Tuesday, July 16, 2002 AD The Great Commission Martin R. writes, "In our zeal to make converts are we overlooking the fact that Jesus calls us instead to make disciples?"
Yes! Maybe it's just my Baptist background, but all my life I've seen the Great Commission held up as the great command to evangelize. Which it is. In part. It's also the great command to teach. We looked at John 21 in my covenant group last night. Jesus' command to Peter here is "Feed My sheep." His initial call had been to catch men, now it's to shepherd them -- the two must go together. There's no, "Go round 'em up, and then shove 'em in a pen and leave 'em there to starve while you go round up some more."
Discipleship is a lost art. Even those who major on teaching often turn discipleship into a merely academic exercise, rather than an apprenticeship in the life of faith. "And that is a lengthy process," Martin continues. And that's at least one big reason we don't like to do it. There's instant gratification in making a convert that just isn't there in making a disciple. I'm back to my earlier (June 10) question: "How do we go about spurring one another on to love and good deeds?" Which is, perhaps, another way of asking, "How do we disciple one another?" Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 7/16/2002 12:20:00 PM
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