Do United Methodists Want to BE Disciples? April 21, 2009
Posted by Dan R. Dick in Christian discipleship, Congregational Life, Mission of the Church, The United Methodist Church.Tags: Christian discipleship, Religious Trends, The United Methodist Church
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In 1996, The United Methodist Church clarified and refined its mission to be “making disciples of Jesus Christ.” Twelve years later, it amended the mission to include “for the transformation of the world.” In essence and in fact, we have declared that our reason for existing is to form, equip, empower, and encourage Christian believers to live as Christian disciples in the world, so that the world might be changed and come to more closely resemble the realm (kingdom) of God. This is an ambitious declaration. It is not enough to nurture people, to strengthen them, to teach them Good 
News, to offer them a panoply of services and programs — our primary and defining purpose is transformation — to make disciples out of mere believers. To take this seriously, most of our congregations must make a painful and laborious shift from ‘Christian service provider’ to ‘disciple making system.’
But the prior question is simply this: do United Methodists really want to be Christian disciples?
