mDNA - further assessment of Northern’s discipleship
We are exploring the mDNA component -disciple-making or discipleship from Alan Hirsch’s forthcoming book and how it applies to Northern Community. The other posts in the mDNA series are here
kaleo team
Over the past five years we have run an intern program at Northern called kaleo. Kaleo is the Greek word for called and this describes what is intended with the team – that people are called to a ministry over and above the usual time commitment and intentionality. The kaleo team in many ways has become our adjunct ministry team with the team members joining us for part of our ministry team retreats. There is a feeling of team between the ministry team and kaleo team which is very valuable. The kaleo team members commit to an area of ministry, fortnightly lectio divina biblical reflection with the ministry team and are assigned a ministry team member who meets with them for action/reflection supervision. The kaleo team has been very successful and we want to develop this further.
Assessment of Northern Community discipleship approaches
In beginning this review of Northern Community discipleship I had initially thought that we were weak in this area. However, as I have explored some of our approaches I have began to realize that discipleship is not about a program or an event but rather is more about cultivating the right environment that will produce better followers of Jesus. Another way of putting it is that the better approach of discipleship is to create the right soil so that followers of Jesus will grow. In this paradigm, a number of new developments of our Church has been important in this regard. Intentionally developing smaller congregations, our spiritual disciplines, the kaleo team and a focus on missional teams have helped create the right soil for people to follow Jesus.
There are always areas to improve and new developments that will help the development of followers of Jesus. Neil Cole’s statement that we mentioned previously that “we want to lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple” is one that challenges and resonates. It has some particular challenges for an established church. At a recent ministry team retreat we used this statement for exploration during our retreat time. It was a statement that formed our discussion and challenged us to review what we are doing, and how effective we are being at Northern.
In our short history at Northern we have planted many new congregations and have taken seriously the first part of the statement and lowered the bar of how church is done. Our new congregations are much simpler in format and have less logistical, leadership and facilities demands. It is the second statement that we feel challenges us and needs to be our focus in the future. Much of our ministry retreat was shaped around this challenge.
Our context is not simply a new missional and emerging plant – although we have planted many of these. Our context also includes people who view church through more of a traditional paradigm. This tension between traditional and emerging paradigms is a source of challenge and celebration. In this context we want to answer the question how we can cultivate missionary people rather than church goers. This question is at the heart of the task for missional church leaders. Whether the context is church planting, a new missional project or an established church setting, the challenge remains the same – how do we cultivate an environment that challenges people to see and participate in the missio deo – the mission of God.
For new Christians the task can sometimes be easier – as someone said to me recently “how do you encourage people to grow in their faith when they think they have arrived?”. Our understanding of discipleship as something that happens to new Christians is a stumbling block. It is within this context and asking how we can cultivate the soil for all followers of Jesus to grow in their faith and become better followers of Jesus that we propose the following development.