1. Ministers’ Gathering 2018 Pillars of discipleship The Revd Dr Peggy Kabonde
Purpose: inspire, support and rekindle the churches corporate faith journey in respect of developing discipleship communities.

2. Pillars of discipleship
Matthew 28:19-20: therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have taught you. Behold I am with you to the ends of the earth
Has the church failed to disciple the current followers of Jesus?

3. Pillars of discipleship
Faith growing – discipleship is a process
Commitment – are people committed?
Worship and prayer
Connect and service
Reading and reasoning – balancing information and transformation
Dedicated relationship building.

4. Pillars of discipleship
Perseverance
Time
Initiative
Reconnecting the head (Christ) of the Church to his body (believers)
Stewardship of the gospel.

5. Key areas of discipleship
Discipleship must be relational. It has to have a connectivity between and among people. People are discipled effectively in relationships not through transference of knowledge or content
Discipleship must be biblical. The word of God is the central basis for discipleship making. A disciple is a follower of Christ. How better it is to read about who you follow than to read about just who he was, how he thought and what he did.

6. Key areas of discipleship
Discipleship must be applicable. If the discipleship making process does not impact how people live out in the world, it is merely a religious ritual
Disciples bring the kingdom of God into the realms of where people (communities) have been placed, they impact people’s ethos, beliefs, social, social economic and environmental.

7. Key areas of discipleship
Discipleship making must always be accountable to someone, but mostly to the Lordship of Jesus Christ
Disciples have a role to reproduce themselves and develop health faith based communities where they are
To multiply servants should serve as means to multiply ministry, multiplying ministry is multiplying discipleship.

8. Key areas of discipleship
Discipleship makes an impact when it is rooted in a community of love, joy and celebration; a community with an encounter with God through worship, prayer, Bible study and meaningful transformative service.

9. Impacts of effective discipleship
Increased attendance of members at training stages
Irregular attendance of the total membership at Church gatherings – a lack of sense of belonging
Effective use of spiritual gifts – attends to members needs and grows the Church
Target corridors of authority within the church structures and grassroot membership.

10. Taking a leaf from the UCZ
The UCZ believes in the Priesthood of all believers where ministry is shared between the clergy and the laity. The CRR 8 (1-5) expounds on Priesthood of all believers that the church is royal priesthood of believers. This is complemented by the CRR A 9(1-4); B 4(a-e); 5(a)
Because of indigenous cultures, members have a high regard to authority structures and their loyalty has never been taken for granted
New converts believe in what they have found in their new found faith and is mostly shared among members of the family who later join the church as secondary disciples.

11. Taking a leaf from the UCZ
There are places within the UCZ who have one minister covering and pastoring over five parishes alone
Delegated authority and definition of roles is key to achieve maximum trust
The ministers attend to members in a door to door pastoral visitation
There is also partnership and exchange programmes (twinning programme) between the rural congregations and urban ministers to share experiences and bring the complete talents and gifting to the members.

12. Conclusion
Romans 10:14. How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard. And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? NIV
Every Church doing the work of God right will be evaluated by only one thing – the disciples
It does not matter how good your praise, preaching, social services programmes are, if your disciples are passive, consumerist, and are not moving in the obedience to radical transformation of society, you have a lot of homework.

13. Conclusion
Ministry of the laity and the ordained The word used for ‘Ministry’ in the New Testament is ‘Diakonia’, which basically means ‘Service’. Along with the associated words for ‘Minister’ and ‘to minister’ it is used in three ways. 1. It refers to the work of Jesus himself (Mk 10:45; Lk 22:27) 2. It refers to service of all kinds in the Church, carried on by a variety of people (e.g. 1 Cor 12:5; Eph 4:11ff; Heb 6:10; Rev 2:19)

14. Conclusion
3. The word developed a narrower meaning as a technical term for one particular kind of service, that of the ‘deacon’ (Rom 16:1; Phil1:1; 1 Tim :8, 12).
Ministry is thus a general concept. It signifies any kind of service performed in the Church by people who are serving their heavenly Lord and also serving their fellow – Christians as the objects of their care.

15. Conclusion
If anyone dares to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24
And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27
Discipleship is a mandate for Christ's followers
There is difference between just a believer and a disciple. A disciple is fully committed to obeying Jesus in every part of his life. Jesus is not part of his life, Jesus is his life.

16. Resources
Revolution Church – What is discipleship, Jordan White, 2005
Effective discipleship through spiritual leadership mentoring, Ellsworth Mark, Dissertation, Baxen, University of Pretoria, 2011
How discipleship influences men’s lives, Andrew D. Templeton, 2010.

17. Examples from the UCZ African general understanding of life and living
In Africa, one is born, sustained and dies among a family. And a family can never be separated from its community. Communal life is thus deeply ingrained in African societies. The Church in Africa is seen as an extension of this community. Belonging to such a community is not so much based on whether one is rich or poor.
THE CHURCH
The church is generally defined as a “called out company of believers(Rev 5.9), specifically called to listen and act on behalf of God.
Constitutionally, the Church is the family of all those who respond to God’s calling by repenting their sins and believing in Christ as Lord and Saviour and by worshipping Him. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is King and Head of this family. The church is commissioned to bring the gospel to the whole world. [CRR 4B (5)]

19. Here is the Walking the Way logo for you to copy.