I was recently asked by the Christian Reformed Network to write a couple blogs about discipleship and Ascending Leaders. I did so for them and am reprinting them here in several parts. I hope they help you--Mike.
The Christian Reformed Church that nurtured my growth as a child taught me that Jesus saves
and is present for me to reach out to in prayer in times of need. Adults there
invested in my life. They taught me to work diligently as if for the Lord and
more.
There were also lessons about discipleship that the church of my
childhood never taught me. Of course, life is a good teacher, and being in
ministry for 20+ years, seven of those focused on developing discipleship
materials, has taught me a lot about how to be a disciple and follow the
command to make disciples.
Here are ten important lessons:
1.
A disciple is one who is with/in the master (Acts 4:13),
becoming like the master (Phil 2:2) and serving beyond the master—Spirit empowered
(John 14:12).
2.
The best definition of “discipleship” I can come up
with is “the process of growing as a disciple.” To me that is the process of
growing more fully into the great command to love God and love my neighbor
(even non human neighbors in God’s creation). It is to live as an ever clearer
image of the one whom a person is a disciple of—Jesus Christ.
3.
Add “Discipleness” to our vocabulary. “Discipleship” is
a made-up word. We need to make up another word which represents the degree one
is like Christ. “Discipleness” is a good candidate to be that word.
I will include more in my next post.
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