Contents:
Tending to
The Foundation
Luke 6:46-49
by Steven W. Manskar
 As we begin a new year, I am
prompted to think about the role Covenant Discipleship groups
play in the life of a congregation. Now is a good time to be
reminded of the basics. One of the basics of Covenant Discipleship is that it is not another program. The groups are not intended to be an option on a menu of small-group and study opportunities offered by a congregation. Rather, Covenant Discipleship, is by its nature, intended to be part of the infrastructure of a congregation's mission and ministry. In other words, Covenant Discipleship is designed to be part of the foundation of a congregation's ministry of making disciples of Jesus Christ.
To illustrate my meaning, I'm reminded of an experience I had with a VIM group from the Memphis Conference in August 2004. I went with them to Managua, Nicaragua, to work with a group of young, emerging Methodist communities. We went for a week of work, service, and learning. Four of the five mornings were spent digging holes for the footings of a meeting house one of the communities was building. The VIM group, along with several members of the little, very poor Methodist community worked with shovels and picks to dig more than twenty holes that were two- to four-feet deep. This was back-breaking labor because the ground was very hard, and all the work had to be done by hand. We worked in pairs. One would loosen the soil with a pick; then the other would remove the soil with a shovel. By the end of the morning, we were all drenched in sweat, and those of us who did not think to bring work gloves had blisters on our hands.
If a house is going to stand and provide shelter for any time, it must be built on a solid foundation. Laying and maintaining a foundation is hard, often tedious, work. But if that work is neglected, the foundation will eventually give way; and the house will fall.
Covenant Discipleship groups are intended to be
part of the "foundation" of a congregation's mission and ministry. They equip and support leaders in discipleship who help others to witness to Jesus Christ in the world and follow his teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This work is sometimes easy and fun. It is also often much more like digging holes in hard ground for a foundation built on the rock of Christ rather than on the shifting sands of whatever is the latest "strategy" or program for church growth.
Many of the strategies and programs are good, butif a congregation does not attend to its foundation first and make tending to the foundation a regular part of its ministry, no program or plan will change anything. How are you tending to the foundation of your congregation's mission and ministry of making disciples of Jesus Christ?
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Steven W. Manskar is the Director of Accountable Discipleship for the General Board of Discipleship. He may be reached at smanskar@gbod.org.
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