Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
Does your congregation have a system that enables people to know Jesus Christ? Does the system enable them to enter into a transforming relationship with Jesus, nurture them in the faith, equip them to live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ and then send them out into the community to witness and serve those God entrusted to your care?
A recent conference call, in which I participated, examined the reasons some congregations failed to make additional disciples of Jesus Christ. One major reason many congregations fail to make disciples is their failure to have a system in place. They have programs to address one or two parts of the disciple making process, but fail to develop a complete system. It is like a farmer who fails to carry out all of the processes of preparing the soil, planting, cultivating and harvesting. One cannot harvest a crop without completing all the steps in a consistent fashion. The total system must be in place to reap a bountiful harvest.
A colleague asked about the process the annual conference employs to enable young people to hear God’s call into ordained ministry, receive an appropriate education and return to the annual conference to provide fruitful, faithful and effective leadership in local churches. The implications were clear — unless we employ an effective system, our expectation will likely go unfulfilled.
These experiences led me to ponder what system the leaders in our congregations utilize to equip themselves for spiritual leadership. It is insufficient to show up for worship a few times each month, attend a Sunday School class and assume one is prepared for the extremely difficult task of making the adaptive changes essential to transform stalled growth or declining congregations.
A special task force commissioned by the Conference Ministry Team continues to work on developing a system to prepare clergy and laity adequately for such leadership. Local churches, districts and the annual conference must design a system where laypersons and pastors expect full participation for all persons involved in spiritual leadership.
A small group of individuals met in Columbus, Ohio before the Council of Bishops meeting to work on components of a leadership development system. We identified several elements that appear essential in such a system.
- Leaders must practice what Wesley described as acts of piety—prayer, study of scripture, worship, celebration of Sacraments
- Leaders must practice what Wesley described as acts of mercy—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and those in prison, etc.
- Leaders must make sure they are dealing with the root causes rather than the presenting problems
- A small group of leaders (8 to 12 persons)must spend a significant amount of time (approximately 8 hours) with each other holding each other accountable and seeking God’s guidance and direction
- Leaders address adaptive changes rather than technical changes
One of the discoveries was that it only takes a small group of people to transform a congregation or a large organization. If one-third of the primary leaders in a congregation are committed to transformation, they can lead the entire congregation. It is not necessary for every member or every leader to be committed to transformation. Leaders can lead.
These discoveries gave me renewed hope. God can transform our lives, our congregations and the world. The call is for us to commit ourselves to be spiritual leaders for Jesus Christ. God will provide the guidance and direction.
