It's Time For a More Beautiful Discipleship
Here are 5 reasons why.
We worship a beautiful God.
Mirroring God’s beauty is an essential part of what it means for Christians to imitate Jesus and follow his example.
But we are failing.
We need a more beautiful discipleship. Here are just five reasons why.
Because we have a beautiful God.
Jonathan King, a professor of theology and the author of The Beauty of the Lord: Theology as Aesthetics, explains that “beauty is inherent to God, and it’s reflected in everything that he does.” The psalmists write songs of praise about God’s beauty. David’s only request in Psalm 27:4 is to “gaze on the beauty of the Lord.” Isaiah says that the reward for the righteous will be to see God in his beauty (33:17). Pastor and author John Piper understands God’s beauty as “the peculiar proportionality and interplay and harmony of all God’s attributes.” In other words, beauty encompasses the perfect way in which God’s attributes work together, even when they seem paradoxical. Attributes like God’s justice and mercy, goodness and truth, holiness and compassion exhibit a symmetry and perfection that sets Him apart from us.
Jonathan Edwards, the 18th century American preacher, wrote extensively about God’s beauty. He believed that when Christians are saved, God opens our eyes to see his beauty in a way we could not before and causes our hearts “to have a relish of the loveliness and sweetness of the supreme excellency of the Divine nature.” King builds on this understanding by suggesting that reflecting God’s beauty in the world is an essential part of what it means for Christians to imitate Jesus and follow his example. True discipleship is a beautiful discipleship.
Because snark is not a fruit of the Spirit.
As our world has grown increasingly divided even Christians have become cynical. We have set aside beauty in favor of what we perceive to be more effective means of bringing about change in the world. Too many disciples seem to think that snark and boldness are fruits of the Spirit. Individuals and groups who claim the name of Christ insist that the time for gentleness and peace has passed and that we must “fight” for a restoration of godliness at all costs.
In the midst of this brash ugliness we hear cries for a return to civility. But civility is also not a fruit of the Spirit. Walking by the Spirit--the true mark of beautiful discipleship--will always be both too compassionate and too confident for the world around us. And yet we must continue to lean into the difficult place to which God has called His Church, where grace and truth are each made more beautiful by their entanglement.
Because it can help us rightly divide the Word of truth.
Christians who fall on either side of the divide, emphasizing grace while obscuring the truth, or hollering about the truth without a hint of grace, both misuse Scripture to support their position. In contrast, beautiful discipleship approaches Scripture with no agenda, looking, not for prooftexts for our own opinions, but for the word to transform us into the image of the living Word. In a time when Scripture is being fashioned into bullets with which to defeat “the other side”, we desperately need our eyes opened to see it as the balm it was always meant to be.
Because too many Christians are burnt out under the burden of trying to change the world for Jesus.
For decades Christians (American Christians, especially) have been taught and believed that it is our job to change the world, whether through missions and evangelism, or politics and social justice. We have chased influence and power and impressive evidence that the Kingdom is being established on earth, and we are exhausted.
But what if changing the world was never our job?
If we have eyes to see it, Scripture actually makes it abundantly clear that beautiful discipleship doesn’t look like the “radical” Christianity we’ve been taught. Instead, in light of the incredible riches we have been given in Christ, we’re supposed to simply keep living our lives. Our physical, geographic, and demographic position isn’t expected to change, even though our spiritual position has been radically altered. Pursuing faithfulness in our ordinary Christian lives, in our marriages, in our parenting, in our friendships and our secular jobs is more than enough to please Jesus.
Because we have forgotten that God’s way is the best way.
Ultimately, we need a more beautiful discipleship because the ways we have been trying to do discipleship aren’t working. People are leaving the Church because too often the Church doesn’t look like Jesus. Our strangeness, instead of attracting spiritual seekers to the beauty of Jesus, distracts them from Him. It’s time to recover a beautiful discipleship.
What to Expect From Beautiful Discipleship
Here’s what you can expect when you join the Beautiful Discipleship community.
Weekly posts that explore this understanding of discipleship as something that should grow us in reflecting God’s beauty.
Monthly guest posts from others who are living out beautiful discipleship.
Reviews and recommendations of books and other resources that complement a vision for beautiful discipleship.
Occasional series that walk through a passage or shorter book of the Bible, because beautiful discipleship always includes a commitment to studying Scripture.
Announcements about new developments in our ministry, including podcasts, other articles, progress on book projects, writing practices, and more!
Subscribe now and we’ll also send you 6 Myths of Radical Christianity, a 4-page PDF that identifies 6 myths of radical Christianity, counters them with Scripture, and helps you recognize if you have been fooled by them.
Interested in Writing For Us?
We’re always looking for new writers for our monthly guest posts. Email a pitch to tabitha@beautifuldiscipleship.com! (We do offer payment for our guest writers.)
The Faces Behind Beautiful Discipleship
Hi! I’m Tabitha McDuffee, the writer behind Beautiful Discipleship. I manage this ministry together with my husband, Shawn who works alongside me to bring you the resources you need to reflect God’s beauty as you live out your Christian convictions. We are both graduates of Moody Bible Institute (that’s where we met!), and I also have an MA in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of London.
Since 2016 I have worked in communications and marketing for Christian organizations, while also pursuing my own writing ministry. Shawn’s work overlaps somewhat with mine. He has worked managing and producing Christian podcasts, has served as the Executive Director for a discipleship ministry, and also enjoys serving as a substitute teacher in our local school district. We have two preschool-aged boys, M&M as we affectionately refer to them online.
The modern Church has been so caught up with “excellence” that it’s often neglected beauty. Of course excellence can be God honoring, but the way it’s been over-emphasized seems to have resulted in systematizing church with process, efficiency and getting things “right” at the center… but beauty speaks directly to the nature and character of God - as you said so well. I appreciate your efforts to move the needle back toward a different, more organic and creative approach.