In a world that is marked by turmoil and problems, what does true tangible hope look like? As followers of Christ, we speak of the hope that we have in Him, and in our theologically trained minds, we understand what that looks like; however, to a lost world, hope in Christ is often hard for them to understand or feel.
As the eminent parting of Jesus to heaven was taking place, He carefully chose the final words He would incarnationally speak to His disciples when he said this: "All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
A specific command spoken simplistically for us has unfortunately become so confused. Rather than embracing and engaging this commission, we often find ourselves rewriting it to fit our current model for reaching the lost. I am afraid we often unintentionally rewrite it to say, "Come to us, and we will attempt to make converts." How has discipleship which was foundational to the words of Christ become supplemental to our current approaches? How did we ever get away from the importance of our "going”? How did we ever get away from the importance of follow-through in discipleship?
Discipleship is difficult, messy, unconventional, and often unpredictable. Discipleship relationships must be gospel-centered in order to have any baseline or standard by which we strive for. Without the gospel at the heart of our relationships, we have no destination to point people to, only self-help and encouragement that points to nowhere.
At Venue, we have adopted an approach to discipleship grounded in life in community. Our community groups strive to understand four basic components:
1. We are Family. We are a family because we are all children of God; we have the same Father. The way in which we do life in community should be an illustration to the world as to what our God is like.
2. We are Missionaries. As followers of Christ, we are sent by Him to carry the message of reconciliation through Jesus Christ to the world! We believe that as missionaries we are sent INTO the culture with the goal of seeing all things restored to God through Jesus.
3. We are Servants. As follower of Christ, we are called to serve Him by becoming a servant to those around us. "No servant is greater than His master." With this understanding, we take on the posture that Christ did by humbling himself as a servant to serve those around Him.
4. We are Learners. Discipleship is critical! As learners, we take our personal development in Christ, and the personal development of others as our responsibility. This involves a dependency on the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us so that we are constantly being poured into by others, and are constantly being used to pour into others. This happens through an incarnational approach to discipleship in community.
My prayer is that as a faith community, despite our flaws, we are being shaped into a people for God's possession, passionate to know Him more, and persistent in being used by Him to be faithful to His commission for our lives.
This week, the community group I am a part of will be joining another community group to carry this message of hope in Jesus to a little street in Hattiesburg called, you got it, Hope Street. My prayer is that God will tangibly use these Bible Clubs to replace a temporal hope being sought by the residents of this street, with an eternal hope of life through Jesus. And my prayer is that it doesn't stop this week. My prayer is that this will be the beginning of a long discipleship relationship with those we encounter.
All glory and honor to Him!
