The gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus giving the disciples what we know as the great commissioning.  “ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

And what had he commanded them? What were they to teach these new disciples?  In a word, LOVE.

 It is the theme of discipleship and with these questions that Michael W. Foss beings his book "POWER SURGE: The six marks of discipleship for a changing church."   "Power Surge" is the study guide we will be using this year to help us create a power surge of discipleship in our church.   From now until Advent, I will be preaching from Foss’ book "Power Surge."  On Wednesday evenings our Board, and interested persons from our congregation, have started working our way through "Power Surge."  Together we are laying the ground for a power surge of discipleship in our faith lives and families.
 

Foss cites sobering statistics:
91 % of households have a bible, yet only 38% of adults read the Bible in any given week.
Only 25% of adults volunteer to help a church during a typical week.
72% say they are church members, yet considerable less attend church.

What is going on?  Is the Christian faith no longer relevant?  Is the church no longer effective in meeting the real needs of real people?   These are some of the questions that trouble the hearts and minds of all who love and serve the Lord of the church. We know that our Christian faith is not an accessory to life.  It is a coherent way of life, a way of being in the world.  It is the task of the church to teach and support this way of life, this life of the spirit, for the sake of each one of you and for the sake of Squamish community.

Foss believes that,  “All the power the church will ever need, all the relevance the church will ever need, comes from people who love because they live consciously as disciples of the risen Christ.”  This is our belief as well.

Foss suggests we are long overdue for a shift in focus ? from a membership model of church affiliation to a discipleship model.

The ministry of the church and the role of the clergy used to function like social glue, and a source of spiritual solace. Church membership was akin to good citizenship. But in the changing cultural context Christianity was displaced from the centre of individual and community life to the periphery ? and membership which used to imply obligation shifted in the 1950’s to imply prerogatives.

In that model, ministry focused on the membership.  The members became the focal point, and the role of the clergy was to meet the spiritual needs of the members, keeping  members happy, and generally making as few waves as possible.  This membership model of ministry has also been called the maintenance model of ministry.  Because maintaining the institution for the sake of its members is its primary goal.

Unfortunately over time, this model of ministry lost its vision for the mission of the church ? participating in God’s love in Jesus Christ for the world. The church was tamed, privatized, turned in on itself.  Instead of a people organized for mission, it was organized for those who were already there.  Decisions could be made with little or no reference to the church’s role in the world as the historical presence of Christ.

Foss contends that, as important as the notion of church membership may have been in the past, it no longer works.  The two most common reasons given: burnout and boredom.  Coupled with this is the shift of active members giving less time to church ministries, and considering  themselves active when they worship only once or twice a month.

However, when congregations stop focusing on membership and reclaim the dynamics of discipleship, things begin to change.  When this shift occurred in Foss’ church, he noted they began to hold themselves, their relationships and vocations accountable to their spirituality.  New worshipers chose their church because they too wanted their faith to shape their lives.  The results?  A power surge of energy.

In Jesus’ great commission: “ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you,”   the critical word is Disciples.  Which means being part of the church, the community of faith, loving and being loved.  As disciples, we need to communicate to those outside the church radical openness to all, an openness extended from a position of strong, vibrant self-identity as followers of Christ and participants in God’s love for the world.  Our core beliefs turn us outwards, not inwards.  Discipleship is about changing and shaping lives by the grace of God, about giving  and stewardship, about living in mission.  It is about following the way of Christ.  The earliest disciples were called the people of the way long before they were first called Christians.

Discipleship and spiritual Leadership

The goal is discipleship.  The critical issue is leadership.  How shall leaders grow disciples over the next decades?
The task of the church becomes a ministry of equipping God’s people to participate in God’s love for the world where they live, work and play.

The first three centuries of the Christian church’s existence, membership was the consequence of discipleship.  As time went on discipleship called for by great leaders, but it was no longer expected of ordinary Christians.  And it was necessary to become a Christian, that is a member of the church.  Reclaiming discipleship as our focus means it becomes the primary reason for being a member of the church.

In the discipleship model, ministers are leaders not chaplains.  The pastoral needs of the congregation are addressed within and by the community of faith itself.  The responsibilities of leaders are to provide vision, raise up other leaders, and create useful change.  In the discipleship model, the goal is a shared ministry, with everyone seeking out their gifts and equipping them to be effective.

Changes such as this have a cost.  We are conditioned to a codependent model of ministry, where the minister’s effectiveness is determined by how much others need him or her, creating a cycle of need and response.  In the discipleship model the minister’s role is redefined, and the parishioners become responsible for their own spiritual health.

For “members” of the church within the membership model’s pattern of codependency, faith is not costly.  Personal spiritual growth is not expected.  People are neither responsible nor accountable for their own spiritual journeys.  Should an individual become frustrated with the church and its ministry or feel spiritually empty and “unfed,” it is quickly concluded that there must be a problem with the pastor or some other staff member or lay leader.  If the pastor or other leader doesn’t change and thus “fix the problem” the result is usually outright ? or passive-aggressive-conflict, followed by either the capitulation of the pastor or the departure of the member.

Another distinction is the leadership role of the board:  in that the vitality of the Christian church is directly related to the level of expectation the organization sets before its constituents.  Discipleship as a model for ministry raises the bar ? not the level of perfection, but the level of passionate fellowship.
 

Daily choosing the ways of God
 

What is Christian spirituality?  In a nutshell, the spiritual life is a daily choosing of the ways of God.  And spirituality is the quality or state of being attuned to the ways of God.

Biblically, the best short definition of Christian Spirituality is found in the book of the prophet Micah,  “God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  It doesn’t mean we are perfect ? but we keep on trying.  And in the community of disciples the strength of others makes up for our weaknesses.

Finally, in the discipleship model all decisions are grounded in prayer and in God’s word.  Then, with the requirements of discipleship and the mission of the church before us, we dialogue, argue, decide, and act.  The question is never whether any particular idea is, in itself, a good idea, nor even if that which is before us is financially do-able.  The question is always whether this or that strategy, objective, or activity furthers discipleship and engages us in mission ? in God’s love for the world.

Amen.