Through the work of The King’s Commission School of Divinity, there is an extraordinary privilege in walking alongside pastors and ministry leaders who have devoted their lives to serving Jesus and caring for His people. Many have spent decades faithfully preaching, counseling, teaching, planting churches, and shepherding congregations through seasons of tremendous joy and profound difficulty. Yet a concern emerges repeatedly in conversations with these leaders. Somewhere amid the demands of ministry, many churches have gradually lost sight of the first-century understanding of discipleship that remains central to our calling. We have developed sophisticated approaches to worship, preaching, organizational leadership, and congregational growth, while often struggling to cultivate the kind of relational and spiritual formation that characterized the ministry of Jesus. Dr. Roger Sherwood understands this tension from the experience of pastoral ministry. His book, Missed Assignment, addresses an essential concern facing the contemporary Church with the humility of a shepherd and the conviction of someone who deeply loves the people of God.
Having had the privilege of working with Roger through his doctoral studies, I have come to appreciate his willingness to examine the assumptions and practices that shape contemporary Christian ministry. His reflections emerge from years of pastoral service, theological study, and the lived experience of investing in people through the ministry of New Creation Family Church. Throughout these pages, the reader encounters an author who understands the challenges of congregational leadership and possesses the pastoral courage to reconsider familiar approaches when they no longer adequately serve the Church’s calling. The Kingdom fruit evident through his ministry, including restored relationships, strengthened families, and the development of believers into faithful servants and leaders, provides a meaningful context for the concerns he raises. Roger writes with an evident affection for the Church and a sincere desire to see its people mature in their understanding of Scripture, their relationship with Christ, and their responsibility toward one another.
The contemporary Church has become accustomed to evaluating its influence through measurable institutional outcomes. Attendance, financial stability, organizational expansion, ministry participation, and increasingly digital engagement frequently serve as indicators of success. Such measurements can provide useful information about the reach and practical circumstances of a congregation, yet they cannot adequately describe the spiritual maturity of its members. A church may experience numerical growth while remaining uncertain about the theological understanding, relational health, and spiritual formation of those who attend. A congregation may possess considerable organizational strength while depending upon a small number of leaders for nearly every aspect of its ministry. These tensions invite a more careful examination of ecclesial purpose. What does the New Testament actually envision when it describes the people of God, and what kind of formation should emerge from their shared participation in the life and mission of Jesus Christ?
Roger’s central concern is situated within this question. His argument invites pastors and believers to reconsider the relationship between the activities of Christianity and the formation of Christian disciples. He approaches discipleship as the central responsibility entrusted to the Church, with implications for pastoral leadership, theological education, spiritual formation, and the shared life of the congregation. His work provides a thoughtful opportunity to recover the biblical and theological foundations of disciple-making while considering how those foundations might reshape the practices of contemporary ministry.
Discipleship Within the Covenantal World of Scripture
Any serious theological consideration of discipleship benefits from recovering the covenantal world in which the biblical writings emerged. Modern Western Christianity frequently approaches religious identity through categories shaped by individual belief, personal decision, institutional membership, and the acquisition of theological information. These concerns have their place within Christian life, but they can obscure the relational and communal framework through which the biblical authors understood belonging to the people of God. In the ancient Near East, identity was deeply connected to households, kinship relationships, communal obligations, and the larger political and religious allegiances that structured everyday existence. Faithfulness to YHWH therefore involved far more than participation in prescribed religious activities. It encompassed the ordering of individual and communal life according to the purposes of the covenant.
The Hebrew term bĕrît (בְּרִית), commonly translated as “covenant,” provides an important theological framework for understanding this relationship. Although the various covenant forms found throughout the ancient Near East differed considerably in their provisions and purposes, their emphasis upon established relationships, loyalty, obligations, and communal identity helps illuminate significant dimensions of Israel’s Scriptures. The biblical covenants should not be reduced to any single ancient treaty model, yet the relationship between belonging and covenantal responsibility remains indispensable to understanding Israel’s identity.¹ The exodus preceded Sinai, establishing the gracious deliverance of YHWH as the foundation for Israel’s subsequent calling. Israel was redeemed into a particular way of life, one in which worship, justice, family responsibilities, economic relationships, hospitality, and treatment of the vulnerable were understood within the wider reality of covenant faithfulness.
This integrated understanding of human existence is especially important when considering spiritual formation. The Hebrew Scriptures do not consistently separate the spiritual life from the ordinary experiences of embodied existence in the manner sometimes assumed within modern religious discourse. The term nepeš (נֶפֶשׁ), often translated as “soul,” frequently refers to the living person or life itself rather than to a distinct spiritual component isolated from the body.² Within this anthropological framework, human beings respond to God through their relationships, choices, desires, worship, and responsibilities. Their faithfulness is demonstrated through the ordinary circumstances of life. Consequently, the formation of God’s people cannot be adequately described through intellectual development or religious participation alone. It concerns the integration of covenantal identity with the habits and practices through which that identity becomes visible.
Deuteronomy 6:4–9 provides one of the clearest biblical illustrations of this formative responsibility. The Shema begins with the command šĕmaʿ yiśrāʾēl (שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל), “Hear, O Israel,” followed by the confession concerning YHWH and the command to love Him with heart, nepeš, and strength. The Hebrew verb šāmaʿ, meaning “to hear” or “to listen,” frequently carries implications of attentive reception and responsive obedience within covenantal contexts. The command calls Israel to receive divine instruction as something that will shape the conduct and allegiance of the community. Moses subsequently instructs the people to keep these words upon their hearts and to teach them diligently to their children. The verb šānan (שָׁנַן), used in verse 7, carries the basic sense of sharpening and, within this instructional context, describes the careful impressing of teaching upon another person.³
The imagery is instructive. Just as a blade is sharpened through repeated contact, covenant instruction is impressed upon the lives of God’s people through sustained engagement, observation, conversation, and practice. Moses situates this process within the ordinary rhythms of household life, instructing the people to speak of God’s words while sitting at home, walking along the road, lying down, and rising. These expressions describe the comprehensive nature of covenantal formation. The household becomes a primary setting for the transmission of faith, while the larger community shares responsibility for remembering and embodying the covenant. Biblical instruction is inseparable from the relationships and experiences through which one generation prepares another to live faithfully before God.
This pattern extends throughout Israel’s Scriptures. Psalm 78 emphasizes the responsibility of communicating the works of YHWH to succeeding generations so that they might place their confidence in God, remember His deeds, and observe His commandments. The recurring Hebrew language of remembrance, particularly the verb zākar (זָכַר), frequently connects recollection with action appropriate to the relationship being remembered. Israel’s feasts, memorials, songs, and communal practices preserved the testimony of God’s faithfulness while bringing its significance into the continuing life of the covenant people. The objective was the formation of succeeding generations whose lives would reflect the identity and commitments of the community to which they belonged.
Roger recognizes this theological continuity in his discussion of discipleship before the New Testament. His treatment of Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 78, Moses and Joshua, and Elijah and Elisha demonstrates that intentional spiritual formation did not originate with the institutional development of the Christian Church. The Gospel narratives introduce a distinctive and climactic expression of discipleship through the person and ministry of Jesus, yet this development belongs within the larger biblical story of God forming a people who receive His instruction, embody His purposes, and participate in transmitting that faith to others. Appreciating this continuity helps readers understand why discipleship must be approached as a comprehensive way of life rather than as an isolated program within the congregation.
The First-Century Calling to Follow Jesus
The ministry of Jesus developed within the social, religious, and theological world of Second Temple Judaism, where teachers gathered students and various Jewish communities cultivated recognizable patterns of instruction and shared religious practice. Although care must be exercised when relating later rabbinic traditions to the first century, the Gospel narratives themselves provide substantial evidence that discipleship involved a relationship extending beyond the formal communication of religious knowledge.⁴ The Greek noun mathētēs (μαθητής), commonly translated as “disciple,” identifies a learner or pupil, but its significance within the Gospels is shaped by the particular demands of following Jesus. His invitation, akolouthei moi (ἀκολούθει μοι), “Follow me,” summoned individuals into a relationship that would progressively reorder their priorities, relationships, understanding of God, and participation in the world.
The pedagogical practices of Jesus reveal the deeply formative character of this invitation. His disciples accompanied Him through villages and marketplaces, observed His interactions with the marginalized, witnessed His responses to opposition, shared meals, listened to His teaching, and participated in the proclamation of the Kingdom. Their misunderstandings, failures, fears, and competing ambitions became occasions for continued instruction and correction. Mark 3:14 offers a particularly important description of their calling, explaining that Jesus appointed the Twelve so that they might be with Him and so that He might send them to preach. The relationship between proximity and mission deserves careful consideration. Their preparation unfolded within the shared experiences of life with Jesus, where theological understanding developed alongside character, obedience, discernment, and practical responsibility.
This understanding of discipleship challenges approaches to theological education and congregational ministry that assume information alone will naturally produce spiritual maturity. The acquisition of biblical knowledge is indispensable to faithful Christian formation, but the New Testament consistently connects instruction with the transformation of the person receiving it. Luke 6:40 provides a concise description of this objective when Jesus declares that the disciple who has been fully trained will become like the teacher. The participle katērtismenos (κατηρτισμένος), from katartizō, conveys the sense of being prepared or brought into a fitting condition. Resemblance to the teacher becomes an essential outcome of the formative relationship. Within Christian discipleship, the life, character, teachings, and mission of Jesus provide the pattern toward which believers are continually being formed.
The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18–20 brings this formative responsibility into the explicit missionary calling of the Church. The central imperative, mathēteusate (μαθητεύσατε), commands the followers of Jesus to make disciples of all nations. The accompanying participles concerning going, baptizing, and teaching identify essential dimensions of this commission, while the instruction to teach new disciples to observe everything Jesus commanded establishes obedience as an integral component of disciple-making. The commission is framed by the authority of the risen Messiah and His promise of continuing presence. The Church is therefore summoned to participate in the mission of the enthroned Christ, cultivating communities whose members increasingly embody His teaching and bear witness to His reign.
Roger’s treatment of the relationship between following Jesus and developing mature disciples is especially valuable within this context. His concern extends beyond the initial response of faith to the continuing formation of the believer. His discussion of Jesus’ relational methods, the distinction between church attendance and discipleship, and the responsibility to prepare others for ministry reflects the central insight that Christian maturity involves participation in the life and mission of the One being followed. Robert Coleman’s familiar discussion of the methods of Jesus and Dallas Willard’s emphasis upon intentional apprenticeship provide helpful scholarly conversation partners for this approach.⁵ Roger brings these concerns into the practical circumstances of congregational life, where pastors and ministry leaders must continually consider whether their teaching and organizational practices are contributing to the formation of mature followers of Christ.
The Church, Consumer Culture, and the Problem of Formation
A particularly useful contemporary illustration appears in the prologue to Brave Cities, where the development of surfing culture provides an analogy for the changing relationship between shared practices and consumer participation. The authors describe a culture historically shaped by commitment, relationships, sacrifice, and embodied experience that underwent considerable transformation as commercial interests expanded access to its outward activities and symbols. The growth of the surrounding industry created new opportunities for participation while raising important questions about the relationship between consuming a particular experience and inhabiting the way of life from which that experience emerged.⁶ The illustration invites a similar consideration of contemporary Christianity, particularly the extent to which the expansion of religious programs and institutional resources may coexist with a diminished commitment to the relational practices that historically sustained Christian communities.
Many congregations have become highly capable of providing meaningful religious experiences. Considerable attention is devoted to effective communication, worship environments, ministry programming, leadership development, and the practical systems necessary to sustain organizational life. These efforts can serve important purposes within the Church, yet their expansion can also contribute to an understanding of congregational participation increasingly shaped by consumer expectations. Pastors become providers of religious content, while congregants approach church involvement primarily through what they receive. The resulting organizational structures may support considerable activity without necessarily cultivating the mutual responsibility and spiritual maturity envisioned in the New Testament.
The ecclesiology of Ephesians 4:11–16 offers a significant corrective to this tendency. Paul describes the gifts given to the Church for the equipping of the saints toward the work of ministry and the building up of the body of Christ. The Greek noun katartismos (καταρτισμός), commonly translated as “equipping,” concerns preparation for an intended purpose. Within this passage, the responsibilities of Christian leadership are directed toward the maturity and participation of the entire community. The body grows through its living relationship with Christ and the contribution of its members, who are called to speak truth in love, exercise their gifts, and participate in the mutual strengthening of the Church. Pastoral leadership therefore carries a fundamentally formative responsibility. Its purpose includes preparing believers to participate meaningfully in ministry rather than concentrating the congregation’s spiritual responsibilities within a relatively small group of professional leaders.
Roger illustrates the consequences of this distinction through one of the most meaningful accounts in his book. He describes a season when his congregation appeared to be functioning successfully. Worship was well organized, ministry positions were filled, and the ordinary responsibilities of congregational life were being fulfilled. Over time, however, he began to recognize that some of the people participating in these ministries were not necessarily developing the deeper discipleship relationships and spiritual maturity he had hoped to cultivate. His reflections led him to reconsider the relationship between ministry participation and spiritual formation, particularly the possibility that people could become highly involved in church activities without receiving the intentional investment necessary for mature discipleship.
This account gives Missed Assignment much of its pastoral credibility. Roger allows readers to encounter the questions through the experience of a shepherd willing to examine his own leadership. His concern for the Church emerges alongside a recognition that familiar structures and sincere intentions do not necessarily guarantee the outcomes toward which ministry should be directed. His willingness to reflect upon these experiences with humility offers an example for leaders who may be confronting similar questions within their own congregations. The discussion encourages careful discernment rather than simplistic judgments about church size, organizational development, or particular ministry models. Congregations of different sizes and traditions can cultivate meaningful discipleship, just as any congregation can become distracted by the maintenance of its own activities. The central question concerns whether the Church is forming people whose lives increasingly reflect the character and mission of Jesus.
Word, Spirit, and the Formation of Covenant Community
The New Testament presents spiritual formation as an ongoing work of God within the life of His people. The Church’s responsibility to teach, encourage, correct, and equip believers remains essential, yet the transformation of human character cannot be manufactured through organizational efficiency or educational sophistication. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul describes believers as being transformed into the image of the Lord through the activity of the Spirit. The verb metamorphoumetha (μεταμορφούμεθα), “we are being transformed,” communicates a continuing process in which the people of God increasingly reflect the character of Christ. Likewise, Galatians 4:19 provides an especially intimate expression of Paul’s pastoral concern as he describes his longing for Christ to be formed within the Galatian believers. The language of formation reveals an apostolic vision extending beyond the communication of religious knowledge toward the development of a community whose life reflects the Messiah.
This transformation unfolds within the relational and communal environment of the Church. Acts 2:42–47 describes believers devoted to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers, with their shared life extending into hospitality, material generosity, worship, and responsibility toward one another. The Greek term koinōnia (κοινωνία) describes sharing or participation and contributes to the portrait of a community whose common allegiance to Jesus produced tangible patterns of relational and material involvement. The Church’s earliest communities were certainly not without conflict, as the apostolic letters demonstrate, but their calling required believers to develop the habits and relationships appropriate to their new identity in Christ. The New Testament’s recurring instructions to love, encourage, forgive, serve, and bear one another’s burdens presume an environment in which the members of the community share responsibility for one another’s growth.
This covenantal and communal understanding of discipleship is particularly important for interpreting Roger’s emphasis upon the relationship between Word and Spirit. Scripture provides the authoritative witness through which believers learn the story, teachings, and purposes of God, while the Holy Spirit forms the character of Christ within the community and empowers believers for faithful participation in His mission. The relationship between biblical understanding and spiritual transformation is therefore essential to mature discipleship. A congregation may develop considerable theological knowledge without cultivating the relational maturity that should accompany it, just as enthusiasm for spiritual experience may become detached from the biblical discernment necessary for faithful Christian practice. Roger appropriately emphasizes the importance of both dimensions, encouraging pastors and believers to pursue a form of discipleship in which sound instruction and dependence upon the Spirit contribute to the formation of mature Christian character.
This formative process also requires the recognition that spiritual growth is rarely uniform or easily measured. The development of patience, humility, generosity, forgiveness, wisdom, and faithful obedience often becomes visible through the ordinary experiences of relationships and communal life. Believers learn to embody the teachings of Jesus as they navigate conflict, respond to suffering, extend hospitality, care for the vulnerable, and share responsibility for the needs of others. These practices provide opportunities for the transforming activity of the Spirit to become evident in concrete expressions of Christian faithfulness. Roger’s discussion of relational discipleship helps readers recognize that the Church’s formative responsibility belongs to the entire body. Pastors are entrusted with important responsibilities of leadership and instruction, but the continuing growth of the community depends upon believers learning to participate faithfully in one another’s lives.
From Following Jesus to Multiplying Disciples
The New Testament’s vision of discipleship extends beyond individual spiritual maturity toward the continuing transmission of faithful Christian witness. In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul instructs Timothy to entrust what he has received to faithful people who will be capable of teaching others. The passage describes a movement extending across successive generations of believers, demonstrating that the preservation of apostolic teaching and the development of future leaders were inseparable concerns. Paul understood that his personal ministry would not continue indefinitely, and Timothy was therefore responsible for preparing others to carry forward the work entrusted to him. The spiritual health of the community could not remain permanently dependent upon the presence or abilities of its founding leaders.
Roger develops this principle through a practical progression from following Jesus to walking with Him, serving within His body, and participating in the multiplication of disciples. His framework recognizes that mature Christian formation should increasingly extend beyond the individual believer toward the spiritual encouragement and development of others. This process is not restricted to those who occupy formal ecclesiastical offices. Parents, teachers, neighbors, students, and ordinary members of the congregation participate in disciple-making whenever they intentionally help others grow in their understanding of Scripture, their relationship with Jesus, and their participation in the life of the Church. The resulting influence may unfold slowly and often remains difficult to quantify, yet its significance becomes evident as faithfulness is transmitted through relationships and across generations.
This understanding also challenges the tendency to evaluate pastoral effectiveness primarily through the accomplishments of individual leaders. One of the most meaningful expressions of faithful pastoral ministry is the development of people who can eventually carry responsibility, exercise their gifts, and strengthen others without remaining dependent upon the pastor’s direct involvement. Such leadership requires humility, patience, and a willingness to entrust responsibility to those who are still growing. It also requires confidence that the mission belongs ultimately to Christ rather than to the institutions or personalities through which it is presently expressed. The Church serves its calling faithfully when its members become increasingly capable of participating in the ministry of the whole body and preparing others to do likewise.
Roger’s practical discussions of shepherding, relational investment, leadership development, and multiplication make these theological convictions accessible to readers serving in a variety of ministry contexts. His reflections encourage pastors to consider how their existing ministries contribute to the formation of disciples and invite ordinary believers to recognize their own responsibility within the mission of the Church. The book’s recurring opportunities for reflection, application, and intentional next steps further reinforce its formative purpose. Readers are encouraged to examine their assumptions, identify practical opportunities for growth, and consider how their own lives might become instruments through which others encounter the love and teachings of Jesus.
The Assignment Before Us
One of the most encouraging aspects of Missed Assignment is the spirit in which it has been written. Roger’s reflections are grounded in a genuine affection for the Church and an abiding confidence in the continuing work of God among His people. He recognizes the considerable pressures facing contemporary congregations and the difficulties pastors encounter as they seek to balance spiritual care with organizational responsibility. His writing offers encouragement to leaders who may sense that their ministry has become consumed by activity and who desire to recover a more intentional approach to forming mature followers of Jesus. His concern is ultimately constructive, inviting readers to reconsider the purpose of familiar practices and to cultivate forms of ministry that bring biblical instruction, spiritual formation, relational investment, and shared participation into closer alignment.
Roger’s conclusion provides a particularly meaningful expression of the theological humility necessary for this work. He reminds readers that faithful discipleship frequently involves sacrifice, surrender, and the willingness to invest in others without controlling the outcome. His memorable observation, “Your job is the cross. God’s job is the resurrection,” captures the conviction that Christian obedience requires patient participation in the work of God while recognizing that transformation ultimately belongs to Him. Pastors may invest faithfully in people without immediately witnessing the results they desire. Parents may spend years nurturing the spiritual lives of their children while continuing to trust God with their development. Believers may offer encouragement, instruction, and care without knowing how profoundly those ordinary acts of faithfulness will influence another person’s journey. The life of discipleship calls us to persevere in such relationships, trusting that the Spirit continues His formative work through the faithful participation of God’s people.
The beauty of Christian discipleship is often most evident in circumstances that attract little attention. It appears when a young believer begins to understand Scripture, when a struggling marriage moves toward reconciliation, when someone discovers the grace to forgive, or when a mature Christian patiently accompanies another person through a difficult season of life. These experiences rarely receive the recognition associated with institutional achievement, yet they reveal something profoundly important about the Kingdom of God. The life of Jesus becomes visible through ordinary people whose relationships, priorities, and practices are being transformed by His presence. Such fruit may develop quietly over many years, extending into families and communities in ways that no pastor or congregation can fully measure.
Dr. Roger Sherwood has devoted his ministry to cultivating this kind of Kingdom fruit. His love for the people of New Creation Family Church, his commitment to theological learning, and his willingness to examine his own pastoral journey have contributed to a work that deserves thoughtful attention. The reader will encounter sound biblical reflection, meaningful pastoral experience, and practical encouragement for recovering the formative character of Christian discipleship. Roger has written with a shepherd’s heart, inviting the Church to remember the mission entrusted to it and to consider how that mission might be more faithfully embodied in its common life.
It is a privilege to commend Missed Assignment to pastors, ministry leaders, students of Scripture, and believers who desire to participate more intentionally in the mission of Jesus. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will use these pages to encourage and strengthen those who have grown weary in ministry, to renew the vision of those entrusted with shepherding God’s people, and to awaken within our congregations a deeper longing for the life of Christ. May we become communities where the words of Scripture are faithfully taught, where relationships provide opportunities for genuine spiritual formation, and where each generation accepts the responsibility of preparing those who will follow. May we recover the patience to walk with people, the humility to learn from one another, and the courage to reconsider whatever may distract us from the calling of our King. Ultimately, the assignment before the Church is a beautiful invitation to participate in the continuing work of Jesus, whose grace forms us into His likeness and whose Spirit empowers us to carry His love into the lives of others.
Notes
- George E. Mendenhall, “Covenant Forms in Israelite Tradition,” Biblical Archaeologist 17, no. 3 (1954): 50–76; Dennis J. McCarthy, Treaty and Covenant: A Study in Form in the Ancient Oriental Documents and in the Old Testament, 2nd ed., Analecta Biblica 21A (Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1978); Christopher J. H. Wright, Old Testament Ethics for the People of God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004).
- Hans Walter Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), particularly the discussion of nepeš and the integrated conception of human existence within the Hebrew Scriptures.
- Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907), s.v. “שנן”; Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy, JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1996), commentary on Deut 6:4–9.
- Michael J. Wilkins, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992); Rainer Riesner, Jesus als Lehrer: Eine Untersuchung zum Ursprung der Evangelien-Überlieferung, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2/7 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1981).
- Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1963); Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006).
- Brave Cities, prologue, “The Day Everything Changed in Surfing and the Church,” particularly the discussion of surfing culture, commercialization, and consumer-oriented Christianity. Complete bibliographic details should be confirmed from the publication’s copyright page before typesetting.
