From Spectators to Disciple Makers

I have mentioned before that I, and our Youth Pastor, are a part of an EFCA Transformational Cohort that is all about discipleship. You can learn more about it HERE. The Cohort meets 3 times in one year with a number of coaching calls along the way. The Discipleship Cohort is basically helping us to develop a strategic plan for how we are to go about making disciples here at New Life Church.

The last words of Jesus Christ make it clear what the mission of the church is, make disciples!

Over the past few weeks I was kicking around the idea of teaching a spiritual gifts class. But I had this nagging thought in the back of my head, “what is the connection between spiritual gifts and our mission which is to make disciples who make disciples”?

One of the challenges we all face in leadership is graciously teaching our people that church is much more than attending a worship service on a Sunday morning. As a follower of Jesus Christ we are called out of our comfort zone and given the task of making disciples. Discipleship is the process whereby we go from being a spectator to becoming a disciple maker. Spiritual gifts are given to the church so that we can build up the church and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

So, at this point I have decided to go ahead and teach a class on spiritual gifts but to show specifically how our spiritual gifts help the church to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28).

Because I have failed to find anything that makes the connection between spiritual gifts and the Great Commission in a meaningful way I am creating my own curriculum. Here is a rough draft. Some of you may be thinking that there will need to be a lot more than a class if you want to develop a flourishing culture of discipleship in the church. I agree! Chime in and share your thoughts!