We are the most self-performed and self-dissected generation in history. You can monitor VO2 Max, sleep quality, habit streaks, macros, social media use, heart rate, and even breathing rate for a minute.
We are not just living our lives. We measure, analyze and compare them. Statistics show that gym use is rising as well as plastic surgery and health app use. At the same time, other studies have shown increased church attendance, biblical sales, and openness to spirituality. That makes me wonder: how do we disciple those who come to faith through the lens of self-improvement, those who want to be the best they can, and see the Church as part of it?
We all need to consider how we support new followers in a world of self-obsession.
As this is the dominant story in our British culture and many other cultures, this becomes a disciple question whether we know or not within our church, so we all need to consider how we help new believers in the world of self-obsession.
It is worth saying that people always come to Jesus with mixed motivations. We see this throughout the Gospels, and people draw near Jesus for healing, to see miracles, or because they are drawn to the crowd. If you look back at your story, just as I do my thing, we all came to Jesus with all sorts of baggage and motivations, and God met us there.
So this is not a new phenomenon. But the type of questions people are asking today and the cultural assumptions behind them have changed. Water people are swimming, so they demand that they raise cultural awareness and respond to intentional disciples.
Faith can easily be reduced to just another self-help strategy.
In a self-obsessive culture, faith can easily be reduced to another self-help strategy. Another thing to add to your list: drink more water, take more steps, read the Bible. It will be about personal development, measurable results, emotion, convenience.
Faith caught up in this cultural story becomes something we curate, choose a part of Jesus we like and ignore the rest. Paste the story of “living your truth” into the truth of the Bible. That means that when we stop looking at the outcomes we expect and face the inconvenience or the costs of following Jesus, you try a new church, a new custom, or a whole new spirituality all together.
Therefore, quality disciples are extremely important. There is no transformation that people long for, the prosperity they seek, the life, health, experiences they desire, or not seen in themselves. It can only be found in Jesus.
The gospel is transformative, but not on our own terms.
The gospel is transformative, but not on our own terms. It’s not a self-help plan, it’s a rescue plan, which takes us from the darkness into the light, making us a whole new creation. This transformation is not brought about through our good habits or personal development. It comes from repentance and faith.
In a self-centered culture, new followers don’t need any more self-help talks, quick revisions, or entertainment. They need the gospel. They need mature Christians walking with them, helping them discover who Jesus is and helping them see that he is worth giving up on everything.
Disciples are not about people becoming better, behave better, or live a better life. It is about reorienting our lives around who God is. One of the most important works of our discipleship today is to help people think of themselves and Christ as less.
Jo Frost and Peter Lynas explore this in greater depth about developing ways of deploying disciples effectively in light of the cultural narratives that shape our generation. You can now watch the episode on YouTube.
Originally it was made public because it was human. It was reissued with permission.
Katherine Brown joined the Evangelical Alliance UK in 2023 and became part of the human team. Before this, she worked for the Student Ministry and equipped her students to share their faith with friends. Katherine becomes a Christian at a drama school and is passionate about evangelism, storytelling and watching young adults thrive in the church!
The British Evangelical Alliance joins together for the Gospel, consisting of hundreds of organizations, thousands of churches and tens of thousands of individuals. The Evangelical Alliance, representing our members since 1846, is the oldest and largest evangelical unity movement in Britain. Uniting with missions and voices, we exist to serve and strengthen the work of the Church in our communities and society as a whole. Emphasizing the important opportunities and challenges facing the Church today, we work together to fund Christians so that Christians can act on their faith in Jesus and speak in the fields of gospel, justice and their influence.
