June 2011 Front Page

“Membership is about getting; discipleship is about giving.
Membership is about dues; discipleship is about stewardship.
Membership is about belonging to a select group with its privileges and prerogatives; discipleship is about changing and shaping lives by the grace of God.”  Michael Foss 

We are called by Jesus to go and make disciples, Matthew 28 19-20 says “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Jesus tells us to go and make disciples not go and make members, so why are we so hung up on members and membership?

This summer we will embark on a journey of building disciples.  Starting on June 19 we will journey through a book written by Michael Foss, an ELCA pastor of St Marks Lutheran Church in West Des Moines, Iowa.  The book is titled Power Surge: Six Marks of Discipleship for Changing a Church.”  We will journey through the six marks and see how applying these principles to our own lives will in turn grow the church.  Because if you look for the Biblical witness of church growing, it is God that brings the growth.  In Acts, God added 3000 to their number, and Paul speaks of one planting, another watering and God bringing the growth. We can have an effect on the loves of others, and help to plant seeds and water what has been planted, but we do not bring growth. If we live in such a way that shows forth the abundant life we have in Christ, then the growth of God will come, through his living and working on our lives.

You can start incorporating these marks into your daily lives now.  They are easy to remember as the acronym for the six marks is the title of the book.

Pray Daily
O
Worship weekly
E
Read your Bible

Serve inside and outside your congregation
U
Relationships with those in the congregation and beyond
Give of your talents, time and money
E