tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857088236840171888.post4218309772009239529..comments2015-11-05T01:53:16.953-08:00Comments on Hearts And Pens: Reflections on the future of the ChurchLenny Kayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694603344183892397noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857088236840171888.post-80092723526184612772012-05-16T00:43:22.202-07:002012-05-16T00:43:22.202-07:00Brother Peter, what a great article! Thank you!
A...Brother Peter, what a great article! Thank you!<br /><br />As I read, my mind wondered whether the question of future leaders for the church is a problem to do with the way we "do" church right now. What I mean is, the call to be a Christian is a call to follow Christ and I think we have lost something of what that means. When Jesus called the first disciples he said, "Come, follow me," and here's the forgotten part, "And I will send you out to fish for people." (Matthew 4:19)<br />What I'm essentially driving at is that we have forgotten so we follow Christ so that we might become like Him and in turn go and bring others in so that they too may become like Christ. There's a word for this - discipleship!<br /><br />In my view, if we were to do better at discipleship there would be a clearer and bright future for the church. Now some say that Sunday meetings and Bible studies are places where we receive discipleship. This is true but I contend not sufficient. We can draw many lessons about discipleship from the way that our Lord taught and trained the 12. I will not get into that now but just say, discipleship must be deliberate and planned. And at it's essence evangelism is not merely preaching the word; evangelism is disciples making disciples (cf. Matt 28:19)TJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08618757253801301136noreply@blogger.com