Ministers Desk 27th January

Welcome to 2013.  I’m excited about a new year of ministry and discipleship that God has before us as his family at Emmanuel.

 

In my devotions this week I read Matthew 13:15 “For this people’s senses have become calloused, and they’ve become hard of hearing, and they’ve shut their eyes so that they won’t see with their eyes or hear with their ears or understand with their minds, and change their hearts and lives that I may heal them.”  Here Jesus quotes from the prophet Isaiah and refers to those who have become so familiar and comfortable with the message of the scriptures that they are immune to hearing anything new from it.

 

This caused me to ask myself what I need to do in 2013 to make sure that my encounter with God through worship, prayer and scripture is constantly fresh and that he is able to breathe new insights into my life.  It’s a good question for each of us to ask ourselves at the beginning of a new year.  What new patterns of discipleship, devotion, service and worship do you need to develop to meet God in fresh ways?  What about your relationship with God and your spiritual practices have become stale and an empty ritual?  How do you freshen these things up?

 

In worship this morning I remind us that the purpose of church is Growing Disciples who Exalt, Explore, Embody, Engage.  This purpose commits us to being people on a journey to love God more deeply, serve him more faithfully and obey him more completely.  We very definitely use the word disciples because this implies someone who learns from their Master and puts that learning into practice.  Recognising that we are disciples of Jesus places us in the footsteps of the first disciples who learnt from Jesus a new way of living and relating to God.

 

Through adopting this purpose we have committed our congregation to be a disciple making community.  A disciple making community is one that places emphasis on those activities that take us deeper into the life of God and brings forth from us a fuller response in all parts of our lives.  A disciple making community asks of itself and all its activities “will this help people to see and respond to the grace of God found in Jesus Christ?”  When the answer to that question is “no” then it doesn’t proceed with that activity.  After all the one thing that the church has to offer the world that can’t be found anywhere else is an introduction to the saving work of God found in Jesus Christ.

 

A book that I have found very helpful in understanding what it means to be a disciple making community is Travelling Together by Jeffrey D Jones (The Alban Institute: Virginia, 2006).  In this book the author assesses the nature of our current society and the challenges that this presents for the church in keeping true to the mission of God.  He then outlines elements of discipleship and what he sees as the practices and qualities of a disciple making community.  I found that this book reinforces the direction that we are already on and provides some additional challenges on what we are yet to do.  I’d encourage you to get a copy and read it yourself.  It’s not an easy read, but very worthwhile.  The appendix contains self-assessment questions to assess the ways disciples are formed in our own lives and our congregation.