Claire personally attributes her walk with God, a passion for His Word and a desire to disciple other women largely in part due to the mentorship and discipleship in her own life within the first nine months of her being born again. Day after day, she trudged through the Word of God, learning and wrestling under sound teaching. Years after Jesus Christ became her Lord and Savior, she sat under the teaching of older women who held her to a degree of accountability in the spiritual formation as a follower of Christ. She soon realized this was not the norm.
“The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn aside from the snares of death.”
Proverbs 13:14
Jesus was filled with wisdom and stature, and he went to temple to be taught daily. We should emulate the One we are to be like, much like Paul exhorts, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1. It should be our goal each day to find time to be taught the Word of God.
We want to be very clear here…we are keenly aware that there is no perfect church, like there is no perfect family, including our own. The only perfect church will be the redeemed body of Christ from this earth and in complete worship of a Holy God. The type of mentorship and discipleship Claire experienced, in some, not all churches she attended, is NOT readily available in every church across this nation. There were times she longed for an older woman to come along, to – exhort, encourage, equip and excite her. Amy, on the other hand, did not experience the Biblical mandate of Titus 2 within the walls of a church. It wasn’t until she did her first inductive Bible study under the leadership of an older lady who took that role seriously in her life. Unbeknownst to her, this precious lady became a mentor who…
exhorted,
encouraged,
equipped and
excited her
for deep study of the Word of God, spiritual growth and living a godly life.
Our burden remains the same through all these observations. It seems many churches are more concerned with people signing up to serve in a social aspect without knowing where they are in their walk with the Lord. They lack the urgency of teaching the Word of God to ensure that the workers know the God they are serving. Furthermore, churches must cease in allowing home groups to continually be led when the leader has not been discipled himself in how to lead out with the standard of Biblical leadership. It is clear in the Word of God.
Where do we find these answers? IN THE WORD OF GOD
So, we must ask…. Who is teaching you? What is teaching you? Have you searched the scriptures to know the Word so that you can admonish every man and teach every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ? Or are you only able to articulate the denominational beliefs which negate or even come against the very authority of the Word of God? Our hearts are grieved for the state of the church and the lack of sound teaching. Therefore,
For this purpose we also labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works in us
Colossians 1:28-29
