Discipleship 101

So we have been called into ministry, great, so what now? If I am to minister to God's people what precisely am I meant to do? What drove those that Christ called to become followers and disciples of this unknown man? We know that ministry can be small and simple but sometimes it becomes so big that we are challenged by the enormity of the task. At other times the very fact that we have a ministry goes to our heads and we believe that ours is the most important or that ours should have precedence or ours is the thing that will save the church. (Reminder: Our call is not only one of ministry it is one of following and being discipled by Christ). No matter what position we find ourselves in or at what stage in our call into ministry we are at we need to remind ourselves some core facts when it comes to being a disciple particularly a disciple of Christ.

Perhaps the first thing, which is of most importance, is honesty. We no longer appreciate honesty within our lives. We create stories for ourselves of our lives and live them out within the bands of social media or our own little cliques. We need firstly to be honest with ourselves in terms of our call. If we are not struggling with being called into ministry and being a disciple then we have inevitably got something wrong. If we are unable to express our own doubts in an honest manner either to ourselves or to others then we are deceiving ourselves and are not true disciples. Just look at the stories of the disciples as they move and follow the Christ. From the first call we read in Matthew (4.15-ff) to the final scenes after the resurrection with Thomas.

Secondly, we have to be open to change. It is apparent from the first call of the disciples that eventually become Christ's apostolic messengers that they are expected to change their whole lives. They are asked to give up the occupations that they have and take on a significantly more challenging and different way of life. This automatically means a total upheaval in their domestic situation. Can you see Peter or John coming back from a day's fishing and saying to their wives and extended families "We can no longer support you. We have decided to follow this itinerant preacher through the lands of the Israelites." What sort of response do you think that got? Even if our call into ministry appears to be small...taking over as secretary...filling the role of treasurer...becoming a warden... it still means some form of change within your lives however small and however disruptive. Yet if we are true disciples of Christ, we must be prepared for change as the whole of Christ's message to us is a call to change from tradition into newness of life.

True discipleship changes our lives through honesty and commitment

Thirdly, there is a commitment that is made before God as we become disciples. I am not talking solely about our baptismal commitment but our commitment to God and to our community. If we cannot commit to being a disciple and to the ministry that we are called to then their is no point in answering the call. We may as well bury our heads in the sand and become rooted in place. Commitment means that we are prepared to sacrifice, we are prepared to ensure that there is no division within our community as a result of receiving a different call or a different understanding (1 Cor. 1.10- ff.). We are all called by God into discipleship and ministry on answering that call we should commit ourselves to Christ's presence in our hearts and lives. We cannot create division within our extended communities and say we are Christian and followers of Christ. Christ's call and our ministry is towards reconciliation between ourselves and between ourselves and God. It is a call towards a community that is built on diversity of skills and people who each are committed as disciples of Christ. This is the call that makes a community and a nation functional in looking after its people from the first to the last.

Only when we are prepared to change and be honest in our commitments towards God's people can we truly call ourselves disciples of Christ. Our issue is often a failure in one of these three areas.