Excerpt by Robert E. Coleman

We dare not obscure the altar of sacrifice, where consecration to God is complete. If we try to circumvent the cross, we assure our own ultimate defeat, for we cut the nerve of obedience and kill the lifestyle of the Great Commission. (Go, and make disciples of the nations. Jesus) No one will take seriously the command to make disciples who has not taken up the cross.
Strangely, today we hear little about self-denial and suffering in all the talk about church growth. Is this because most of what has been said to date has come out of the Western world, where affluence abounds and church affiliation is a mark of social acceptance, if not good politics? Unwittingly, I am afraid, Christian discipleship has often been squeezed into this world's mold, radical obedience. But it will not stand the test of time. When the standards of church membership are set by popular demand, eventually the church becomes so much like the world that there is no reason for the world to change. The very effort of the church to appease fleshly expectations makes her unattractive.
... To see significant growth, more likely than not we will need to go beyond the easygoing, self-indulgent religious life of the West. It is the church living under oppression and poverty, usually in underdeveloped countries of the world, where the most thrilling growth is happening today. I am not suggesting that all of these non-Western lands have vibrant churches, any more than that all congregations in the West lack vitality, but a general pattern can be observed. It is interesting, too, that for the most part, the people in these growing segments of the Third World Christian community have had little, if any, opportunity to receive extensive formal training or even attend a church-growth seminar. Obviously, sophisticated theological education, with all its assumed expertise in churchmanship, does not produce the lifestyle of Jesus.
Have the opulence and freedoms of the Western world, though wrought with great potential for good, lulled a complacent church into mediocrity? If that is the case, any circumstance that removes these artificial supports from us should be seen as an act of mercy. Our Lord is more interested in developing our character than in preserving our comfort. Whatever it takes, we must get back to basic Christianity, align our will with the way God has set for us, and move out to disciple the nations. In many instances, church membership standards must be raised, reflecting higher expectations of commitment and disciplined living. The congregation may be slow to understand, but those in positions of authority can lead the way for others to follow and show by their example what it means to be true witnesses of Christ.
Yet obedience alone can become brittle and weary in well-doing. There must be an inner dynamic motivating and empowering life with love, an actual partaking of the divine nature. To bring this truth into focus, one final principle must be stressed, apart from which everything else written thus far would be sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. (Without love I am only a resounding gong. Corinthians)

A lesson from the early apostolic church in christian history. Excerpt from The master plan of discipleship. I am sorry if this doesn't make much sense to some of you reading, but it is mainly a challenge to those that claim Christ as Lord of their lives.