Can Discipleship Extend Beyond the Local Church?

Have you struggled to know the place that books, podcasts, conferences, online courses, blogs, and other online resources should have in your life? Sometimes it can feel confusing as to how much influence we should allow in our lives from outside of our local church. And so, it’s easy to pit one against the other, as if they are competing for our attention and hearts.

What’s more difficult to do, and what I want to submit to you for consideration, is that there is no need to pit them against each other. They can and should work in tandem, because the body of Christ encompasses every believer on the face of the earth!

During Paul’s time on the earth, he traveled around planting local churches. As he did, he instructed them as to how they should function with one another (Eph 4, 1 Cor. 12, 14…and throughout his epistles!). Thus, I think we can conclude from the entirety of the New Testament that our local church should be the primary place that we interact with other believers, face to face. We sit under the preaching of the Word, we engage one another’s hearts, we bring our gifts to each other, and we are shepherded by elders who know us. All of these things are efforts to build up the local body of Christ (Eph 4).

Parents and Elders

But when I say the local church should be the primary place that we function in the body of Christ, I don’t mean that it’s the singular place. There’s a place for us to both give to and receive from the larger body of Christ, and there doesn’t need to be inner conflict about it.

Let’s consider the earthly family as a picture for the body of Christ. A husband and wife are the leaders of their home, with children who are their disciples. The parents are their authority and their main shepherds, but they don’t have everything in themselves needed to be good parents and shepherds. Yes, they have the Word of God, but another means of grace that the Lord gives us is the body of Christ. Parents need input from outside of their immediate family. They need to be equipped by older, wiser parents.

This can come through a variety of means: older people in the local church, good books, parenting conferences, online parenting courses, podcasts, and more. Parents are discipled, and as they are, they equip and train up their children in the Lord more effectively.

As parents disciple their children, at some point, they humbly recognize that they still aren’t gifted or able to provide every helpful thing that their children might need to grow into mature godly young people. So, they are wise to invite other trusted people to partner with them in their parenting, who will give input into their children’s lives. These other people then, also disciple our children.

This doesn’t demonstrate a failure on the part of parents, but humility (and reality!). The parents recognize that there are others in the body of Christ who are gifted in ways they are not, who are skilled in ways they are not, and they want their children to benefit from those gifts and abilities.

This is also a picture of the elders of the local church. They are put in place as the primary shepherds of their people, and they work together as a team. However, they, too need outside input at times. Just as parenting is a journey and we are growing in our role, so too are elders. They need ongoing equipping and care, and they need to ask questions of those older and wiser. And I would suggest that it’s helpful and prudent to seek counsel outside of their local church context.

Similarly, elders are wise to employ people from outside of their local church to help them equip their sheep. This can come in the form of trusted Bible studies, speakers, conferences, podcasts, etc.

In both instances, discernment can and should be exercised. But this is very different than being fearful and preventing any outside influence to affect our children or sheep. Both parties, the parents and the elders, recognize the gifts and benefits of partnering with other trusted people to help them fulfill their roles. This is not an abdication of their God-given authority, but rather faithful management and delegation.

Day to Day Life

It is not any different for us as we seek to grow in our personal relationship with the Lord. Our elders are our main shepherds. And, the believers in our local church should be the first ones we offer our gifts to and receive gifts from. We should diligently seek to build up this local body.

But, it’s highly likely that all of the equipping you need to build up this local body won’t actually come from this body. When Paul wrote letters to various churches, we see the interaction of different churches with each other. They loved one another (1 Cor, 16:19-20, Col. 4:10-14, 1 Thess. 1:6-9, 4:9-12), gave financially to one another (1 Cor. 16:1-3, 2 Cor. 8:1-5, 9:13-15), sent teachers and people with other gifts to one another (1 Cor 16:10-13, 1 Thess 3:2, Tit. 2:12-14, 3 Jn 3-8). We see a beautiful, vibrant ministry happening amongst the larger body of Christ.

If you’re like me, you may be one of the older people in the church. I’m currently in the process of obtaining certification as a Biblical counselor. And while there are people who can help me become a better counselor at my church, they aren’t in a position to train or certify me. So, I’ve gone outside of my local body to be equipped by other believers who specialize in training lay biblical counselors. It will be my delight to bring what I’ve been equipped to do back into my local body. I’ll have the ability to offer my gifts and abilities to build up my local body of believers, but I will also be able to equip others in the skill of counseling.

At different times and in different ways, believers outside of your local body of believers need the gifts and abilities you have. There is a place for you to offer what the Lord has given to you to the larger body of Christ, to contribute to its growth.

The body of Christ is so much bigger than our local body! Each local body of believers is a microcosm of the universal body of Christ that the Lord is building, beautifying, preparing for Himself! We need each other’s help to build up our local churches. We need people to come and give to us, and we need to go and give to others.  This promotes health and growth in the local body and thus in the universal body of Christ.

We live in a unique time in history, and we don’t need to bemoan it or experience angst over it. We don’t need to do away with our smartphones or stop going to conferences, reading books, or listening to podcasts. We can gratefully receive from the larger body of Christ as we seek to be fully functioning members in our local body of Christ. And in turn, we can take what the Lord has given us and offer it to the larger body of Christ.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph 3:20).