When I went back to college later in life, I was told that I had a “math deficiency.” I ended up having to buy an elementary mathematics book and re-teaching myself some basics. Everyday I worked through a portion of that pitifully boring math book—alone. However, once a week I met with a tutor who monitored my progress (or lack thereof) and tried to answer my many questions. (“Why would anyone plant a garden in the form of a triangle and then use the Pythagorean Theorem to measure the hypotenuse?”)
One day I asked my tutor, “Help me understand integers”—and I pronounced it exactly like it’s spelled: “in-TE-gers.” My tutor smiled and said, “You mean, integers”—and she pronounced it “IN-ti-jers.” Sensing my embarrassment, she said, “It’s okay. You couldn’t have known this simply by working through the book by yourself.”
Right then and there I realized this: solo book learning is a good start, but a fuller, deeper learning happens in community. In my math community (with a tutor and few other struggling students), I learned to correctly pronounce mathematical terms I’ll probably never need—such as “integer.” (My math is up to speed these days, but you may have noticed that I still have a significant math deficiency in my attitude.)
In Jesus’ day, this fuller, deeper, communal learning, was known as havering. And as it turns out, haver learning is a critically important part of the disciplemaking genius of Jesus. Why? Because you will never fully come to know and experience Jesus or disciplemaking by simply working through the Book by yourself.
What follows is the second of eight leading indicators that you could be experiencing a Jesus-like Disciplemaking Learning Community. To continue reading—and to catch parts 1 and 2, go here.
