Afterword

WE’VE HEARD IT A HUNDRED TIMES, but I wonder how deeply Jesus’ words actually penetrate our hearts?

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

MATTHEW 28:18-20

Once we, as Christ followers, have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, once we have experienced the grace of God as revealed in Christ, once we have been given new life through the death and resurrection of Jesus —we’re to go. Go and make disciples. It’s that simple. And it’s not just a calling for missionaries and pastors; it’s for every person, in the context of everyday life.

When The Navigators joined forces with the Barna Group to take the pulse of discipleship in America, we weren’t overly surprised at the findings. Lots of anecdotal evidence exists to suggest that, very often, what we’ve been doing in the American church has not been resulting in robust, mature disciples of Jesus. In fact, the research reveals story after story of people whose exposure to Christianity has left them unengaged in the things of God. The Barna research gave concrete evidence of what we had all come to suspect, even to assume. There’s more work to be done in building strong foundations in the lives of those who say “yes” to Jesus.

We were relieved to also learn from Barna’s research that our work —the work of The Navigators —was resulting in what we might call “discipleship outliers.” People who had been discipled through The Navigators were seen to take more joy in the life of discipleship, to show more command of and interest in the Scriptures, and to be more invested in Jesus’ great commission to not just settle only in their own spirituality, but to actually go and make disciples right where they are —where they live, work, study, and play.

There’s nothing all that magical about the ministry of The Navigators. It boils down to basics —what I refer to in another work as “traits of a Christ follower”:

There are all kinds of other good things associated with the Christian life. But as Preston demonstrates in this book, sometimes good things take the place of the first things. And when that happens, we slowly drift away from that simple, straightforward purpose we hear from the lips of Jesus: Be disciples and go and make disciples. Know Christ and make him known.

That, I think, is the main message to take away from Go: Returning Discipleship to the Front Lines of Faith. We don’t have to give up the many good things that God puts before us. We just can’t lose sight of the first things. It’s those first things that move us along in our God-given purpose, whether we’re homemakers, executives, teachers, construction workers, or computer scientists. It’s those first things that bless the people we love and care about in the most fundamental, most eternal ways. And it’s those first things that fortify our own faith as we invest ourselves in the eternity of others around us. It’s those first things that fill our discipleship with joy.

Doug Nuenke

US President of The Navigators