FALL
2013
Inside this issue:
Editorial,
David Schrader
1, 16
Editorial,
Kim Adeniran
2
2013 Conference 3-5,
Pictures
9, 16
Introducing
Abraham
Emmanuel
6-7
The Nazarene
Mission
8
O Taste and See
10-11
The Ukranian
Experience
12-15
Congregational
Christian Churches in
Canada
442 Grey St., Unit H
Brantford, ON N3S 7N3
Phone: 519-751-0606
Toll Free:1-866-878-8702
Fax: 519-751-0852
Email: [email protected]
Web Site:
www.cccc.ca
Proclaiming Jesus Christ, Making Disciples,
Growing Healthy Churches
The Congregational Christian Churches in Canada have declared their mission as, Proclaiming Jesus Christ, Making Disciples and Growing Healthy Churches.
One aspect of that mission, Making Disciples, is the focus of
this article. Discipleship meant a lot to Jesus and it still does.
He invested three years of his life into making his disciples. He banked on
them carrying out his mission of "making disciples of all nations." So how
well are we doing?
Many of our churches are full of “Christians” but not disciples, and yes,
there is a significant difference. In the early church, the first followers of Jesus were called disciples. Later they were called Christians because of their
association with Christ (Acts 11: 26). But the Bible never instructs us to
make Christians, not in today’s loose sense of the word. The Bible refers to
disciples around 270 times, but to Christians just three times. So a return to
a focus on discipleship is a must for every church.
Another issue is that the way the church has taken to make disciples has
been limited in its scope and often superficial in its results. For example,
the church has often thought that discipleship would occur when people
gained religious knowledge. While I don't think anyone can appropriately
grow in the Christian life without seeking more biblical knowledge, many
times believers reduce the discipleship process to, "Read this. Study this.
Memorize this. Now you are good to go." This is unfortunate. Jesus said
“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But
the Scriptures point to me!” (Jn. 5:39). In other words, the scriptures remain nothing more than mere knowledge until we discover the truth that
they point to Jesus Christ and to a relationship with him. Unless we discover this, we will never get to the heart of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Simply put, a disciple is to be more like Jesus. Christ-like transformation is
Continued on page 16...