Organic Disciplemaking: Mentoring Others Into Spiritual Maturity and Leadership by Dennis McCallum & Jessica Lowery

Author:Dennis McCallum & Jessica Lowery [McCallum, Dennis & Lowery, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spirituality
ISBN: 9780975289693
Google: lex5ngEACAAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 457203
Publisher: Touch Publications
Published: 2006-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

Dissonance

The word dissonance comes from the word sonic, and so has to do with sound. In particular it refers to something sounding unharmonious. Sometimes when Christians (especially young ones) go through a hard period in their walks, we say they are experiencing dissonance. This is common for young believers who experience an initial burst of excitement after receiving Christ. When the excitement fades, dissonance may ensue. God in his grace may have been sustaining the young believer with extra protection and encouragement, but he gradually removes these in order to refine the new believer’s faith.

Dissonance should be treated differently than resistance. When young believers begin to struggle in their faith, you should ask questions in the hope of discovering the root problem. Why is he experiencing defeat? Be patient with someone going through these growing pains. Young believers are more innocent than older, resistant believers, because they are learning about spiritual living for the first time. You should persuade rather than scold them.

The best thing to do for young Christians is to warn them about dissonance before they experience it in the first place. We do a great disservice to young believers if we let them believe the Christian life will be an easy ride. When they begin to suffer, they wonder if God has abandoned them.

Notice how Paul went through villages talking to believers he had reached only weeks earlier, “...strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God’” (Acts 14:22). Is that message really “encouraging”? Yes! To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Paul is managing their expectations, and this removes one of Satan’s key tools: the shock effect when a new believer moves from victory and excitement to a period of disaffection and estrangement.

The positive side of dissonance is the resulting strength and stamina disciples gain if they persevere. Believers who withstand a bout of dissonance emerge substantially stronger than before. You should describe this positive vision to young disciples as they struggle, or better yet, before they struggle. Unless our faith is strengthened in this way, we will end up as weak Christians ready for defeat. Faith is what keeps us going, and dry times of dissonance are a blessing in disguise when they make our faith stronger.

To summarize, we should anticipate dissonance in young Christians as a normal part of spiritual growth and not interpret it as resistance. We should forearm them by warning that they may experience dissonance, and we should make special allowance for dissonance in young Christians. We should not be too reactive to negative comments and actions they may manifest.

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