1. The Congregation as a Discipleship System Don’t Use a Wood Chipper to Make Disciples

3. The Mission of The United Methodist Church ¶120 2012 Book of Discipline The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs.”

4. Questions for Discussion What are the implications (positive and negative) for our congregation if we align our whole congregational system to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world?”

5. The Process for Living Our Mission ¶ 122. The Process for Carrying Out Our Mission— We make disciples as we: —proclaim the gospel, seek, welcome and gather persons into the body of Christ; —lead persons to commit their lives to God through baptism by water and the spirit and profession of faith in Jesus Christ; —nurture persons in Christian living through worship, the sacraments, spiritual disciplines, and other means of grace, such as Wesley’s Christian conferencing;

6. The Process for Living Our Mission —send persons into the world to live lovingly and justly as servants of Christ by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, caring for the stranger, freeing the oppressed, being and becoming a compassionate, caring presence, and working to develop social structures that are consistent with the gospel; and —continue the mission of seeking, welcoming and gathering persons into the community of the body of Christ.

7. The Process for Living Our Mission

8. Questions for Discussion What changes would our congregation face to align with this vision of the congregation as a discipleship system? What challenges would our congregation need to overcome? What kind of resources and support would we need to lead such a change?

9. Reframing the Congregation Simple Church by Thomas Rainer and Eric Geiger (B&H Publishing, 2006)

10. Reframing the Congregation