In the song he says:

“I’m out to take the bible/
create disciples/
who make disciples/
disciple cycles”

I think you’re absolutely right, Joseph. One thing that the Church has failed to do effectively is discipleship.

We as pastors have gone to great lengths to bring in fancy marketing strategies to facilitate church growth. We’re trying to sell church to people. We’re like spiritual realtors, trying to get them to buy a spiritual home from us. We try to sell them with our programs, fancy lights and sound system, our cafe area, our work-out facility, computer lab, library, day care center, etc. We’ve totally gotten away from the model in which Christ left us to build His kingdom, and that is discipleship. Period.

LeCrae also speaks on this a little bit more in the same song. He says:

“Discipleship is our call but we make disciples
This is not a suggestion, create disciples.
The teachin’ is a process, it’s not over night
And its not a stage and a mic nah, it’s life on life
Christ walked with twelve, ate with twelve
Talked with twelve, shaped the twelve
Invested in ‘em well
You could say that he made the twelve.
Who made many more, who made plenty more,
Now it’s on you and me if there’s anymore.
1 teach, 2 teach, 3 teach, 4 teach,
5 teach, 6 teach, 7 teach more
This is what we’ve been commissioned,
It’s the reason why I write,
So that you could hear the truth,
Not so you can say I’m tight whoa!!”

Building the Kingdom has always been about building relationships. Discipleship forces us to get involved in each others lives, hold each other accountable, to not only teach & mentor each other, but to love and pray for each other, as well.

We tell people that it’s all about relationship, not religion. But then they come into our churches and they don’t see that being modeled because true discipleship is not there. True discipleship creates true relationships in the spiritual. It’s how we bond together as a community of believers, and we need to be spiritually bonded together–not just emotionally.

What they see instead is programs that project a picture of community, unity, & family which is just as empty and hollow as the building itself because discipleship is not practiced, taught, or modeled. To be blunt honest churches these days are either faking discipleship, projecting an illusion of discipleship, or halfheartedly going through the motions of discipleship because there is no passion there for it.

Joseph, I’m so happy and so pleased that you have a real passion for discipleship. Because of that passion I can see it trickling down to your congregation and them, likewise, birthing a passion for discipleship in their own lives.