From the Pastor's Desk

The German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anit-Nazi dissident, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, once famously said, "Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ".

Why would Bonhoeffer utter those words? Because discipleship is a call from Jesus to all His believers. Jesus said in the Gospels, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me". Many can call themselves Christians but not all can call themselves disciples, unless we follow Jesus and His ways. In the days of Jesus, many called themselves children of God, but not many followed the complete instructions of God. In fact, many neglected the disciple aspect of following God. It is, therefore, that when Jesus calls the 12 to be His disciples, He discipled them in a way contrary to the religious and cultural custom. Jesus' discipleship was about letting oneself die and live for God, it was about sacrifice, it was about reflecting the character of God, is was about being out in the communities making Jesus known, it was about healing the sick, it was about feeding the hungry, it was about clothing the naked, it was about praying with one another, it was about eating with one another, it was about teaching others about Jesus, it was about making friends, it was about proclaiming the good news of the Gospel, and most importantly, it was about JESUS! Being a disciple of Jesus means forming our lives around Jesus and truly following, faithfully, Jesus mission to the world.

Jesus' mission to reach the world with the Gospel may seem daunting, but He has promised the leading and power of the Holy Spirit as we become disciples and in turn, disciple others. In the Gospel of Luke, we find the words, "that a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher." This short statement outlines the object of the Christian life - the goal of every follower of Jesus is to be more like Jesus. In the same manner, Jesus taught His disciples and subsequently they taught others and so on - so we are called to make disciples. We are called to teach others about Jesus, but some may ask, "how do we make disciples in our current culture"? In every culture, society, nation, and in every time period, there have been people opposed to the Gospel, but faithful followers still went out, sought new and creative methods, and relied on the power of God to make Him known. God's invitation for His church is for all of us to become His disciples and make disciples.

Having spoken about the importance of discipleship, I want to take this opportunity to remind you that this Saturday afternoon at 3.30pm in the seminar room, we commence our discipleship training. This is a great opportunity for us as a church to learn, engage and converse about our God-commissioned mission to our communities. I look forward to seeing you there.

I hope that this weekend is a true blessing to you all.