Reproducing What?

A week or two ago I was reflecting on my decades in the Church. I have been in small groups and very large ones, traditional and house churches, charismatic and evangelical, East and West coasts. During that time God has allowed me to do virtually any kind of ministry that can be done in a church.Not that i was good at or gifted in these various things, but I was available to try to meet a need. Most I did for a significant period of time, with sincere effort, to please God and bless the people in the churches. This included moving many tables and chairs, cleaning the church, serving as an usher, and doing church books and finances. Also I managed ministry businesses, co-led evangelistic outreaches, led worship, Bible studies, small groups, and a men;s ministry. Initiated and led men's prayer groups, was ordained as both a deacon and an elder, have preached/taught the Word of God publicly on at least 300 occasions,with anywhere from 5 to 1500 people, and have both married and baptized believers. I have served as a shepherd of the people of God, guarding against false teachers and wolves, have done overseas ministry,and endless counseling. And have even done what some think of as small "a" apostolic ministry, attempting to build unity and encourage house churches.About the only thing i have not done is lead a women's ministry and that is probably a good thing. What is the result at the end of the day? What fruit was produced? Not very much. Some of this is a result of my own problems and issues. But there is a larger reality. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says that He will build the church. In Matthew 28:19 he tells us to make disciples. After forty odd years I realized that I had been trying to do what He said that He would do, rather than what He told me to do. Now I have been working with men one on one for over 15 years, albeit with limited fruit. Belatedly i have come to understand that what I was doing was mostly befriending and mentoring, neither of which am I commanded to do. The primary reason for the lack of fruit in the Church in America, in whatever setting, is the lack of genuine, personal, accountable discipleship. The heart of discipleship is pouring out our lives into someone else to help them become more like Christ. Being made in, and conforming to, His image is the original plan ( Genesis 1:26,28), and is still the plan ( Romans 8:28-29). The primary difficulty is that so few have actually been personally discipled, and that so few want to be. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to build a culture of discipleship in the Church so that the expectation becomes one of discipleship immediately after conversion. Without this all we will do is reproduce American evangelical church culture rather than the Kingdom of God.