Thoughts From The Cottage
Dear Friends
Over the last few months we have preached the ten Holy Habits concluding with ‘Making More Disciples’. It came last because in the book it is number ten of ten. That is because it is the most important Holy Habit. It is the prime purpose of the church, it is what Jesus commissioned the church to do (see Matthew 28 vv 16-20) and it it is what Patriarch, Psalmist and Prophet told people to do (eg Psalm 145 v 4).
Of course, the church does many other things such as worship, hospitality, pastoral care, teaching, challenging injustice, helping those in distress, youth work, children’s work, coffee mornings, charitable fund raising, and promoting fair trade, good practice and ethical standards. All these are important but they are subsidiary to the main purpose of the church, namely Making More Disciples.
Archbishop Temple famously said ‘The Church is the only institution that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not yet its members’. In this he was reflecting both that the church’s primary role must be mission and that the church’s work ceases when all people become part of the church (or Christ returns). Of course this mission to make more disciples is encompassed in everything that we do, challenging injustice, helping those in distress, youth work, children’s work, coffee mornings, charitable fund raising, promoting fair trade, good practice and ethical standards, teaching, pastoral care and worship. But none of these things, on their own or combined with each other, fulfil the church’s calling and commission. It is making more disciples that does that. We have to be honest about why we do all these other things, we have to ensure that they help us make more disciples. If they do not help us to make more disciples then we have to stop doing them.
The URC has realised this which is why we have ‘Walking The Way’ which is a missional discipleship concept. We have recognised that attractional discipleship does not work so we have moved to missional discipleship. For generations we have believed that if we have a moral lifestyle, if we have good worship, if we pursue issues of fair trade and justice, if we practise hospitality and good pastoral care then people will be attracted to the church and come and join us. There is a two-fold problem with this approach. Firstly, it doesn’t work and secondly it is not being faithful to Jesus, as a result decline has set in, taken root and become accepted as the norm. Missional discipleship challenges this view and makes us more intentional about what we do. In other words, we realise that making more disciples is the be all and end all of our purpose as a church and helps us to ensure that everything we do helps to fulfil our commission to make more disciples.
Ian
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