Introduction
During September we are looking at four key areas of church life as we seek to clarify the vision for what sort of church we want to become in the next few years. We have already looked at worship and witness and this week we are focusing on whole-life discipleship.
As we have already seen being a Christian is much more than what we do together here on a Sunday, being part of the family of God should have an impact on every aspect of our lives. We are called to love God with our entire being and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Christian discipleship is learning how to do this and impacts on every aspect of our lives.
Make room for Jesus
One of the most popular images of how we become a Christian is derived from a verse in Revelation where the risen Lord says “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with him and he with me” Rev.3:20. I am assuming that we have already done this – invited Jesus to be a part of our lives. As we continue in the Christian life we may discover that there are parts of our lives that have remained closed to Jesus.
I want us to imagine our lives are like a house with a number of rooms each room representing a different aspect of our lives. I have printed out some outlines for you – draw in the different rooms representing the various areas of your life on the top diagram – eg work, school, church, leisure.
As you do think about this ask yourself “In what ways does being a Christian make an impact on this aspect of my life?”.
Roles and relationships
Before you started putting in the rooms representing the various aspects of your life the house was quite empty. I suspect as you started to think about the various aspects of your life there was an immediate linkage with other people. In many ways being a Christian has its biggest impact when we start thinking about relationships. In particular I want us to think about what are the roles we have in these various contexts and how being a Christian impacts on this. For example in family life what roles do I fulfill? The Bible addresses these various roles – children, parents, elders, widows, orphans and so on.
Application
In thinking about whole-life discipleship I have been focussing so far on breadth – our Christian faith should impact on every aspect of our lives. There is also a linear aspect, Christian faith should be part of our whole life, from the cradle to the grave. The tag line “life-long learning” is one that most aptly can be applied to our Christian life.