like that recently. I’m paraphrasing, but it went like this:

“I’d love your input on discipleship. Some leaders I know see Sunday as the pinnacle of discipleship. Others put all their energy into life groups. I just know we need to see people discipled… so where should I focus?”

It’s a question I’ve wrestled with a lot.
Here are three discipleship truths I want you to know:

1. Everything your church does is already discipling people.

A program doesn’t disciple people. The life of your church does.
Everything is forming people.

Your Sunday service? Forming.
Your spoken and unspoken values? Forming.
Your calendar, your tone, your language, the way your leaders carry themselves, it’s all forming people.

From what you say from the platform to what you don’t say.
From what you celebrate to what you normalize.
Even the songs you sing. It’s all shaping the soul.

  • If your church calendar is packed with events but never includes rest, you’re discipling people into burnout.

  • If all your language centers on “platform” and “stage,” you’re forming people to perform, not to serve.

  • If you never make room for confession, you’re teaching people to hide.

So the question isn’t if you’re discipling people, it’s how.
Not, “Are they being formed?” but “Who are they being formed into?”

If you want to disciple people into maturity in Christ, yes, better biblical preaching will help.
A few more classes certainly won’t hurt.
Getting people together midweek to pray and discuss the Word will bear good fruit.

But if that’s the only thing you tweak, you might be missing the bigger opportunity.

2. Sunday is your number one discipleship environment.

Not because it’s the most spiritual. But because it’s the most visited.
More people experience Sunday than anything else your church does.
It’s the tone-setter. The weekly rhythm that calibrates the rest.

And Sunday is forming people.

  • The songs we sing ,  they’re shaping our theology. Are they “me”-centered or Christ-centered? Do they invite surrender, awe, and the presence of God, or just soothe our spiritual anxiety? Week after week, these words shape how we imagine God and how we relate to Him.

  • The prayers we pray ,  we pray for needs in the room, and we should. We believe for miracles, for breakthrough, for healing. But is that all? Do we ever pray for sin? For confession? For the persecuted Church? For justice in our city? Or is it just “bless me, bless me, bless me”?

  • The sermons we preach ,  are we teaching the full counsel of God? Or are certain texts gathering dust because they don’t wrap up neatly in 30 minutes with a happy ending? Not every sermon needs three action points. Sometimes the goal is to marvel. Sometimes the only appropriate response is awe, conviction, or wonder. Let the Word carry its full weight.

  • The foyer, the greet-your-neighbour moment ,  I know, introverts hate it. But these small moments aren’t just transitions. They’re training grounds for fellowship. For eye contact. For warmth. For peace. For being known.

  • Communion and the Church calendar ,  we are not primarily formed by ideas, but by story.
    That’s why Jesus taught in parables. That’s why Communion matters.
    That’s why the Church calendar, Advent, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, matters too.
    Even if your church doesn’t follow a traditional liturgy, these sacred rhythms invite us to enter the Gospel story year after year. Not just to remember, but to be shaped.
    With each cycle, the Spirit reveals something fresh.

Everything is forming people.

3. We need more than Sundays to make disciples.

A while back, some research revealed that spiritual maturity tends to emerge when three things are present in someone’s life:

  • Personal spiritual practices ,  like prayer, Scripture, journaling, silence.

  • Fellowship and community ,  doing life with others who follow Jesus.

  • Engagement in God’s mission ,  living on purpose, using your gifts to serve.

If you want to see disciples formed in real life, not just theory, people need space to practice all three.

That means you probably need:

  • A thriving groups ministry ,  something that helps people share, encourage, pray, and walk with each other in their journey of faith.

  • Classes and spaces for learning ,  how to pray. How to read Scripture. How to live on mission. How to follow Jesus in parenting, singleness, work, and relationships.

  • Visible modeling from leaders ,  not perfection, but maturity. A life lived with Jesus in full view.

And all of this needs to be grounded in relationships.
God’s plan for our formation is relational.
It’s embodied.
It’s not often more content we need, but deeper relationships with godly people.
Relationship with God, and with other believers.
YouTube, podcasts, they’re helpful tools, but not the conduit for formation.

So yes, discipleship matters more than ever.
But this isn’t about a new curriculum or one more midweek option.
It’s about realizing that everything you’re already doing is forming people.

  • The songs.

  • The silence.

  • The calendar.

  • The hallway conversations.

  • The series planning meetings.

  • The jokes from the platform.

  • The prayers you pray, and the ones you don’t.

They’re all discipling someone into something.

You don’t need to reinvent everything.
You just need to see what you’re already doing through the lens of formation.

And if you’re asking that kind of question?
You’re already beginning to disciple with intention.

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