Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer on Discipleship<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have already posted three times about Michael Spencer's first and last book Mere Churchianity: Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer or What\u2019s wrong with\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/03\/mere-churchianity-by-michael-spencer-on-discipleship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer on Discipleship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have already posted three times about Michael Spencer's first and last book Mere Churchianity: Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer or What\u2019s wrong with\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/03\/mere-churchianity-by-michael-spencer-on-discipleship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-07T18:34:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-09-16T17:09:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adrianwarnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/03\/mere-churchianity-by-michael-spencer-on-discipleship\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/03\/mere-churchianity-by-michael-spencer-on-discipleship\/\",\"name\":\"Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer on Discipleship\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-07T18:34:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-16T17:09:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\"},\"description\":\"I have already posted three times about Michael Spencer's first and last book Mere Churchianity: Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer or What\u2019s wrong with\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/03\/mere-churchianity-by-michael-spencer-on-discipleship\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/03\/mere-churchianity-by-michael-spencer-on-discipleship\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/03\/mere-churchianity-by-michael-spencer-on-discipleship\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer on Discipleship\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/\",\"name\":\"Adrian Warnock\",\"description\":\"Patheos Evangelical\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\",\"name\":\"Adrian Warnock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Adrian Warnock\"},\"description\":\"The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. 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{"id":11189,"date":"2011-03-07T18:34:21","date_gmt":"2011-03-07T18:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrianwarnock.com\/?p=11189"},"modified":"2017-09-16T18:09:20","modified_gmt":"2017-09-16T17:09:20","slug":"mere-churchianity-by-michael-spencer-on-discipleship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/03\/mere-churchianity-by-michael-spencer-on-discipleship\/","title":{"rendered":"Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer on Discipleship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I have already posted three times about Michael Spencer\u2019s first and last book Mere Churchianity:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer or What\u2019s wrong with the church<\/a><\/li>\n
Mere Churchianity Part 2: Where I disagree with Michael Spencer<\/a><\/li>\n
Mere Churchianity Part 3: Bringing Jesus Back to the Cente<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Today, we will be looking at Spencer\u2019s understanding of a disciple of Jesus. He is rightly concerned about people who merely make a declaration of faith in Jesus without exhibiting any evidence of transformation:<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 assignment to the apostles was not to get people to respond to an altar call but to make disciples of all nations. And he defined that as being taught to obey everything he commanded. Obedience is action, not merely a set of beliefs.Read more at location 1642<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A Kingdom-seeking disciple lives in the light of the cross and in the grace of the perfect Mediator and dies confessing that Jesus has defeated death.Read more at location 1673<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Of course, one of Jesus\u2019 commands is that we love each other, and to do that we must be in the community of the Church. As far as I understand, Spencer never actually left the organized church himself, he was just more sympathetic towards those who do than I am. Please don\u2019t misunderstand me, a big part of the history of the kind of churches I am involved in, is that they often start with some people who leave another church. But they leave a church to start another. Often that church is a house church initially, but it might well grow to become a warehouse church if that is what God intends! But, Spencer is dead right that the goal must be genuine discipleship, and not mere decisions or bottoms on seats. As he puts it:<\/p>\n
Much of what passes for proclaiming Jesus is, in actuality, churches concerned with attracting large numbers on Sunday mornings, directing financial resources toward church budgets, and showing Christians how to get in synch with church activities. What\u2019s needed is a wave of churches that are committed to helping you become a missionary Read more at location 2588<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ouch! Once again Spencer hits the nail on the head, a little too accurately for comfort! But later he goes somewhat further than I would be comfortable doing. It is far too easy to point the finger at others, by making an accusation that probably is true in some cases and then assuming that it is true everywhere:<\/p>\n
Many of us are convinced we have already heard every sermon that\u2019s out there. We are familiar with the same one hundred moral exhortations, the same life lessons, and the same theological necessities. We all can list the typical spiritual demands, spoken by one hundred pastors attempting to sound just like their favorite superstar pastor. We are weary of the same one hundred convenient half-truths\u2014the acceptable, agreed-upon untruths. We have heard evangelicalism\u2019s prosperity promises and its prevarications and protests at least one hundred times. Those of us who started attending church at a young age and have kept at it over the years could preach the standard sermons as well as most of the persons in the pulpit. We\u2019ve heard the same script delivered with different spins. It is overwhelmingly all the same, and it is not the life we want.Read more at location 2769<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Spencer also argues that, for all our evangelical pride about being Bible-focused, we don\u2019t actually trust the Spirit to speak to ordinary Christians through the Word:<\/p>\n
The biblical notion that the Holy Spirit might prompt a person while reading Scripture terrifies large numbers of evangelicals. The Holy Spirit is great in theory, but when he starts actually doing things, you never know when the situation might get out of control.Read more at location 1998<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Perhaps Spencer does have a point, but I repeat, the answer is NOT to give up on the church but to work to make her better!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have already posted three times about Michael Spencer\u2019s first and last book Mere Churchianity: Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer or What\u2019s wrong with the church Mere Churchianity Part 2: Where I disagree with Michael Spencer Mere Churchianity Part 3: Bringing Jesus Back to the Cente Today, we will be looking at Spencer\u2019s understanding of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[475],"class_list":["post-11189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-church-2"],"yoast_head":"\nMere Churchianity by Michael Spencer on Discipleship<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have already posted three times about Michael Spencer's first and last book Mere Churchianity: Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer or What\u2019s wrong with\" \/>\n<meta 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Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. 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