During 2006 2007 our theme at Northern Community is transformation. We are seeking to challenge ourselves to be transformed by Jesus and to participate in God’s transformation of the world. In my reading this week I came across this quote that I thought was particularly apt for our calling to be transformed by Jesus.

“Let’s think about this word disciple. What is a disciple anyway? Two words that are particularly important for our understanding are learner and follower. A disciple is a learner — he or she wants to learn more about the teachings and way of life of a particular person. Something about that person has attracted the disciple. A curiosity has been sparked that needs to be satisfied. So the disciple wants to learn. But this learning isn’t just a head trip. It’s not simply an intellectual exercise that can be done in the confines of a study or library. The disciple wants to do more than learn; the disciple also wants to follow.

That is really what the learning is all about. A disciple learns so he or she can follow. And it is through following that the disciple learns. The curiousity aout the person is more than idle; it’s active. The attraction is about lifestyle and being. The disciple, as much as possible, wants to emulate the person. So, a beginning point in describing a Christian disciple would be to say about this person is someone who desires to learn more about Jesus so he or she can follow Jesus more fully.”

Quote from Traveling Together - a guide for disciple-forming congregations by Jeffrey Jones.

What is interesting about this quote is that it highlights that to be transformed or to be a disciple is to follow. That transformation is not just a passive head or heart factor but rather an active commitment to be more like Jesus. It is circular too. We learn more of Jesus, so that we can follow him better - we then know more about Jesus by following him.

May we all this year go around and around the circle as we seek to be transformed.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 at 3:19 pm by phil and is filed under notes from northern. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.