Discipleship Revisited (David Watson)

David Watson was an Anglican who was close friends with John Wimber, wrote one of the best books on discipleship I have ever read.

David Watson, an Anglican, had a close relationship to John Wimber, one of the founding fathers of the Vineyard movement. Sadly, David Watson died from cancer in 1984, but his death had a profound impact on Wimber’s theology of the kingdom. As Bill Jackson notes,

“Watson’s death was one of great heartache for Wimber, and was a test of his theology of the kingdom (a la George Ladd) that the kingdom was here but not here yet, thus allowing for pain as well as power. It said to the world that the Vineyard was not part of the faith movement. It allowed for tragedy as well as signs and wonders.” (Bill Jackson, The Quest for the Radical Middle)

What many may not know is that Watson wrote one of the best books on the topic of discipleship, aptly titled, Discipleship. Though written over forty years ago, who could argue with Watson’s observation:

“… Christians in the West have largely neglected what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The vast majority of western Christians are church-members, pew-fillers, hymn-singers, sermon-tasters, Bible-readers, even born-again believers or Spirit-filled-charismatics — but not true disciples of Jesus.” (p. 16)

Houston, we have a problem… still.

A Discipleship Process.

Years ago I spent time some time with Dr. Robert Logan as we were exploring ways to create a discipleship resource for Vineyard churches. Over the course of the week he shared that he thought that while content for discipleship resources mattered, what really mattered was that we had a discipleship process. In many churches, we have an attitude that “it’s more caught than taught,” but we need to… well… teach. And while a lot of energy is spent evaluating the content of many discipleship courses, at least some people have discipleship courses!

So I’ve been thinking a lot about being more intentional about discipleship in my own local church and I’m currently testing out a pretty basic plan. I’m taking David Watson’s book and doing my best to summarize the sections in a short paragraph and using it as a discussion guide for a Wednesday night gathering I’m a part of.

Part of the challenge in the world we find ourselves in is that few people read like we used to. The Church is competing with social media, scrolling screens, and short attention spans. Numerous studies indicate that education has become much more challenging and fewer people have the same level of reading comprehension as decades ago. And before church leaders freak out about this, remember that for a LOT of human history, most people were illiterate. Yet the gospel was shared and spread across the world.

So my current plan is to break each of the twelve chapters of Watson’s book up into little summaries and have discussions around the topics. Participants will only need their Bibles and we’ll use open ended questions to engage in dialogue.

For readers, check out the chapter topics that Watson covered:

• The call to discipleship.

• Called into God’s family.

• Creating community.

• Making disciples.

• Life in the Spirit.

• Prayer.

• The Word of God.

• Spiritual Warfare.

• Evangelism.

• Discipleship & simple life.

• Cost of discipleship.

• Abounding hope.

Each chapter is rich with wisdom. In the past, I’ve always handed out copies of Don Williams’ Start Here, which is a gold mine. It’s a shame it’s not easily available these days. But I think for this summer, Watson’s book is going to be fun to reread and summarize and discuss.

Sacramental Space for the Spirit to Move.

I think it’s important to add that the primary reason why I’m excited for more discipleship opportunities is because as I’ve developed a theology of space, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are many “sacramental spaces” where the Holy Spirit is able to show up and show off. It’s often in the context of these small gatherings where we get to ask questions and wrestle with ideas that the Spirit works in. In the past few weeks I’ve seen the Spirit draw people toward Jesus in some really beautiful ways.

But here’s the thing… you have to be in these spaces and have these spaces available to see these things happen. And as Bob Logan has said, you have to have something to turn to, something to consider your process. Organic or prepared is fine, you just need something.

What do you think? What process are you currently using, both as a church leader or as a follower of Jesus trying to make a difference in the world for the cause of the kingdom? I’d love to know below!

About the Author

Luke Geraty is a pastor-theologian in northern California. With a few theology degrees and nearly twenty years of pastoral leadership, Luke loves the Bible, theology, fly fishing, coffee, and books. All opinions are his own and not the views of any other organizations he’s affiliated with. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe to his YouTube.