Effective Discipleship

Prior to the Covid pandemic impacting our world the way it has over the past 2 years or so, there was a huge variety of different discipleship approaches that were available for the church to use.

And I’m sure that each of us could point to an App, website, model or method that was sort of working in our setting.

Last week I touched on The Importance of Discipleship and how it is intrinsically linked to evangelism as Steve Murrell writes in his book WikiChurch; “discipleship is a call to “fish” for people“. Today I want to draw our attention to the need for Effective Discipleship.

You see, maybe it would be better to say that we thought our discipleship ministry or programmes and services were working – because in reality this may not have been true as the results (the fruits of our labours) were not necessarily bringing us what we had envisaged. The effectiveness of our discipleship was not being fully realised. We may have focused previously too heavily on one aspect of discipleship or another, and may have even gone so far as to separate the many aspects of discipleship and lost sight of their correlation.

Dare I say that this may be the case with many Western churches as we have compartmentalised discipleship and even created whole departments that don’t necessarily interact with others to remain committed to the ultimate vision of the Christian church to bring people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.     

The things is, some people may have been coming both to faith and then maybe coming to church, but as the affects of Covid on the church show in our days many people are not coming back. Admittedly that may just mean not yet – for we are forever hopeful.

But hearing from some trusted Officers within The Salvation Army, ministers and pastors from other denominations and the likes of this article entitled ‘They’re Not Coming Back‘ posted by James Emery White on Church & Culture, among others. We’ll most likely find that attendance levels and discipleship group numbers, and all the other metrics we use to gauge how well we have been doing in the church will remain low post Covid.     

There are multiple reasons for this, Covid obviously being one. But because our churches haven’t or won’t be fully returning to normal (as the people in our congregations would define it) or because they have simply moved on to other things – as church is not necessarily as higher importance as maybe it once was, many so called disciples, believers and Christians are not coming ‘back into the fold‘ so to speak.

They may still see themselves as Christians, although a word of caution is needed to be communicated in this space in a way that is as lovingly possible as we can to those that choose not to return, for Jesus may say to “them outright, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me – you didn’t follow God’s ways!’” Matthew 7:23 (Radiate New Testament) 

Now, that may seem a bit harsh for some – but the reality is God created the church, and He envisaged for it to bring Life and Hope to the world, and be His resource to impact the world in which we live for His glory. 

This is not a new issue! It is one that the church has been grappling with for eons, and Paul even touches on it when he writes to the church of Philippi according to Richard Lamb in ‘Following Jesus in the “Real World” – Discipleship for the Postcollege Years’;

Paul’s urgency in Philippians is rooted in his awareness of the very real possibility that people who begin as disciples may turn away from the path of discipleship.

Jesus himself also recognises this issue when in John 6 after speaking of himself as the Bread of Life the very people who were joining to be His disciples were offended by His teaching and “turned their backs on him and even refused to be associated with Him“. John 6:66 (The Passion Translation)

In 2010 Alan & Debra Hirsch in their book ‘Untamed: reactivating a missional form of discipleship’ write that they “sincerely believe discipleship has become a frontier issue for the people of God at this time in history.

And most commentators would agree that in sincerely seeking to appeal to the prevailing consumerist culture, the Western church has all but lost the art of discipleship.”

They go on to say that “rediscovering what it means to radically follow Jesus is an area of strategic, missional concern” and, that “to fail in discipleship and disciple making is therefore to fail in the primary mission (or ‘sent-ness’) of the church.“

So how effective have we been in our discipleship? I would hazard a guess to say that we as the church universally have not been very good at it for quite a while. Discipleship programmes although many and varied have not necessarily been as successful as we would like. Studies consistently show that the Biblical literacy in church is sadly lacking, over the past few decades involvement in frontline church ministry has been on the downward trajectory, and attendance levels in mainstream denominations has continued to decline. This is not all doom and gloom though – there is hope! God is not finished with us yet – for the church is the Hope of the world, and the Bride will get to stand with the Bridegroom.   

Now, in today’s world there is a plethora of information about churches facing a new change of pace due to the Covid pandemic and the state of our nations.

There are many conversations about attendance declines, discipleship issues, pastor weariness and the great resignation and Dan Reiland explores 5 Traits of Churches That Will Build Again post this season we have been in with Covid.

Thom Rainer and Kevin Ezell in a recent Church Answers Revitalise & Replant podcast also look at five consequences for churches in this season that don’t seem to get much attention which may just surprise you. The third point that they raise is that there is a reawakening of the need for effective discipleship ministries.

So, as we return to a level of normality with restrictions being eased may we focus on one of the areas that needs a fair bit of work to establish effective discipleship for our people.

Not just Bible Study groups and interest groups for the sake of gathering together with likeminded people to do stuff and learn, which remain absolutely essential, but ‘Life‘ groups that start to exhibit areas of ‘spiritual‘ growth in people.

God requires for us to go deeper and develop those people entrusted into our care so that they become Spirit-filled and exhibit what J. Oswald Sanders calls the Three Fundamental Principles that should guide us in our service; 

• The Continuance Principle – “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.‘” John 8:31-32 (Revised Standard Version) 
• The Love Principle which is found in John 13:35 “by this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” (New International Version)
• The Fruit Principle – “If you remain (continue) in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourself to be my disciples.” John 15:7-8 (New International Version)

All three of which need to manifest themselves in our lives.

Blessings ’til next time 🙂

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Choose Joy

Every morning as part of my devotions & prayers I am reminded of the choice I have in how I approach each new day;

“I choose to rejoice in God’s righteousness and mercy today, joining with the ancient praise of all God’s people in the words of a certain Psalm.“

And over the past few weeks I’ve been guided through the beatitudes, via the Lectio 365 prayer app which you can download here. 

I have also read a number of blogs and other articles in various publications and the following one ‘Cultivating a Life of Worship‘ written by Dallas Willard on the Renovaré site has stood out for me, and the portion I’m sharing below is something I keep coming back too: 

“Love is the foun­da­tion of the spir­i­tu­al life and joy is a key com­po­nent in the Christ life. Joy is not plea­sure, a mere sen­sa­tion, but a per­va­sive and con­stant sense of well-being. Hope in the good­ness of God is joy’s indis­pens­able support. 

In a moment of wor­ship and praise, Paul spon­ta­neous­ly expressed a bene­dic­tion on the Chris­tians in Rome: ​“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believ­ing, that you may abound in hope by the pow­er of the Holy Spir­it” Romans 15:13 (New American Standard Bible). This verse address­es the pro­found needs of the emo­tion­al side of the Chris­tian’s life. 

The great cen­tral terms of life in Christ are ​“faith,” ​“hope,” ​“love,” and ​“peace.” These are not just feel­ings; in sub­stance, they are not feel­ings. They are con­di­tions involv­ing every part of an indi­vid­u­al’s life, includ­ing the body and the social con­text. They serve to equip us for the engage­ments of life. They do, how­ev­er, have feel­ings that accom­pa­ny them, and these pos­i­tive feel­ings abun­dant­ly char­ac­ter­ize those liv­ing in the pres­ence of God.

These feel­ings dis­place the bit­ter and angry feel­ings, that char­ac­ter­ize life ​“in the flesh” — life in human ener­gies only. They even trans­form the sick­en­ing emo­tion­al tones that per­me­ate and large­ly gov­ern the world around us — even many times the Church world. 

Jesus taught us to abide in God’s love ​“that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” John 15:10 – 11 (New American Standard Bible). Our joy is full when there is no room for more. Abid­ing in God’s love pro­vides the unshak­able source of joy, which is in turn the source of peace. All is based in the real­i­ty of God’s grace and goodness. 

Faith, hope, love, joy, and peace—the ​“mag­nif­i­cent five” — are insep­a­ra­ble from one anoth­er and rec­i­p­ro­cal­ly sup­port each oth­er. Try to imag­ine any one with­out the others!“

So as we approach the next day, week, or month let’s approach it with an attitude of ‘joy!’ For that is a choice we each can make – regardless of what is going on in our world, and will help us get through those things that could have us focusing on the wrong things. As James alludes to in his letter “to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (refer to James 1, New International Version).

Blessings ’til next time 🙂

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Compelled by the love of Christ

It says in 2 Corinthians 5:20 that “we are ambassadors of the Anointed One who carry the message of Christ to the world” (The Passion Translation) and we each need to find out who we have been called to minister too.

So, today I want to do a bit of a follow-up on a post that I did mid-July for one of our congregation who is Compelled by the love of Christ to minister to those who associate with the LGBTIQA+ Community – You can view it here as it will give you some background on an awesome ministry impacting the lives of people right around the world.

We all need to gain a greater understanding of how our actions and words as Christians, can either hinder or encourage people to take a step closer to journeying with Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

After all, sometimes our prejudices are based on opinions, learnings or thoughts which have come about through a limited knowledge of the times, cultures, intentions and even translations of key documents etc. that happened many years ago, or have been passed down to us from generation to generation and may be flawed in some way.

So the questions that we need to bear in mind so that we can gain a better understanding of the injustices that are at work in our times are:

• What is God speaking to me about this issue today?
• How can I be better equipped to hold an impartial view about and/or towards others?
• How can I become a bridge builder rather than a fence maker?
• How can I impart the Love of God towards the whosoever, regardless?

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A couple of months ago it was a privilege for me to be invited to share a bit about the ministry I’m engaged in supporting LGBTQ Christians and their loved ones. On that occasion, I wrote about God’s calling on my life and how through faith I was led to become more actively involved in inclusive ministry. Initially it was through an interdenominational organisation, GCN (The Gay Christian Network) which is now QCF (Q Christian Fellowship). Now the ministry also has a significant Salvation Army focus.

There are several resources which can help Salvationists become better informed about the issues. These include:

The NZFTS Territorial web page which contains several articles around the issue of sexuality and

The informal Facebook group, “Salvos For A More Inclusive Church”. There are over 2200 members in this group who represent a wide cross-section of people from friends of the Army to Commissioners. There are many resources and discussion threads supported by folk who have a wealth of experience and knowledge around inclusive ministry.

You can also check out Diverse Church NZ who are a network of churches who wish to become safer places where LGBT+ people can fully participate and grow in faith.

In March 2021, Diverse Church will host The Awaken 2021 conference here in Wellington. While details are still being finalised, this will be a great opportunity to engage with others from Christian churches to explore how we as a church can become more inclusive. A few Salvationists and officers attended Awaken 2016 and 2019.

You may be wondering why the focus on inclusive ministry is important.

The 2018 New Zealand Faith and Belief study which involved Wellington City Corps, gives us some insight. The report identifies “The main blocker to Kiwis engaging with Christianity is the Church’s stance and teaching on homosexuality (47%)” This is particularly noticeable in younger generations. The issue features at the top of the list for Gen Z (43%), Gen Y (49%) and Gen X (50%). It is also second on the list for Baby Boomers (49%).

A few weeks ago, during worship we sang “All Hail the power of Jesus name” during worship. The words of verse two always speak to me.

“Let every kindred, every tribe, All nations great and small,

To Him all majesty ascribe, And crown Him Lord of all!

It’s easy to overlook that the words are a prayer.

How often do we as congregations sing these words but don’t make the connection? If the definition of ‘kindred’ is: “Having a similar or related origin, nature, or character: kindred emotions” that means all people including LGBT. To me the song writer understands the meaning of what it means to be inclusive.

May we as followers of Christ catch a fresh glimpse of what Jesus was talking about in John 6:37 when he says;

“I will never turn away anyone who comes to me” (Good News Translation).

For more information about a ministry of reconciliation and inclusivity, and how you can be a part of this journey going forward you contact me via my personal website “A place at the table” which is focused on inclusion resources, or request to join the facebook group ‘Salvos for a more inclusive church‘.

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Front page of this month’s newsletter

On the front page of this month’s Wellington City Corps newsletter I feature an article which I’ve adapted slightly from the Grace Seattle Blog written by John Haralson back in December 2015.

He says; A very wise person once summarized the Bible’s entire story using love as the major thread that holds everything together. The idea wasn’t original to him, as he was doing his best to channel the theology of Augustine. Here is a paraphrase of the biblical story;

In the beginning, there was love. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existed as a loving community of mutual delight and self-giving. God made the heavens and the earth as an act of love. All of God’s creation participates in God’s love.

Human beings have been made by God to consciously, willingly, and worshipfully participate in the love of God. Yet, human beings have sinned. We have chosen other loves instead of the love of God and love of neighbour.

Because of this, our loves have become disordered – we have an inability to love the right things and are instead consumed by inordinate love of lesser things. Yet, God, who is love, has intervened.

In love, he sent his Son into the world to rescue us. This rescue involves the forgiveness of our sins; but it goes significantly beyond that. 

God also has lovingly given his people his Spirit so that we might be re-made into his image. The over-arching goal of God re-creating us in his image through Jesus Christ is so that we might, once again, become lovers – lovers of God and lovers of our neighbour. In this way, God’s salvation is best understood as the triumph of love over sin and death.

I think this is a faithful and fruitful way to understand the story God speaks to us in Scripture. The implication of this story is that God now stands before us and is inviting us into this story of love.

He is inviting us to be known and lovingly embraced by him. He is also inviting us to begin to move towards others in our lives in love.

In other words, love is now possible.

So as we interact in the coming days weeks, and months may we keep this front and centre in our lives.

As people will judge us as Christians by how we interact with one another, with others and our community, not only through what we say but also through what we do.

 

May we each be an example of what it means to truly love one another in these testing and uncertain times – for by our acts of love people will know that we are His disciples (refer to John 13:35)

Check out the full newsletter here.

‘Til next time, blessings 🙂

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Church: Do you Attend or Belong?

The following excerpts have been adapted from a blog post written by Jill McIlreavy on the Mustard Seed Blog, entitled “Church: Do you Attend or Belong?” and was written almost three years ago. 

In it she states that; “The Church was not a human idea. It was conceived in the heart of God.“

“Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” Romans 12:4-5 (New Living Translation)

And goes on to say that; “Church ‘goers’ are in danger of developing a consumeristic approach to the church.“

Even though “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:5 (New Living Translation)

The thing is, “We don’t go to church, we are the church” and we need to start doing all we can to live our Christian lives in such a way that shows that we are His followers, and that our lives truly are reflective of His Son as referenced in John 13:34-35, for we belong together. It is not just that we need to be doing life together we need to show the same kind of love that Jesus showed us when He adopted us into His family.

“For when we demonstrate the same love I (Jesus) has for us by loving one another, everyone will know that we are His true followers” (The Passion Translation)

This is something that we have been continually exploring as we have looked at the theme of Love in our sermon series’ throughout the past year.

You see, “We are designed to be connected; to belong. We belong to each other.”

God has gifted each member of His the body to serve one another; I will stick my neck out here and say that it is impossible to do that alone. To live a Christian life alone runs counter to everything the Bible teaches us. Proverbs‬ ‭18:1 tells us that the person who “isolates himself seeks his own desire” and that he “breaks out against all sound judgment”.

Therefore, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near” Hebrews 10:24-25 (New Living Translation)

See also 1 Corinthians 12:12 (The Living Bible) and 1 Corinthians 12:27 (New Living Translation)

“The New Testament is filled with descriptions of what the followers of Jesus did in the weeks following his resurrection.

It gives us a model of how the experience of being part of the church, could and should be: They shared meals, they were hospitable, they prayed and worshipped together, they learned from their leaders, they didn’t hold too tightly onto possessions, but shared what they had with each other.

Were they perfect? Hardly! The New Testament is not a story of an idealised church where everything worked perfectly all the time. They were no different from you and I; and in many ways life was so much harder for them.“

God created “the church with imperfect people and today it is still filled with imperfect people, like you and I.

It’s only because of God’s incredible grace and mercy that He chooses broken human beings like us, to showcase his grace in a world in need of redemption.

Every single one of us is a work in progress; imperfect but made righteous in God’s sight.“

 

In light of the issues that face us today in a Covid-19 ravaged world, the local church, or as in our case the local Corps, needs to return to God’s intended design for the church and be the “salt and light” in a darkened and frightened time and space, offering ‘Hope and Life‘. So that people will be encouraged, uplifted, and reminded that those things can and should come through our faith in Him.

God uses broken vessels to be his fellow workers in redeeming the world back to Him. Therefore, we cannot merely attend church we need to truly belong, and do all we can to play our part in this awesome faith journey that He has invited us into. We are each a work in progress and need to draw on the abilities, skills and talents of others so that we can all mature in the faith.

We need each other! We belong to each other, we need to set aside those things that stand in the way of us growing together. We need to put off ‘all’ those things that hinder us from being all we can be.

“Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!“

Ephesians 3:10 (The Message)

So we need to stop thinking of what we can get out of any particular act of service, or worship experience – What we can get out of the church (a consumeritistic mindset).

 

We need to stop wondering if the church is going to do anything for me. And start thinking along the lines of what we can give to the church. For when we determine that for ourselves we not only find our purpose and destiny within God’s plan for our lives, we also discover that we truly belong and have a valuable part to play in God’s redemptive plan for the world.

So, do you ‘attend’ or do you ‘belong’? Only you can answer that question for yourself.

As church leaders we merely invite you on a journey to find out how we can do that in our place – we might not always agree on how to do that. But we need to continue exploring, experimenting, adapting, and changing how we do things so that we can become more effective in reaching out to those in our communities that need the Love of God!

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Sunday 9 August – Recap

Last Sunday (9 August) Captain Annette preached from 1 John 4:7-21 (English Standard Version) focussing on verses 11&12, utilising the Passion Translation as a point of reference;

“Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then “loving one another” should be our way of life! 

 

No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendor. But if we love one another, God makes his permanent home in us, and we make our permanent home in him, and his love is brought to its full expression in us.“

This forms a part of the overall ‘Love Beyond’ theme from this years Self Denial Appeal – For more information about this years appeal click here.

As we have seen throughout this year in our Corps preaching plan we have had an ongoing theme looking at Love as it relates to John 13:34-35; “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (New International Version)

The ‘one another’ commands in the New Testament, “love one another”, “bear one another’s burdens”, “forgive one another” etc. outline how we should as a community of believers interact with others both within the church and out in the community.

As Loving one another should be our way of life!

If you were unable to join us in-house on Sunday morning for our service, or missed our hosted ‘Church Online’ service on facebook on Sunday evening, you can view it by clicking on the link below.

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