Christian Education
CEWeb
Welcome
to the Christian Education page of the American Baptist Churches of
Wisconsin Website!
This online
resource will serve as a forum to share ideas, get information and
the like.
Please share the Web address for
this site with Christian Education workers in your church. I would
also invite you to offer
suggestions of things which would make the site useful to
you.
Discipleship Partners
November 2007
Early in November interested persons from across
the ABC/USA gathered to consider some ways in which we might partner
together to work with National Ministries in the task of discipleship
training in our local churches. Each Region was invited to send persons
who would be interested in becoming Discipleship Partners in their
own Regions. Three people went from our region. All of us expressed
an appreciation for the program which is being put into place and
a willingness to assist in any way we could.
The role of the Discipleship Partner is to work with
churches to strengthen their ministries of discipleship and teaching.
This could include doing workshops or consultations, or helping churches
to develop new strategies for doing this discipleship task in our
day. The program is basically a volunteer task, with churches being
encouraged to cover expenses and an honorarium, if desired. Since
the local church work cannot be done entirely National Ministries,
Discipleship Partners can be "grass roots" persons who can
assist with the task. National Ministries is committed to the concept
that both discipleship training and missional work at the local level
are necessary if we are to fulfill the task given to us by God.
Both the Old and New Testaments point us to the dual
role given as the mission of the people of God. The beautiful poem
found in Isaiah 49:1-6 tells us that the servants of God have an internal
and an external mission, or a mission to ourselves and to our world
(see verses 5-6). The internal mission is for the teaching and nurturing
of people who are already part of the faithful. We have traditionally
done this through programs such as Sunday School for all ages. And
we should not despise this task. Unless people are "discipled"
they will not grow in their faith. But the poet in Isaiah is quick
to tell us that there is more work to be done. He quotes God saying,
"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore
the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I
will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my
salvation to the ends of the earth." The reason for the internal
mission is so that people are equipped to do the external mission!
It is never just so that people know more things. It is always for
transformation so that we can "be a light to the nations."
The internal mission and the external mission fit together.
The Great Commission is a New Testament example of
this same two-fold mission (Matthew 28:19-20). If we examine carefully
the instructions Jesus gives here, we find that we already live and
work in the world. So while we are there, we are to make disciples
by teaching and baptizing. The mission is in the world, but when people
have found faith, there is a teaching and nurturing function. These
people become part of the community of faith so they can also become
part of the work of mission. The work is never completed. If we do
our work in the world, there is more work of teaching and discipling
and then there are more doing the work in the world. It is a continuing
circle.
From both passages (and many others) we find that
if we are to be effective, both components are essential. We will
not be effective missional churches if people are not equipped to
serve in this way. But if the teaching is not aimed at growth so that
people see the mission in the world, we have not been effective teachers.
The two tasks go hand in hand. We dare not neglect either. The tasks
have been given from of old. The ways in which we accomplish these
tasks may need to change if we are to do the work in the world in
which we live, but the fact that we need to do them does not change.
National Ministries and Discipleship Partners want to help in this
process.
If you are part of ABC of Wisconsin and are interested
in pursuing effective ways to accomplish these important discipleship
and missional tasks, and would like some help in thinking through
these things, it is possible that a Discipleship Partner might help.
You could respond to the email on this webpage. That would help us
find some ways we might proceed.
Keep up the good work. It is an important task!
