Discipleship

8 December, 2003 7:34 AM

'The word “disciple” occurs 269 times in the New Testament. “Christian” is found only three times and was first introduced to refer precisely to the disciples.... The New Testament is a book about disciples, by disciples, and for disciples of Jesus Christ....

For at least several decades the churches of the Western world have not made discipleship a condition of being a Christian. One is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any sign of progress toward or in discipleship....So far as the visible Christian institutions of our day are concerned, discipleship clearly is optional.'

Dallas Willard — The Spirit of the Disciplines

Do Willard's words ring true for you in your church context? How do have you seen churches effectively disciple people? If you were asked to disciple a new believer how would you approach it?

Is the Emerging Church just another Male thing?

18 September, 2003 5:47 PM

Jonny commented on one of our conversation threads the other night by writing: one of the things we chatted about was whether emerging church was just another male thing - hopefully it isn't... it certainly shouldn't be or something's gone wrong. but we certainly need more female voices and leaders and bloggers....

It's something we've kind of talked about here before, but I am still wondering a lot about it too. My anecdotal evidence is that the make up of those attending Emerging Churches in Melbourne is 60-70% female, yet most EC networking gatherings (for leaders and key players) are dominated by males. (which is pretty similar to mainline church in Australia too)

Is Emerging Church thinking and leadership dominated by males? If so what might be the reasons? How might balance be attained?

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