Saturday, April 19, 2008

Discipleship, the Mission of the Church


According to CS Lewis, the Churches purpose is to draw people to Christ and make them like Christ. He said that church exists for no other purpose. “If the Church is not doing this, then all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, even the Bible are a waste of time.”

I believe the heart of what CS Lewis is saying is that the mission of the church is to make disciples for Jesus.
This is what Jesus commanded us to do in the Gospels in the great commission (not the great omission!) And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Mat 28:18-20)
We were discussing this at our Mosaic, Forgotten Ways Book club. Our aim is to see Mosaic become a true disciple-making machine in Wellington. Yet we need to ask the question for ourselves, what does this mean?

Questions that have arisen with this.
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?

How do we become a disciple making movement?

How do we measure the success of a disciple making movement? Do numbers matter?

I have some thoughts on this, but would like some discussion. Please add your views/opinions.

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