“The Circle: Hearing and Doing”

This is an extract from Bob' Roglien’s book “The Jesus Shaped Way: Six Steps to Being and Making Disciples the Way Jesus Did".

It is available from Bob’s Website and Amazon (for a kindle version)

TOOL #2: THE CIRCLE: HEARING AND DOING

When Jesus launched his public mission in Galilee, he offered a very simple challenge: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Then he began calling the fishermen into a discipling relationship, saying, “Follow me” (Mark 1:15-20). The simple fact is you can’t follow Jesus unless you can learn to recognize and respond to his voice. To be a disciple, you need to learn to see where Jesus is going and follow. Jesus explained the relationship between himself as the Good Shepherd and his disciples as the sheep when he said, “the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out... The sheep follow him because they know his voice.” (John 10:3-4) Right here, at the very beginning of his public ministry, Jesus teaches us how to hear his voice and follow where he is leading us.

The Greek word translated “time” in Mark 1:15 is kairos. This is different from the standard Greek word for time, which is chronos, as in “chronological.” Chronos is linear time, ticking away like a clock, one second after another, like marks on a ruler. Kairos is a specific moment in time, a moment of opportunity, a moment of decision. It is like driving a car into a four-way intersection where you must make a choice. Are you going to continue straight, turn left, or turn right? A Kairos moment is a crossroads in time where an opportunity has opened, and we must make a decision about what we are doing to do. Jesus goes on to tell us what is happening in this kairos: “the kingdom of God has come near.” The Greek word translated “come near” means that it is here but is still arriving, like a train when it has entered the station but has not yet fully arrived; it is still coming in. Jesus is telling us that the Kingdom of God is breaking into our world and into our lives, and this calls for a decision. We have to choose whether we will continue along our own path or let Jesus lead us down a new path.

Kairos is a Crossroads of Opportunity

A “kairos moment” can be anything Jesus uses to get our attention: a Scripture verse, something someone said to us, a beautiful sunset, or a fender-bender on our way to work. These events are meant to awaken us to the fact that there is an opportunity for God’s Kingdom to break into our life. Once we recognize we are at this Kingdom crossroads, Jesus tells us to do two things: repent and believe.

Repent is often assumed to mean “feel bad about your sins and change your ways.” It can mean that, but it means so much more! The Greek word is metanoia, which means literally to have a change of mind. Repenting means letting Jesus change your mind, give you a new perspective, and send you in a new direction. We do this by asking the question, “Jesus, what are you saying to me?”

We often assume believe means agreeing that something is true. In fact, believe in the New Testament is the translation of a Greek verb based on the noun for “faith.” It literally means “faithing.” However, we don’t have that verb in English, so we translate it “believe,” even though that can be misleading. A better translation might be “trust.” Or “exercise faith.” Here Jesus is calling us to respond in faith to what he is saying to us by taking a step, trusting him enough to put faith into action. It is good to remember where faith comes from. Paul says, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) So as we listen for what Jesus is saying to us (repent), his word creates faith in our hearts, and so we are called to exercise that faith by taking a concrete step (believe). We do this by asking the question, “Jesus, what step of faith are you calling me to take?”

Don’t forget: Jesus did not call his disciples to follow him by themselves; instead, he called them into a spiritual family. The disciples learned how to follow Jesus together in community, and we need to do the same. This is not meant to be a solo journey. We need other disciples who help us learn to discern Jesus’ voice and follow where he is leading us. That means when we ask the question, “Jesus, what are you saying to me?” we need input from our trusted leader and friends to help us accurately discern what he is saying. When we ask the question, “Jesus, what step of faith do you want me to take?” we need support and accountability from our leader and friends to help us follow through with our step of faith. This is the engine of discipleship. Repenting and believing with other disciples is what keeps us moving forward on the Way of Jesus, one step of faith at a time!

I vividly remember when this process first became clear to me. I was in northern England learning about all this at a conference hosted by St. Thomas Church in Sheffield. When the session ended, I turned to my friend Greg and blurted out, “This is the whole story! If you get this, you get everything else!” It was hitting me that when we learn to accurately discern what Jesus is saying to us and, with the help of our friends, we respond by exercising the faith his word is producing, then everything else that matters will flow from that! You could say it was a major kairos moment for me.

From that time on, I began looking for those kairos moments and then intentionally learning how to process them by asking these two critical questions, “Jesus, what are you saying to me? And what step of faith do you want me to take in response?” Eventually I joined a JGroup (sometimes called a “Huddle”) where we focused on processing kairos moments together. This was so helpful because, for the first time in my life, I had trustworthy people helping me discern what Jesus was saying and identify how I was meant to respond. There was also the built-in accountability of knowing they were praying for me to take that step and would be asking me how it went. This supportive accountability helped me to follow through on important steps of faith I wanted to take but could have easily avoided.

Before long I started to invite others in my life to do this same thing with me in Jesus-Shaped Groups. Nearly 20 years later, I am still doing the same thing with gifted leaders from all over the world! Without a doubt these kairos-processing groups have been one of the most fruitful things I have ever done, both for my own life of discipleship and for helping others on their journey of following Jesus.

When I was learning these principles in Sheffield, we were also given an incredibly helpful tool that we simply call “The Circle.” It begins with an arrow moving left to right which terminates at an X marking the recognition of a kairos moment. This collision begins to move us around the Circle. The right side of the Circle is about REPENTING, and the left side of the Circle is about BELIEVING. Each side includes three steps that help us make our way around the Circle:

• REPENT

  • Observe: How is Jesus getting my attention through this kairos?

  • Reflect: What does this kairos mean in my life?

  • Discuss: What is Jesus saying to me through this kairos?

• BELIEVE

  • Plan: What is the concrete step of faith Jesus wants me to take?

  • Account: Who will I ask to pray for me and hold me accountable?

  • Act: Put the plan into action!

It is amazing how this simple tool can help you move forward in your journey of discipleship. As you learn to discern what God is saying with the help of a trusted leader and some friends, the keys are to identify a concrete response of faith and get the support you need to actually take that step of faith. Jesus asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?” Then he went on to tell the parable comparing the man who built his house on the ground without a proper foundation to the man who built his house on the bedrock. Jesus said the man who built his house on the sand represents “the one who hears and does not act,” while the man who built his house on the bedrock represents the one who “hears my words, and acts on them.” (Luke 6:47) A critical factor in learning to follow the Way of Jesus is becoming a hearer/doer. This is the path to a Jesus-Shaped Life!

Rognlien, Bob. The Jesus-Shaped Way: Six Steps to Being and Making Disciples the Way Jesus Did (pp. 43-48). GX Books. (Published with Permission of the Author)