Without religious training or guidance, would you expect the person to figure out on his or her own all of the practical ways in which he or she might violate that belief or guard against its violation?
Our next question considers the likelihood that an adherent who has not received adequate training could consistently understand the practical demands of their faith and the methods of discerning what constitutes a violation.
I know of no major faith tradition that leaves its adherents to figure out the teachings and practices of their faith without direct guidance. Sadly, it happens, but when it does it is considered a significant deficiency in a ministry.
It is commonly understood that clergy preach, lead worship, provide crisis care for individuals in distress, and perform religious services like weddings or funerals. However, these higher profile activities can obscure the minister’s equally important responsibility of training believers on the way of life prescribed by the tenets of their faith. This training traditionally includes both the content of the faith, as well as how to live it out in the practical settings of daily life.
Of course, this can include a sermon once a week, but that is insufficient by itself. Whether a Rabbi, Pastor, Imam, or Priest, the clerics of most faith traditions are charged with more than teaching “up-front.” They are also called to train adherents through small group and especially one-on-one in interaction. The Christian Scripture calls this work “discipleship” or “disciple making” which comes from a Greek word that means learner or student. Listening to a sermon is only one way, albeit an important one, the disciple learns. Disciples need both teaching and training.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jesus provides the prime example of the teacher-trainer. His sermons have given the world some of its most memorable wisdom, like, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” but the story of his ministry goes beyond public speaking. He spent three years literally walking through life with his disciples, training them to live their faith in the daily world, by augmenting his public teaching with more personal instruction. In this way, he became a model for all ministers who follow him.
This method was not new to Jesus and, as we will see below, is not unique to religious communities. Jesus was part of an ancient tradition of walking philosophers and prophets, in both the Jewish community and the broader Roman and Greek world. This is how spiritual guides have made disciples for thousands of years.
And it is clear that this was how Jesus wanted his followers to help one another. We read that once, when he saw a large crowd, “he was moved with compassion for them, because they were faint and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” Matthew 9:36 Being scattered and faint does not mean humanity is unintelligent. It simply means that we need help, all of us. And for this discussion it is notable that the great teacher did not lament that the multitudes did not have enough professors to teach them, or books to read, or even preachers to preach. We need shepherds to help us learn to live in fullness.
For thousands of years since then, the Church has attempted to answer that call. Other faith traditions have as well. The shepherd disciple-making model worked its way out in the first generation of the Church, and afterward, through the establishment of organizational systems designed to equip the members of the community, so they could train mature disciples. Speaking of Christ, one of the Apostles wrote that in addition to sending prophets who wrote the Scriptures, Jesus gave the church:
…shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Ephesians 4:11–14
The last words of that passage depict the expected condition of people who are left alone to figure out how to understand and live their faith. Without teaching and training, most adherents would be incomplete in their faith and unable to discern helpful from unhelpful teachings on important matters. In this text, the unproductive views in question are clearly religious and not completely foreign to the mainstream teachings of the early church. Clearly, the traditions of the church assume that the community of faith educates its adherents.
This is not because they are incapable of spiritual adulthood but, rather, because they have the capacity to achieve it. The objective is to lead people to educated, mature, self-governed faith. Intentional disciple-making envisions a fully mature believer who is capable intellectually and trained in the art of Christian living. The pathway to maturity, however, requires purposeful training in the way of life that Christ taught his disciples. And that requires the kind of ongoing training that Christ himself modeled. Without this, we would expect the adherent’s growth to be uneven and stunted.
As noted above, these principles are recognized beyond religious communities. Most fields of study and vocations recognize that humans do better at almost every task if they are trained by others. For centuries the medical profession has understood that book and lab learning alone do not make a complete doctor. The business world offers internships and apprenticeships for the same reasons. In fact, the widely popular personal mentor and coaching movement is a contemporary example of this ancient way. Individuals are discovering that coaching and mentoring are still the best way to realize one’s potential. Whether the “disciple” is a faith-adherent or a professional who wants to realize her vision of flourishing, we all do better, usually much better, when we are not left to figure out our way on our own.