Fr Josh’s Front-Page Reflection

The Journey to Intentional Discipleship 

For a long time in my faith journey, I had no accurate way of measuring or understanding my discipleship. It was black and white: either I was a follower of Jesus or not. If you had asked me, I would have simply claimed that I was a disciple; and if you had asked me the grounds upon which I could make that claim, I would have told you that I believed in God, I said my prayers, I was a faithful Mass-goer, and that I did my best to love other people and be a generous person. Two years ago, however, a book called Forming Intentional Disciples, by Sherry Weddell, began to challenge my unexamined assumptions about what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus.

The author and her team collected qualitative data from over 200,000 interviews with Catholic Christians who were asked to respond to a key question: What is your lived experience of faith? They discovered that people typically experience five different thresholds of transformation in a journey of letting go of everything in their lives, like 12 disciples, to intentionally follow Jesus. The five thresholds are: Trust, Curiosity, Openness, Seeking, and Intentional Discipleship. Examining the five thresholds, they discovered that discipleship, rather than being primarily measured by what we do (which is consistent with a black and white approach), is more measurable, or understandable, by the ways we are transformed into people who are becoming disciples.

Put simply, discipleship (following the person of Jesus) commences with a bridge of trust – trust that either God is fundamentally good and loves me, or a bridge of trust with another person with whom I can ask questions. Those who begin to ask questions experience a new curiosity in their lives; they want to know more and are interested in the person of Jesus. For most practicing Catholics – 98% according to Sherry Weddell’s research – the transformation from curiosity to openness in their heart to change is challenging. Openness to change is often preceded by a transformational experience of encounter (think Paul’s Road-to-Damascus encounter) with the risen Jesus. Next, following the experience of openness, people commence their journey of seeking. Seeking, according to Weddell’s research, is like dating (Jesus) with a purpose. Catholics entering the seeking threshold often make significant changes in their lives such as repentance of sin, commencement of daily personal private prayer, and reading the Scriptures; they actively pursue a personal relationship with Jesus. Finally, a person becomes an intentional disciple, reaching the threshold of dropping their nets to follow Jesus.

This fluid, transformational approach to understanding discipleship is thoroughly consistent with one of the great achievements of the Second Vatical Council (Vat II): that we, the people of God, are a pilgrim people, a people undertaking a journey of faith in which we are becoming the people whom God intends us to be. A disciple, therefore, is an apprentice, a student, and a learner – not just learning about God, faith, or the Church, but about themselves so that they can become a person of deep self-knowledge.

Self-reflection: What thoughts or feelings flow through you as you read these words? Are you challenged by these ideas – perhaps because they introduce a new understanding of faith? Or do you experience a great Amen springing forth from a deep sense of certainty that Jesus may be saying something to you? Whatever you experience as you read and reflect on these words, I invite you to pray about where you find yourself on this journey of becoming a disciple and pray that Jesus would reveal his will for you.  

Peace and blessings, Fr Josh