Discipleship
“therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matt 28:19-20
Disciple means ‘learner’ or ‘pupil’. Being a disciple means deliberately following Jesus throughout life’s journey, and expecting to move upwards and onwards in our relationship with God and Kingdom fruitfulness over time. It’s about understanding and walking into our calling and purposes in life and responding to change in the way God would ask, even during hard times.
The bible says God’s Kingdom will always grow (Is. 9:7; Mark 4:30-32). Discipleship means expecting and seeking to grow ourselves, with God’s close guidance and in obedience to His call and word. We recognise that much of the western world church tends to talk and learn about Jesus without this resulting in radical action. Our church aims to take responsibility to put Jesus’ principles for life into action (Matt. 11:12), and to get better at doing so. We aim to equip every disciple to live like this.
Our church operates the apprentice model, of following and learning ‘on-the-job’ and then taking over responsibility yourself. This happens in many ways, such as our intensive internship programmes and our ministries and missional communities which raise team and grow leaders continually. It is reflected in the high value we place on lay-leadership. We hold each other accountable to the horizons we set as followers of Jesus.
Leadership is a value to us. We recognise that Christians are all called to follow and always have a sphere of life in which we can lead or influence others towards the Godly life we believe in. We should always be a learning, changing disciple and we should always be seeking to disciple others towards God.
The Lifeshape which informs Discipleship is the Square.
Jesus gathered a group of people he called disciples, was their leader for three years, during which time he taught and equipped them, then sent them out to replicate his mission to make disciples too. The square outlines the stages that will affect a person as they set out on any new mission, task or project and the appropriate styles of leadership for bringing others through that journey too.
All of us are disciples who are called to make disciples - the beauty of the square is that it gives us the ability to follow and to lead.
WE VALUE
- The discipleship process of low control, high accountability (Every individual takes responsibility to hear from God, we hold each other accountable for how best to put discipleship into action)
- Experiential learning (do-think-do-think)
- Learning throughout life
- Equipping believers to live ‘life in all its fullness’ (John 10:10)
- Honouring and submitting to those in position of servant-leadership to us (Eph. 5:21; Heb. 13:17)
- A culture of accountability (sharing the triumphs, as well as the struggles)
- Expecting to disciple others, as we learn ourselves
- Setting Jesus Christ as represented in the bible as the model for the Christian life
- Everyone follows somebody, everyone leads somebody
- Seeking to be a disciple in every walk of life