Discipleship Yokes

In traditional, toxic discipleship heavy “discipleship yokes” are placed on believers with the toxic expectation that God expects them to adhere to the yokes.

By adhering to the yokes, they are told they will become more like Jesus and will help others become more like Jesus, too.

These “discipleship yokes” include a commitment to be a devoted follower of Jesus, a commitment to faithfully practice the spiritual disciplines, a commitment to be a dedicated member of a small group, and a commitment to make disciples who will make disciples.

In addition, these “discipleship yokes” include fulfilling specific requirements placed upon them that are unique to their church or ministry.

Feeling the pressure of these heavy discipleship yokes and fearing they will not fulfill their commitment to adhere to the yokes, believers feel spiritual anxiety.

Then, failing to adhere to the discipleship yokes, believers feel God disapproves of them and is disgusted with them because they did not meet "his discipleship expectations."

Consequently, believers live in spiritual guilt and shame, feeling like failures before God and far away from him.

As we follow Paul on his missionary journeys, we discover Paul did not place believers under the “discipleship yokes” we see in toxic discipleship.

Rather we see Paul educating (discipling) believers about Jesus and the gospel of grace for the purpose of establishing believers in grace so they could grow in Christ and not be in bondage to “discipleship yokes” law-based leaders would attempt to place on them.

In his letter to the Galatians, heavy discipleship yokes were being placed on the believers.

To release them from these yokes, Paul re-discipled the believers in the gospel of grace (he previously taught them the gospel of grace in Acts 13-14), ultimately stating in Galatians 5:1,

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

This is an excerpt from Brad’s new book, Toxic Discipleship.

Brad’s book, Toxic Discipleship, will be available October 1, 2023.