1. Fresh Expressions 1 Disciple Making: the Heart of Mission Diocese of Connor

2. Our long term priority “ When dealing with discipleship, and the related capacity to generate authentic followers of Jesus, we are dealing with that single most crucial factor that will in the end determine the quality of the whole – if we fail at this point then we must fail in all the others. Alan Hirsch www.freshexpressions.org.uk

3. The Purpose of Mission Is Discipleship www.freshexpressions.org.uk

4. The Great Commission Mt.28:16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

5. Discipleship ‘The Great Omission from the Great Commission in which the Great Disparity is firmly rooted’ The great disparity between ‘the hope for life expressed in Jesus and the actual day to day behaviour, inner life and social presence of most of those who now profess allegiance to him.’ Dallas Willard

6. Fresh Expressions The climax of Matthew’s Gospel 'These verse are the key to the understanding of the entire book..... They sum up everything Matthew wrote in his gospel.' David Bosch 6

7. The Purpose of Discipleship Is To Be a Blessing

8. Jesus fulfills the promise to Abraham 12:3 Go … and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed 18:18 all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him (Abraham) 22:18 all the nations of the earth gain blessing 26:4 and all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing 28:14 all the families of the earth shall be blessed Mt. 28:19 Go and make disciples of all nations

9. Jesus fulfills the promise to Abraham Gal.3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’ Mt. 1:1 An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Mt 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations

10. Go and be a blessing ‘To be a disciple is to be committed to the King and his Kingdom of just relationships.’ Waldron Scott

11. Be a blessing ‘The three concepts, disciple, kingdom, and righteousness - justice – love, are like plaited strands woven into the very fabric of the entire gospel.’ David Bosch

12. What Is Discipleship?

13. ‘It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called ‘Christians’.’ Acts 11:26 The idea of being Jesus disciple predates the word Christian.

14. What Is Discipleship? Mark 3:14-15 And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message and to have authority to cast out demons. The heart of discipleship is being with Jesus, in order to be like him. Matthew 10.25: it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher. ‘If I am to be Jesus’ disciple that means I am with him to learn from him how to be like him.’ Dallas Willard

15. Discipleship ‘If you said to a modern student or prospective student that the essence of being a student was to hang on your teacher's every word, to follow his or her steps, to sleep outside their door in case you missed any pearls of wisdom falling from their lips, to watch how they conducted themselves at the table, how they conducted themselves in the street, you might not get a very warm response.

16. ‘Abide in me’ But in the ancient world, it was a rather more like that. To be the student of a teacher was to commit yourself to living in the same atmosphere and breathing the same air; there was nothing intermittent about it.’ Rowan Williams

17. The heart of discipleship the heart of discipleship is obedience to Jesus the motivation for discipleship is a vision of Jesus and his Kingdom part of God’s work is to make us like Jesus

18. There is no growth in discipleship without mission.

19. There is no discipleship without mission. To ‘be with’ Jesus is not static but active. It involves following. (And going - being sent.) There will be no discipleship apart from the following and going. If making disciples is at the heart of mission, then mission is the essential context for learning discipleship.

20. There is no discipleship without mission. This is the calling of ordinary worshipping Christians, with their doubts and struggles. Worship and mission are inseparable, They form the rhythm of church life. Authentic worship leads to mission. Authentic mission wins worshippers.

21. HOW ARE DISCIPLES MADE?

22. How are disciples made? As Jesus made disciples. ‘The founding of the whole Christian movement was initiated through the simple acts of Jesus investing his life and embedding his teachings in his followers and developing them into authentic disciples’. Alan Hirsch

23. How are disciples made? Only disciples make disciples. ‘He commissions his own disciples to go out and replicate themselves by creating communities of obedience among the nations. … Mission is replicated discipleship, learned through ethical obedience and passed on through teaching.’ Christopher Wright

24. By ‘Going’ ‘The issue is not relevance so far as the church is concerned. The issue is incarnation. When so called “traditional” churches are out of touch with the people who live around them, the problem is not that they are irrelevant, but that they are not incarnational.’ Tex Sample

25. By ‘Going’ ‘Discipleship emerges out of prayer, study, dialogue, and worship by a community learning to ask the questions of obedience, as they are engaged directly in mission.’ Alan Roxburgh

26. Fresh Expressions Outward facing ‘Focus on ministry by the church in the world, rather than ministry in the church that is largely confined to the existing members.’ Eddie Gibbs 26

27. By ‘baptizing’ That through the Son, and by the Spirit we will share the Son’s relationship with the Father – which is the key to his discipleship.

28. By ‘baptizing’ ’Incorporating people into the community called the Church.' ’No mission is imaginable that does not lead to people's incorporation into the Church. The disciple follows the Master but he/she never follows him alone.' ’Disciples belong together in an indestructible fellowship.' David Bosch

29. Continuing the journey 29 Baptised into Christ’s mission “ As members of Christ’s body they are baptized into his mission, equipped by the Spirit to make their distinctive contribution to the totality of the ministry of the church. Eddie Gibbs

30. By ‘teaching’

31. ‘All that I have commanded you’ The whole gospel becomes a manual for the making of disciples. Much more than compiling a list of ethical requirements. It is an integrated ethical code fulfilling and going beyond the Law of Moses

32. By ‘teaching’ Not ethics alone Word and deed, evangelism and social action, healing and deliverance. Baptism is mentioned before teaching, but no hint of the ethical implications of following Christ being introduced at a later stage. Evangelism to begin with ethics, not treat it as a postscript

33. Only through Christ

34. Based on his achievement Under his authority In his presence

35. But what sort of disciples? The church makes disciples of Jesus, for the Kingdom of Jesus

36. But what sort of disciples? The church makes disciples of Jesus, for the Kingdom of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus for the Kingdom of Jesus

37. But what sort of disciples? The church makes disciples of Jesus, for the Kingdom of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus for the kingdom of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus for the Kingdom of Jesus

38. But what sort of disciples? The church makes disciples of Jesus, for the Kingdom of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus for the kingdom of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus for the Kingdom of Jesus who make ……

39. Fresh Expressions 39 Disciple Making: the Heart of Mission +Graham Cray