“Remember your leaders, who
spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and
imitate their faith.” Hebrews
13:7
At
Knox, Midland, we have just finished a five week series called, “Multiply.” The title of the series comes from Francis Chan’s
idea that in the Great Commission (Matthew 28) Jesus calls us to make
disciples. Making disciples includes introducing
people to Jesus for the very first time, and it also means walking with
believers in their faith journey. Discipleship
is a bold self-giving act that we have in many ways lost.
Overall,
though, Francis Chan warns us, as do the scriptures, that making disciples must
come from a place of love. Francis
writes,
“We
know that we are supposed to love one another.
The two greatest commandments are to love God and love people (Mark
12:28-31). Love is basic to what it
means to be a follower of Jesus, and it should be what motivates us to reach
out to the world around us.”[1]
Often
this is not the place that we begin the process of discipleship. For example, if your church talks about
numeric growth as a means to pay the heat and hydro in your building, or to
cover the pastor’s stipend, then you are not doing discipleship from a place of
love. You are doing discipleship from a
place of fear or anxiety. So the question
then becomes; if we do discipleship out of a place of fear or anxiety, what
kind of disciples are we making?
Sadly, all too often this is the place where a
congregation begins to feel the need to share Christ – When the bills are due. Healthy, biblical discipleship cannot take
place in this context.
May
our churches heed this call to discipleship, and may they do it from a position
of love, not fear, before it is too late.
-A
www.knoxmidland.ca
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