The cost of discipleship... Church growth or martyrdom (Gr. Witness)
Monday, September 10, 2007 at 8:26AM This morning one of our students, Siyakudumisa Mbuyazwe preached a powerful and challenging sermon on the cost of discipleship. He used Luke 24v25-33 as his text.
Here are few thoughts that struck me again. In our 'church growth' and 'seeker sensitive' church culture we often forget to count the cost of being a disciple of Jesus.
He mentioned that is important to count the cost of discleship - this is not a winning formula for Church growth! It is a call to follow Christ, but first to count the cost of doing so. Belief is easy, but discipleship is costly. It is not for a day, a week, or a year, it is for the rest of our lives.
Following Jesus does not have the ease and comfort of a 'mass movement'! It takes a personal choice, and then many costly personal choices to remain a disciple. This is not 'seeker sensitivity', it makes for poor Church growth, but great 'disciple development'.
Thanks for reminding me of this Siya. I've been getting a little too comfortable of late.
Reader Comments (1)
Just finished with a confirmation group and the tussle between a church member and a disciple came up. It is amazing what paradigms exist in the minds of folk who see the local(privileged)church as the picture of the Kingdom. The slick worship setup, the comfortable air-con environs, the gushy bible studies that revolve around the same self absorbed questions. One realizes the responsibility the Christian leader has to help challenge the comfortable daydream.