by Michael Cameron
February, 2003

Introduction The aim of this essay is to biblically examine the doctrine of “discipling”, for the purpose of reviewing the way we organise and structure relationships in the church. It is always helpful to review practices in the church from time to time, to ensure that they are still helpful and relevant to the needs of the church. This is particularly important when these practices have been publicly acknowledged by authorised leadership as not being essential for salvation, and not explicitly taught in scripture (Doug Jacoby, 2001 etc).

In such conditions, such practices must be regarded as traditions of the church rather than institutions of God. For this reason, the attitudes which must prevail when discussing these issues must be those relating to disputable matters, since they are not core commandments and doctrines of scripture. The temptation will always be to brand someone who wishes to express an opinion about these issues as being divisive, but the biblical doctrine about divisiveness is not referring to having such opinions, particularly when expressing them in legitimate forums, in accordance with scripture. Divisiveness refers rather to teaching falsely on core doctrinal matters, or making disputable matters into contentious issues, by lobbying to make them essential, core doctrines. This was the issue with circumcision in the early church. It was not wrong to be circumcised as a Christian per se, since Paul himself instructed Timothy (a half Greek) to be circumcised - for practical reasons to do with access to synagogues and the Temple I assume. But it was wrong when certain people made it into a contentious issue by teaching that it was mandatory.

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