Contents:
- A Disciple-Making
System
- Quarterly Reflections: A Cosmic Miracle
- Sprouts: Growing Sprouts
- Hope UMC Covenant Discipleship Group, Duluth, MN
- A Covenant from Hope United Methodist Church, Duluth, MN
- "Covenant Discipleship and My Journey into Ministry," Part II
- The Journey of a Covenant Disciple
- Covenant Discipleship at Saron United Church of Christ, Sheboygan Falls, WI
- A Covenant from Saron United Church of Christ, Sheboygan Falls, WI
- Wesleyan Institute, September 25-28, 2006
- Download pdf version of Covenant Discipleship Quarterly (Spring 2006)
A Disciple-Making
System
by Steven W. Manskar
 "The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ" (The Book of Discipline, 2004, ¶ 120). How does the church make disciples of Jesus Christ? We can glean from the ministry of John and Charles Wesley and the life of early Methodist societies some "building blocks" for disciple-making in the twenty-first century:
- The mission and ministry of the community are directed toward forming the members as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. The congregation's vision is to become a sign-community for the coming reign of God. Love is the ethic, and grace is the dynamic of a Christ-centered congregation.
- The congregation equips each member to live the baptismal covenant faithfully. It believes that God will keep God's promises (revealed in Scripture and the baptismal covenant). Leaders understand that people usually live up to the expectations they are given. If we have very low expectations, people will generally live up to them. Likewise, if people are given high expectations, they will strive to live into them.
- The congregation provides an intentional system designed to provide the means for people and the congregation to live the baptismal covenant:
- Worship that is sacramental and evangelical in which Christ, in all of his offices (prophet, king, and priest), is proclaimed.
- Weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper.
- An interconnected system of small groups for mutual support and accountability for Christian formation. Provide groups that meet people where they are — seekers, new Christians, growing, and mature Christians.
- Small groups that form and nurture leaders in discipleship.
- Teaching and practicing the means of grace. Works of piety and works of mercy are balanced together.
- Every member is encouraged to participate in a curriculum for Christian initiation and formation.
- Mission and ministry in and with the local community and the world, especially with poor and marginalized people. This mission and ministry both meets physical and material needs, while also sharing the good news of God in Jesus Christ in ways that they receive it as good news. This acknowledges that Christians are commanded by Christ to do good to their bodies and to their souls.
- The congregation's life and ministry is guided by a rule of life that is shaped by the General Rules or the General Rule of Discipleship. The importance of these Wesleyan rules of life is that they help the community and its members to live and practice a balanced discipleship that is shaped by all the teachings of Jesus and not only those that suit our temperament.
- Evangelism that is biblical and invitational. The congregation
and its leaders understand that evangelism is the responsibility of the whole people of God. It is not a program that is delegated to "professionals." The congregation understands that evangelism is simply witnessing to the good news of God given to the world in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The evangelical task and responsibility is to share the good news of Christ in ways that those who receive it receive it as good news indeed and they desire a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I welcome your comments. Please send them to me at
smanskar@gbod.org.
••••
Steven W. Manskar is the Director of Accountable Discipleship for the General Board of Discipleship.
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