Did Jesus Call us to Make Converts and then SOME become Disciples?

“Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.”  

                                                                                            -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A number of years ago, I was asked by a good friend: “Why do so many Christians make such lousy human beings?” She shared how she had grown tired of the judgmentalism, the defensiveness, the superficiality, and the lack of self-awareness of many in church.

Bill Hull summarizes the problem well: “We evangelicals accept and even encourage a two-level Christian experience in which serious Christians pursue and practice discipleship, while grace and forgiveness are for everyone else.”

Why do we offer two levels of Christianity?  Why make becoming a disciple where every aspect of our life is being brought under the rule of Jesus and all of our life is being a servant like our King?

Is the American church breeding nominalism?  Are we reaping what we have sown?