Discipleship
NORMAL CHRISTIAN BIRTH – THE PROCESS
WE ARE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off,
as many as the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:38-39
We want to passionately follow Jesus. That’s the most important thing. We are Christians and Christians are followers of Jesus. It’s quite simple. The first Christians on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) became followers of Jesus on that day and their lives were radically transformed by that decision. They became hungry to know the Word of God, they became bonded to a whole bunch of people they never knew, they fervently proclaimed the death and resurrection of Jesus, they were filled with awe, they saw mighty miracles of healing and deliverance and they became so generous that none of them had a need that was not met. All that happened was that they had become followers of Jesus.
Four things happened to them to make them followers of Jesus. We want the same four things to happen to every person, especially the people we are responsible for. Jesus said you can tell a genuine follower by the fruit they produce. Here are the four works of God that must be part of every believer’s experience:
1. REPENTANCE THAT PRODUCES FORGIVENESS
2. FAITH COMMITMENT THAT PRODUCES A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS
3. BAPTISM IN WATER THAT PRODUCES FREEDOM FROM THE PAST
4. BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT THAT PRODUCES POWER TO REPRESENT JESUS
Kingdom elements for Disciples of Jesus Christ
We believe there are four spiritual values that must take priority and be embraced concurrently if we are to represent God in a given sphere. All of these values are represented throughout the Bible and all represent the unfinished business of the church. These are: holiness, oneness, fullness and completion. None of those are new words. The problem for us is that familiarity has bred compromise. We have wrongly defined most of these four things because of our culture. We need to reconsider the definitions given them in the context of the Bible itself.
1. HOLINESS: LOVE THAT EMBRACES AND ATTRACTS SINNERS; “Just as He who called you is holy, be holy in all you do.” 1 Peter 1
2. FULLNESS – THE FULL MINISTRY OF JESUS HAPPENING IN THE COMMUNITY
3. ONENESS – THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FATHER AND SON BEING
MODELED BY THE PEOPLE OF GOD TO THE COMMUNITY
4. COMPLETION PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO EVERY PERSON
Engaging Kingdom Purpose
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
We want to know that we are moving down a track to a pre-determined destination. We want to make ourselves accountable to that goal. The following three strategic objectives will enable us to direct our effort and measure our progress.
- EVERY BELIEVER ACTIVATED
To challenge and support the call of God on every believer to be a missionary, representing and serving God’s purposes in their spheres of missionary opportunity.
2. TRANSFORM CURRENT STRUCTURES
To continue the process of making all of our current structures and resources serve the purposes of the Kingdom
- CREATE OPPORTUNITIES
To find as many different ways as possible to empower and encourage people to join the work of building the Kingdom where they are.