Most Christians and Christian churches are familiar with Jesus' parting exhortation to makes disciples of the world. However, according to a new book by researcher George Barna of Barna Research Group, entitled Growing True Disciples, the Christian Church in America is comprised of "many converts, but shockingly few disciples." This conclusion is based upon two years of research Barna conducted regarding the current state of discipleship, and how churches might enhance the effectiveness of their discipleship ministries. Barna also found, however, that there are churches doing effective discipleship, and the book contains a description of five different discipleship models currently used by such leading churches across the nation.

The State of Discipleship
To get a sense of the current state of discipleship within the American Church, Barna conducted extensive research regarding the spiritual lives of adults and teenagers who have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and who expect eternal salvation because of their confession of sins and acceptance of Christ as their savior - a group that Barna refers to as "born again Christians." Several large-scale national surveys among random samples of these people revealed that the faith commitment of most born again believers is not very deep. Among the many examples of the shallowness of believer's faith that are cited in the book are the following:

- When Christian adults were asked to identify their most important goal for their life, not a single person said it was to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ, or to make disciples of Christ.

- Less than one out of every five born again adults had any specific and measurable goals related to their personal spiritual development.

- Less than 1% of all believers perceived a connection between their efforts to worship God and their development as a disciple of Jesus.

- The most widely-known Bible verse among adult and teen believers is "God helps those who help themselves" - which is not actually in   the Bible, and actually conflicts with the basic message of Scripture.

- A minority of adult and teen believers contends that absolute moral truth exists.

- Less than one out of every ten believers possesses a biblical worldview as the basis for his/her decision-making or behavior.

- When given thirteen basic teachings from the Bible, only 1% of adult believers firmly embraced all 13 as being biblical perspectives.

- Research revealed specific and significant problems related to core spiritual practices such as worship, evangelism, stewardship, community service, and lifestyles.

Barna noted that most believers stated that their church does little to help them grow as a true disciple. "Few believers said that their church lacked programs, but most Christians complained that little is done to effectively motivate and facilitate their development as genuine, fervent followers of Christ. Our surveys among pastors showed that they dismissed such views as excuses and as inaccurate, but the bottom line remains unchanged: most Christians are simply not making progress in their personal spiritual development."

The research also identified nine substantial obstacles that seem to prevent individuals and churches from having a more satisfying discipleship experience. Among the barriers to spiritual growth described in the book are the tendencies to focus on Bible knowledge (i.e., memorize verses, know the stories of key biblical personalities) but not character development; the lack of a clear and specific idea of what meaningful discipleship is; and unrealistic expectations regarding the role of small groups in the disciple-making process. Barna acknowledged that most churches have many programs and classes that represent the discipleship effort. "Offering programs is not the issue. We discovered that surprisingly few churches have a well-conceived model of discipleship that they implement. The result is that churches feel they have fulfilled their obligation if they provide a broad menu of courses, events, and other experiences, but such a well-intentioned but disjointed approach leaves people confused and imbalanced."

Five Effective Models
One of the most unique parts of the book is the description of five effective discipleship models currently in use in churches. Barna explained that his motivation for describing the models was not to encourage churches to adopt one of those models, but to challenge them to clarify their disciple-making philosophy and strategies. "There is no single approach that is right for all churches. However, every church must determine a comprehensive model of facilitating personal spiritual maturity. It is the individual's responsibility to grow, but it is the church's privilege to assist them in that process. The five models we studied are approaches that work well for the churches using them. The real challenge for every church is to define a clear, comprehensive and effective model for discipleship that it consistently implements." The models described were included to spark a greater level of creative and strategic thinking among church leaders.