Discipleship Model – Discipleship

Model

Listen & Discern

Grow & Change

Service & Action

Newsletters

Introduction

To help us to develop our discipleship at St Mary's I have developed a simple model to help us to understand how we might work through this process. The model is based upon many of the books I have read over the last few years, and based upon my own exeperience working in education for over twenty years. For more information about each part of the model please choose the relevant tab. There you will find resources to help in your journey with God.

The Model

There are three parts to the model:

Listen and Discern - this is the first part and is perhaps the most important. We are called to spend time with God, and we cannot change and put into practice His call on our lives if we have not spent time understanding the call.

Grow and Change - This second part of the model is where we need to take what we have discovered in the first part of the model, listening and discerning, and decide what we need to do in our lives to help us carry out that call. It where we need to use relevant resources to help us grow as a disciple, and begin to change who we are so that we can put the call into practice. How long this part of the model takes will depend on where we are in our journey of faith and how much God wants to change us.

Service and Action - Once we begin to grow and change we need to need to put this into action. After all, as Jesus said, in Matthew 5:13–16 we should be salt and light in the world. Once we start to grow and change we need to put into action the call on our lives. By doing this we will be living as Jesus called us to live, as a life of service to others.

This model is just a simple image to help us to recognise the different stages that we need to go through. For more information see the relevant tabs which will guide you to articles and resources to help. If you need to speak more about this, then please speak to one of the clergy in Church.

The first stage of the model is to Listen and discern. The Blog posts and Articles below contain informaton about this part of the model with suggested resources to use to help you listen and discern. Other resources are listed below:

Resources

Contempative toolkit - see the post below for links to the resources.

Time analyis - download the PDF here of a sheet to help you work this out.

Blog posts and Articles

Understanding how to Change and Grow

Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me".

The Light of the World (1851–1854) is an allegorical painting by the English Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) representing the figure of Jesus preparing to knock on an overgrown and long-unopened door, illustrating Revelation 3:20.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_of_the_World_%28painting%29

From the first time that I saw this picture, I have always loved it. Especially when reading that there is no handle on Jesus' side of the door. Then it became a powerful picture of how Jesus is with us. He stands there and calls our name. Each of us gets an individual call as Jesus comes to us as someone He wants to have a personal relationship with. The door will not be opened by him, as He leaves us to take the initiative.

In the first edition, I wrote about how we need to listen and discern. Can we listen out for the voice of God? Can we hear and discern what he is saying to us? If we can, then once we have listened and discerned and taken time to work out God's calling on our lives, we need to give ourselves time to grow and change.

We need to ask such questions as:

Where in my life do I need to change?
What things do I need to learn specifically to help me grow?
Where do I want to be so that I can carry out the calling?
Who can help me grow in that way?
What skills do I need?
What skills do I have that need to be developed further?

Being a disciple is about action. It is about doing those things to change our lives for the betier. This can be difficult and can put real demands on our lives, on the lives of our families, of our work and our church life. It will demand our time, and it will demand our money and resources and is not an easy thing to do. Many have heard Jesus call in the past and struggled with the response.

Take the Rich young ruler in Mark 10:17–22. He came to Jesus and asked, 'What must I do to inherit eternal life,' Jesus looked at him and told him to follow the Ten Commandments. The response was positive, 'I do all those things,' but Jesus knew that there was something else that was problematic, as he knew he was rich:

21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21, ESV)

He was a good man and was doing all that was right by following the law as proscribed in the Torah. Yet one thing was going to stop him from having salvation - his wealth. Jesus knocks at his door and offers him a chance of salvation, of eternal life, something that was his choice to make. The problem for the Rich young ruler was that he did not want to change. The choice was too hard and would mean that he would have to give up many things, his wealth and all that goes with it. He had listened and discerned that there was something else that he needed to do, but that final step for him was just too hard.

It raises the question for us about what we might have to give up if we respond to Jesus' call on our lives. There are two options for us, like the rich young ruler: first, accept the call that Jesus gives and, no matier what the cost, change and grow; or second, reject what Jesus said because it is too costly. The danger with the second is that we will not be saved. Instead, we will carry on with our lives in the way we are living them. We may live good lives, but we will not save ourselves, as only God saves. The chances are that we will not save others too.

Thankfully, there are examples of those who have accepted the call on their lives and, as a result, the world has changed. Take the following examples:

Moses - The man who needed someone else to speak for him, but who became the leader who changed the world and led Israel to freedom.
Peter - the fisherman, uneducated, tough and coarse, who was headstrong and courageous, whom Jesus called to lead the newchurch after He died.
Paul the Christian hunter, who became its foremost theologian.
Mary Magdalene - full of demons cast out by Jesus, who then gave her life to follow Christ.
Joanna - who lent support to Jesus and the disciples. Never heard of her? She is mentioned in Luke 8:1-3 as the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, who supported them.

Parable of the sower

All the mentioned individuals, and many others from the Old and New Testaments, experienced a phase of personal development and transformation. They heard God's call, or the call directly from Jesus, and then spent time working things out and learning the things they needed, and as they did, their ministry became fruitful. Jesus reminded the disciples of these things in the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15). The reminder was about what happens after the word 'the seed' has been heard.

1.PATH: 'The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.' (v12)

2.ROCK: 'And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.' (v13)

3.THORNS: 'And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.' (v14)

4.GOOD SOIL: 'As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.' (v15)In his book 'The Radical Disciple' (ch. 3) John Stott talks about the importance of Christians growing in maturity. First, he warns of the dangers of growth without depth (p.43). There is a danger thatpeople grow, but not in the right way and in reality their faith becomes shallow, and like the parable of the Sower, easily damaged. We need roots that are deep so that we can grow stronger and become more Christlike. He points to Colossians 1: 28-29 (ESV):

28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

The key word here, he says, is the word 'mature'. We can of course be mature in different ways, physical, emotional, ethical, and spiritual. It is the last 'spiritual' that Paul is highlighting as we need to grow spiritually mature. We need to be 'in Christ'. John Stott explains it like this:

"Paul's most common way of defining Christians is to say that they are men and women 'in Christ', meaning not inside Christ as when our clothes are in a wardrobe and when tools are inside a chest, but rather as the branches are 'in' the vine and our limbs are 'in' the body, that is, united to Christ. So then, to be 'in Christ' is to be personally, organically related to him. In this sense, to be mature is to have a mature relationship with Christ in which we worship, trust, love and obey him." (p.46-47)

So our maturity is about our depth of relationship with Christ. Do we worship him, do we trust him, do we love him and do we obey him? He goes on to say 'Nothing is more important for mature Christian discipleship than a fresh, clear, true vision of the authentic Jesus.' (p.50). We cannot grow easily if we do not have the right vision/image of Christ. It needs to be authentic, it needs to be real. He further comments (and it is the last quote from him!) 'For the discipleship principle is clear: the poorer our vision of Christ, the poorer our discipleship will be, whereas the richer our vision of Christ, the richer our discipleship will be.' (p.51).

The danger for many, like the Rich young ruler, is that they hear the word, but something happens (the path, the rock, or the thorns) so that the word gets lost, or it gets too hard. For many people, each of the first three things causes them to falter. The danger is that our roots will become shallow, and then the storms of life will easily damage us or even destroy our faith. Those who have a good ministry, who hear and respond, making sure that they have roots in the good soil, will be the ones who grow, change and bear fruit. They have roots that go deep, and they understand who the real Jesus is and know the importance of making sure that their growth is focused on him. That is why it is important that we do not stay still and why we must do what we need to do to grow as a disciple. What is it we need to do to put our roots in the good soil? Where can we find good soil? Who can help us find the place to put our roots?

Practical application

The response we need to make is that we need to do the things so that we can grow in maturity 'in Christ', putting down deep roots.

ASK yourself the simple questions: How are you as a disciple? How do you live? How do you grow? How are you supported? As I have said before, this is not an easy thing to do, and it will have many challenges for each of us. It means that we will need patience and perseverance as we try each week to progress in our understanding of what it means to be a disciple. Some things I would encourage you to think about:

1. If you have not already, work through the listening and discernment process, using if you wish the resources provided to help you.

2. Work out what God might have in store for you. Think about the steps you need to take. Is it your Attitude, or Skills or Knowledge that needs to change and grow? Or all of them.

3. Seek help and advice. Whether this is a friend, a spiritual director, a Life Group leader, or one of the leadership team here at St Mary's. Do not try doing things alone, as it is much easier with support. We will be happy to help you work this through, so please ask.

4. Join a Life Group. We all need community, and we all need to do this with others. If you are not in a Life Group, then please speak to one of the clergy about joining a group and we can help find one for you.

5. Other courses are available that you may find useful. Oxford Diocese are offering some accessible online courses that you could do in your own time or join in with a more in-depth course - see here for more information: https://learn.oxford.anglican.org/

6. We will of course be running a number of courses at St Mary's throughout the year. These will be there to help you grow and change.

Remember John Stott's words:

'For the discipleship principle is clear: the poorer our vision of Christ, the poorer our discipleship will be, whereas the richer our vision of Christ, the richer our discipleship will be.'