elements of discipleship
The Alban institute have an interesting article on the elements of Discipleship written by Jeff Jones. I am tempted to get a copy of the book as I particularly like this emphasis:
Ministering is about involvement. It is our participation in God’s mission of redeeming all creation. The gifts we have, the call we receive, the skills and knowledge we acquire are put to the test in ministering. This can happen both within and outside the church. Leaders and teachers are needed within the community of faith. That may be the call of some. For most disciples, however, ministering will occur outside the church, through their various involvements in the world.
Read the full article here
January 25th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
What percentage of the church’s energy is spent in “internal training” versus that spent on witnessing/ministering activies in “the world”.
Think of how multi-level marketing schemes like Amway sucked people into spending vast amounts of time and money on self-motivational training, seminars, books, tapes, meetings etc - the leaders made a fortune, but the vast arm of poor old downlines had a negative cash flow.
Perhaps the church is a bit like a failed multi-level marketing operation. It invests endless amounts of time and energy on keeping the troops motivated, to the extent that they have little time to put it into practice.