A Discipleship Making Machine

The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We say this, hear it, repeat it, and promote this as our primary mission, but are we really making it a priority in all that we do?

A couple of years ago, Willow Creek Community Church conducted a survey of the leading churches in America. One of the things the survey revealed is that one of the reasons people stop participating in the church is because they felt that the church failed in not helping them to continue to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Effective disciple making is a long and difficult process, and yet it is the church's primary mission. One of the key ingredients of the rise of Methodism was their intentionality in helping every Methodist become a more fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

Beginning in May, Lancaster First UMC is embarking on a more intentional approach in helping people in our congregation grow in deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. Utilizing the discipleship making approach at Church of the Resurrection United Methodist Church in Kansas City, we will be offering three Learning Communities each year that explore the foundational components that every disciple of Jesus Christ (regardless of where we are in our faith journey) needs to implement in their daily living.

The three Learning Communities are "Loving God," "Knowing God," and "Serving God." In addition to these Learning Communities, we will be encouraging our existing long-term groups to include elements of these three Learning Communities in their discussions each year.

Our goal is for every member to participate in the three Learning Communities at some point. Think of the church as a disciple making machine that takes seriously our primary mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

To learn more about these Learning Communities, click on this link of our most recent church newsletter. The article can be found on page 5.