MAKING DISCIPLES IS A JOURNEY – Part 1 of 2

“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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV)

Making disciples of Jesus Christ is not instantaneous. It takes work. Faith formation is a constant movement of God’s people who are desiring and seeking to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.

In our “we-want-it-now” world, we often look for quick fixes and instant results. However, the process of making disciples is a journey that requires patience, dedication, and intentionality. It is a journey that involves the heart, mind, and soul, and it is deeply rooted in our desire to seek and know God in Christ more intimately.

Faith formation is the work of small groups. Small groups are vehicles for those who desire God and who seek to be molded by God. This molding happens when people strive to strengthen their faith through prayer, Bible study, Christian conversation, and service. Small groups provide the best place for this molding to take place. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry, compiled from a variety of sources

#5955

SIMPLICITY AND COMPLEXITY

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

Oliver Wendell Holmes, former chief justice of the Supreme Court, once made a perceptive distinction between two kinds of simplicity: simplicity on the near side of complexity and simplicity on the far side of complexity.  He said, “I would not give a fig for simplicity on the near side of complexity.”

Many Christians settle for simplicity on the near side of complexity.  Their faith is only mind deep.  They know what they believe, but they don’t know why they believe what they believe.  Their faith is fragile because it has never been tested intellectually or experientially.  Near-side Christians have never been in the catacombs of doubt or suffering, so when they encounter questions they cannot answer or experiences they cannot explain, it causes a crisis of faith.  For far-side Christians, those who have done their time in the catacombs of doubt or suffering, unanswerable questions and unexplainable experiences actually result in heightened appreciation for the mystery and majesty of a God who does not fit within the logical constraints of the left brain.  Near-side Christians, on the other hand, lose their faith before they’ve really found it. 

-- Mark Batterson in “PRIMAL: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity”

#5407

 

THE IMPACT OF CONGREGATIONS

Consider the impact of congregations on your own life. Suppose someone could extract from your life all the influences that God has had on you through faith communities.  Imagine if you could pull out of your mind and heart all the thousands of sermons you have heard, the tens of thousands of hymns you have sung, the pastoral prayers and personal devotions that have formed you.  Remove all the people from your life and memory whom you have come to know and from whom you have learned and with whom you have worked -- the pastors, friends, colleagues, laypersons, youth leaders, Sunday school teachers.  Extract from your soul all the work projects, the meetings, the conversations, the service initiatives, the soup kitchens, the mission trips, hospital visits and support from others you have experienced.  Extract all the weddings, funerals, volunteer hours, stewardship campaigns, prayer vigils, children’s programs, mission fairs, camp experiences, and youth ministries.

If you could remove from your life all the influences congregations have ever had on you, who would you be? You’d be someone substantially different from who you are now.  The congregations to which you have belonged -- their people and pastors, their ministries and teachings and programs, their worship and service, their music and rituals, their communities and caring -- these have been the means God has used to form who you are.  They have shaped you.

Congregations are a primary means by which God reaches down into our lives to work on our behalf.  God uses congregations to create us anew, to claim us as God’s own, and to call us to God’s service.  It is through congregations that God’s spirit shapes how we understand ourselves, how we relate to our families, how we view community, and how we participate in  the world.

-- U.M. Bishop Robert Schnase from his blog at www.fivepractices.org

#3958

THE FORMATION OF CHRIST IN US

"It's morphing time."… This little word morph has a long history. It actually comes from one of the richest Greek words in the New Testament… Morphoo means "the inward and real formation of the essential nature of a person." It was the term used to describe the formation and growth of an embryo in a mother's body.

Paul used this word in his letter to the Galatians: "… until Christ is formed in you." (Galatians 4:19) He agonized until Christ should be born in those people, until they should express His character and goodness in their whole being. Paul said they -- like us -- are in a kind of spiritual gestation process. We are pregnant with possibilities of spiritual growth and moral beauty so great that they cannot be adequately described as anything less than the formation of Christ in our very lives.

-- John Ortberg in The Life You've Always Wanted

#3883

MAKING DISCIPLES

Making disciples of Jesus Christ is not instantaneous. It does not happen by osmosis nor by the conjured wishes of well-meaning Christians. Making disciples takes work… Faith formation is a constant movement of God's people who are desiring and seeking God.

Faith formation is the work of small groups. Small groups are vehicles for those who desire God and who seek to be molded by God. This molding happens when people strive to strengthen their faith through prayer, Bible study, and Christian conversation. Small groups provide a place for this molding to take place.

-- Vance P. Ross

#3710