The Only Reason Questions Are Not Good

Most of the time I support asking questions. Questions are helpful to not only broaden understanding and bring clarity; but also to build relationships. When you encounter a curious person asking you about your life, chances are you will find the person asking you about your life to be a person who makes you feel good. And we all want to be around people who make us fell good. Questions are helpful in so many ways that oftentimes, we overlook one way that questions are not good:

The only reason questions are not good is when questions justify non-action.

When getting ready for the day or at bedtime, children will ask all sorts of questions in an attempt to delay action. It is cute when they are asking questions about what is going to happen later that day or when they ask questions about the story that was just read; however it is also a subtle delaying action. 

Asking questions as a way to delay action is nefarious in that the one asking the questions is able to claim that they are "only asking questions."  Since we put such a high value on questions, we might feel like we are wrong to stop the questions in order to induce action.

I have witnessed people who will continually ask questions of themselves to the point of non-action (AKA paralysis by analysis). This sort of question to non-action pattern is also a bit tricky to internally address. It feels like you are doing something by asking the questions. Only you know if you are really just delaying actions you don't want to take. 

The reality is, questions are very good, but they are abused when employed to justify non-action.

Are we distracted from God because we are making disciples?

The mission statement of the UMC is to "make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." This is the standard by which we measure all our local churches and ministries and leaders and clergy. If these things produce disciples then it is valued. There is a lot of discussion about how to define what a disciple looks like. But the overarching (and often unspoken) definition is that to make disciples means, at the very least, to make more disciples. The emphasis is really place on the quantity and not so much the quality of the disciple. 

This is not only a theological conviction but, like most theology, there are real world forces that influence our theology. And the real world force influencing this theological stance may be rooted not only in imperialism but in the face that we are a dwindling Church. We fear losing what we have, we know the Baby Boomers are beginning to die and Gen X is not large enough to replenish the numbers. We also are told that the generation that is large enough to bolster the ranks is assumed to not be interested in Church. So, the push to "make (more) disciples" is a logical position for an organization to take. 

However, the concern might be that when we are focused on making others into disciples we neglect our own discipleship. I see this a lot when there is a death in a family. Everyone is so focused on the health and wellbeing of the other family members that self-care takes a back seat if ever take up at all. Or even when there is a party, like a wedding, and the bride and groom can be so focused on making sure everyone else is taken care of that they forget to eat and enjoy their wedding day.

The point being that when we define making disciples as making others into disciples of Christ we relegate our own discipleship to the back seat. God is working in your life and desires for you to die to self and live into your true self and embrace the shadows as well as the light, but it is tricky to find time to sit in silence when you are always teaching others in Bible study. It is hard to practice Sabbath when you are always leading the worship. It is impossible to go on a pilgrimage if you are the leader.

For all the good that comes with making new disciples it can come at the cost of being distracted from what God may desire to do in our very own hearts.