I’ll have a grande discipleship

… no whipped cream | by Drew Forster

S

o I was preparing a seminar last week. I had the elements that I wanted to cover in this day-long event, but was struggling to put it all together and create a presentation that would use everything in the right order and make it all work. Attempting to do this at home was not proving very fruitful, so I had the treat of going to Starbucks for a couple of hours to synthesize everything. It worked and I was able to pull the pieces together. But I was not entirely distraction-free even while sitting on comfortable furniture in the window of the Seattle coffee giant.

At the next table over, a new “partner” was having what I learned is known as his “first impression” meeting with the manager. The manager was one of those 20-something young women who give off a kind of 12-year-old vibe because, for whatever reason, her parents put off the braces during her adolescence. She was not the most well-spoken person (maybe it was the braces) and at times, seemed way more nervous than the 20-something, tight T-shirt wearing hipster that she was training. But even given that, she was presenting him with the wealth of information required for anyone training to make lattes. She was doing a decent job of it because of her apparent passion for Starbucks and because of the curriculum she was given to teach.

This indoctrination lasted the entire two hours that I was there. I kept expecting it to end, but on and on it went. Here are some tidbits from the exchange.

During this time, tight T hipster received no less than a dozen books, some of them short, pamphlet-type things and some quite long pieces of literature. I would estimate that he had at least three hours of reading to complete.

One of the books was entitled: The Little Green Book: Ways of Being. This, despite, being called little was one of the longer books he would need to read. It includes standards for behavior and the overarching principles that all “partners” assent to.

Another book was The Green Pages. It’s full of nuts and bolts, the manager said.

Something else was from the founder of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, who she described as “not only the founder, but that in his position as chairman and chief global strategist was still guiding the company to be what it ought to be.”

At some point, they left their table and went into the back, I guess so the new barista could see some of what he would be reading about. They came back out and then she instructed him that while he was in the store reading (and I assume being paid for his training), he should just wear street clothes. Following this reading portion and only when he felt ready to do so should he don the black apron. Here’s a quote from the manager: “When you put on the apron, you are communicating to customers and to other partners that you are ready to serve.”

Not long before I left, a couple of regulars went up to the table and the husband said, “One of your first tasks is to remember customers’ names. I’m Bob, this is Pat. We’ll be back to check on you later.”

The manager told him he would be assigned a learning coach, a current partner or maybe more than one, who would show him the ropes and answer questions, big and small, during his first few weeks.

In fact, Starbucks is really into education. I grabbed this off their website:

Training & Education
We guide all new partners through an extensive orientation and fundamental training program to provide a solid foundation for career advancement at Starbucks. Some of our educational programs are:

• Coffee Education – A course focusing on the Starbucks passion for coffee and understanding our core product.
• Learning to Lead – A three level program for baristas to develop leadership skills. The program also includes store operational and effective management practice training.
• Business and Communication – The Starbucks Support Center (SSC) offers a variety of classes ranging from basic computer skills to conflict resolution, to management training.

Leadership development? Communication classes? Hello. It’s a coffee store.

Ok, so what’s the point? Sadly, as I sat there, I realized that what was happening in Starbuck’s should be what happens in the church and too often does not occur. Someone sits down with a new person and disciples them, giving them some strong pointers about what to read and how to learn about the place and its mission and their part in accomplishing that mission. I saw a non-threatening approach to including a new person, calling him partner immediately, instead of trainee.  I saw natural community operating in customers reaching out to the newbie barista and intentional community in him receiving a learning coach. I saw the ability for growth and a close benchmark in terms of putting on the apron (for the Salvos reading this, how about it? Don’t put on your uniform until you’re prepared to communicate, “I’m ready to serve.”)

Now the church didn’t invent the concept of discipleship or apprenticeship or whatever you call it, but we sure ought to be doing it better than a coffee bar is. Isn’t it interesting how the place people associate with relaxed cool has such a systematic way of ensuring that they continue to be known for just that? Sometimes when the church tries to do laid back and accessible, it turns into chaos because we don’t want any system in place to make it work.

So how did it come about that the church became a place associated with judgment and an utter lack of “cool” and a place people stay away from for fear that they will be rejected or worse yet, ignored, while a coffee bar became the place that knows how to bring someone into the fold in a straightforward and sensible way in order to grow its empire and build up the individual? Here’s a hint, it has nothing to do with furniture or music selection or their logo or apparel options.

Writer: Drew Forster’s journey both spiritually and as a leader has been marked by one constant: change.  Growing up all over the northeastern US, he settled in the Boston area.  Following God has placed him in diverse fields from secondary education to college campus ministry to serving as the lay pastor of a homeless congregation in Manhattan.  Now working as the Planning Coordinator for The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center of Boston, Drew is married to the wonderful woman God chose for him, Jen, and is the father of two daughters: creative force Riley, ray of sunshine Sydney and newborn male progeny, Luke.

7 Comments to I’ll have a grande discipleship

1. I pray this blog post will turn lights on inside people’s heads.
Eleanor Burne-Jones on June 12th, 2008

2. Fantastic article Drew! I’m reading a lot about discipleship at the moment and I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, in many places we have, along with much of the church, ignored the importance of discipleship. It seems, for those Salvationists reading this, that we have fallen into the trap of putting on our uniform when we are ready to ’serve’ in the band or songsters (our most obvious way of serving the church) rather than getting serving those outside of our fellowship.
Graeme Smith on June 12th, 2008

3. I just have a few questions…can we as Christians really ‘train’ new disciples, or is that the work of the Holy Spirit? You can teach someone about all our theology, ways of serving, leadership skills, but err faith in Christ, walking in the Spirit…that’s not something that can be so easily trained…that’s something that comes from God alone.

   The danger with getting caught up with ‘training’ is indeed getting caught up in the training and missing God altogether. God works through out weaknesses…sometimes when we think things are effective from our opinion…in the eyes of God they actually might not be.

   That’s not to say there shouldn’t be some kind of training, and I loved it when you said that you should only wear the uniform when you are ready to serve - I for one have removed the epaulettes and will only wear them when I am ready to do so. However what about the reverse…does one have to be in uniform to serve?

   I am cautious towards training because the best training that can be given is a model of holiness which points to one thing - show someone how to get to God, get yourself right with God - and he will show you the way.

   Just my opinion like

   Shalom
Clint on June 12th, 2008

4. Clint, in my opinion a lot of the training is of course in the example of holy living, but in order for there to be true discipleship there has to be some sort of accountability framework. Let’s also remember that Jesus told us to ‘go and make disciples … teaching them to obey’. If it was only the Holy Spirit’s responsibility why would he have instructed us to do something that wasn’t our task. Our commission suggests that it is possible for us to make disciples by training them to be followers of Jesus, not only by our example but also by educating them in his ways.
Graeme Smith on June 12th, 2008

5. Clint… I think that discipleship encompasses more than just straight training. I agree that God does teach us stuff as we walk with him…
   …and we also learn by other’s example…
   …but we definitely still need to train people!! Paul wrote most of the New Testament, and what were most of his letters about? Training people in the faith. Strengthening the churches. God teaches us personally, but he also uses other people to teach us.

   It sounds to me like your upbringing included alot of training, and that maybe that training overwhelmed the importance of a walk with God.

   I think I may be the opposite - I received only the sunday school version of the training you decry as I grew up - then without any warning, was suddenly expected to go from “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho” singalongs to “big people church” - where I was expected to somehow know “it all”.

   I know there are some massive incidents in my past that I could have avoided - if only someone had (for example) explained our beliefs and warned me of heresies. At the very least.

   Not everyone was taught all the essentials (to the point of boredom, maybe) in their youth. I think sometimes maybe people consider what they know, to be assumed knowledge for everyone - “everyone knows that” - (when really, they don’t).

   So really we can see two ways that don’t work - training to the neglect of a personal walk, and a personal walk with no practical assistance (i.e. your faith is just between you and God. Forget living in community, and lifting each other up…)

   Probably the most effective discipleship includes good training from stronger believers AND a consistent personal walk.
Steph on June 12th, 2008

6. Hi All!

   Not having grown up TSA I don’t quite understand why activities such as banding and songsters are not valued highly on this blog. These days when so many people are stuck at home either vegetating in front of a screen or seeking superficial self-improvement or pondering get rich quick schemes. From what I can see both activities require a high investment in skill development, neither activity involves routine use of liposuction or has ever promised to get anyone rich.
Andrea614Regent on June 12th, 2008

7. Andrea, its not that banding and songsters aren’t valued, I value greatly the contributions the sections in my corps make to the services, and your points are extremely valued. However, for many years songsters brigades and especially bands were elevated to a level that became an obsession for many.

   In the Army world some of us grew up they were the only route to being valued. If you weren’t part of this group then you weren’t part of the in crowd. Also the Army culture I grew up in put Band and Songsters ahead of everything including discipleship! In fact in many corps if the section was not on ‘duty’ in a meeting then many of the members of that section would simply not turn up to meetings, yet would appear to drop off and pick up other family members.
Graeme Smith on June 13th, 2008

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