Evangelism Resources

Shared thoughts from “Shared Acres” by Brian Bauknight

October 13, 2009

I know very little about chickens. However, I am learning fast. We purchased 1 ½ dozen young chickens to start production of free range eggs on our property. (We will acquire more chickens when we see how these first young ones fare.) My son built a mobile chicken coop—where the chickens remain secure from prey at night, and from which they roam all day every day. So…16 hens and 2 roosters in the barnyard.

I asked, “How will we train the chickens to go into the coop at night?” My son replied, “They will learn quickly. And those who do not learn, we will train.” He was more “right” than I could have ever imagined.

As dusk began to settle in on the first night with us, all eighteen chickens went directly into the homemade coop for the night. No exceptions. No stragglers. I was amazed.

I also discovered very quickly that they sense feeding time (giving them the proverbial “chicken feed”!) at 3 PM every afternoon. They see one of us coming, and race to the same spot where they had been fed the day before. No exceptions. No stragglers. I was again amazed.

And I thought to myself: “Wouldn’t it be marvelous if training Christian discipleship was that easy, that certain, and that instinctive?”

But it is not, of course. Discipleship is not instinctive for the most part. Training and forming disciples in The Way is not automatic—not in us, not in our people. Clearly, Jesus was about forming disciples in his earthly ministry. He came to model and form in us what God had designed and hoped for from the beginning. He did not force compliance, but offered a gracious invitation to be and to become what God intends for the human family.

We, on the other hand, go our own way. We become enamored by the world’s lures. We lust after false gods. We quibble over doctrinal standards and doctrinal “purity.” We prefer military options to the more difficult pursuit of peacemaking. We worry and fret over what constitutes “enough” of this life’s goods. We exclude some people whom we deem unworthy. There is nothing automatic about becoming disciples of Jesus. Except, perhaps, in the examples of small children—as Jesus so beautifully pointed out.

The flock does not always come home to roost. They do not always come to the “feeding place” for nourishment, encouragement and care. Twenty-first century life in America fosters mostly “free range” most of the time.

Jesus issues a simple, loving, compassionate, firm invitation: “Follow me.” We must hear that voice more clearly, celebrate what it really means, and pass it on to the very best of our ability. 

Occasional Leadership thoughts from Brian Bauknight

Coordinator of Leadership Development

Western PA Conference, United Methodist Church

Visit Brians website at DocBauk.com