Discipleship in Three Movements.

The Church needs to be in the business of making disciples.  This is the mandate given to us by the risen Christ himself, in Matthew 28:18-20. 

I identify three movements to disciple-making.  These are not necessarily sequential, but concurrent.  All three have to be functioning at a high level.  Congregations, and individual Christians, need to be working in all three areas, all the time.    

1.  Personal.

Following Jesus’ example in Mark 1:15, the beginning of discipleship is a call to repentance.  In Greek, the word for repentance is metanoia, which means a change of mind or way of thinking.  (Indeed, it really and more deeply means moving beyond thinking and mind altogether.)  The Hebrew understanding of repentance is a reversal, a 180 degree change in the direction of our life.  Repentance, in short, is about a radical change of approach, from one way of thinking and acting to the opposite.

In repentance we move from being driven by ego, to flowing with our Essence, which is love.  We release our own thinking and accept what Paul calls “the mind of Christ” emerging within us.  We participate in this in a two-fold way, first (a) by a regular discipline of prayer and meditation, and second (b) by reflecting on our self-understanding as expressed in our personality and how we make our way in the world.  

By noticing where we are personally and corporately enslaved by ego, and by developing a practice of Presence, we grow into our true humanity in Christ and as Christ.  Gradually, through a comprehensive widening of our perspective, we bring the ego into the service of God’s love, revealed in Christ. 

2.  Community.

The second movement of discipleship is community.  We need to be instructing, nurturing, cultivating, and welcoming people in a gathering where this love happens.  This is the Church, a community of honesty, compassion, forgiveness, healing, thanksgiving, acceptance, and joy.  

There are at least three aspects to this.  The first is (a) belonging, which is often a condition of believing.  That is, we come to trust in Jesus Christ because we find ourselves welcomed into a loving community that trusts in him.  The second is (b) teaching, for faith has specific content.  The Church has a particular way of looking at, and living in, the world, which is described in the stories, theology, and practices of the Church.  A third element is (c) worshiping.  Belonging and teaching are embodied in the ritual life of the Church in which we use sacred words, actions, images, and symbols to bring together the contemplative and the communal, and send us out on our mission to bring the love of God to others. 

When Jesus calls his disciples “the light of the world,” he means how we shine as this exemplary community, this “city upon a hill,” emanating blessing to all (John 13:35).  This light is deeply attractive to people, especially in a society as alienated and disconnected as ours.  Our witness in community is thus our primary mode of evangelism; it is how we communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to others.

3.  Service.

The love we find in Jesus Christ and share together in the Church overflows in identification with, and care and advocacy for, the least among us in the world.  This movement of justice is also two-fold, having to to do first with (a) what we do and how we act together as a community (Matthew 11:4-5), and secondly (b) what we encourage our national institutions, including government, to do (Matthew 25:31-46).  This service is our engagement with the world and the chief way we serve as leaven, salt, and light, in obedience to Jesus.  

So all three movements of discipleship — personal, communal, and social — are essential.  They need to be kept in balance, feeding, supporting, and overflowing into  each other.

+++++++