True discipleship

Russell Moore has a great summary of Michael Card’s relationship with the late William Lane:

Card speaks about how Lane never said, “Here is how I am mentoring you.” Instead he just spent time with Card, talked about life with him, and modeled for him in small ways what he considered to be the marks of a Christian. What Card brings forth as one of the greatest lessons he ever learned from Lane is not a curriculum or a step in a program. Instead it is the memory of the time when travelling overseas with Lane, when Lane insisted that Card sleep in the only bed available while Lane slept on the floor. Card says that all he could think about that night is the awkwardness of the fact that he, a college student, was comfortable in bed, while a brilliant Hebrews scholar was on the floor around the corner. It hit him that what Lane was doing was teaching his protege the Bible. From this, and other moments like it, came Card’s song about Christic servanthood, “The Basin and the Towel.”

There’s much talk about mentoring today among Christians. Often I find that some expect mentoring to be a clearly defined program, with a man announcing to a younger man: “You are my protege. Today I have mentored you.” But, as Card points out, that’s not the way real Christian discipleship works, and never has. The greatest part of mentoring doesn’t seem like mentoring at all, just like friendship. Peter, James, and John probably didn’t say to themselves while walking to Gethsemene, “Here we go, boys. This is going to be the Gospel of Mark, chapter fourteen.” They thought it was just a walk.

What a beautiful picture of discipleship. No formal rules, just faith being modeled through the challenges and joys of life. Michael Card talks more about his relationship with Lane in his book The Walk.