Toward a Theology of Discipleship

I’ve been working (truthfully, not working much) on a Theology of Discipleship as a result of some of the discussion of what constitutes spiritual growth at SBC. I ran across a blog posting today from a pastor in Hawaii who I found myself agreeing with (mostly). He has some of the elements that we often think of in discipleship perhaps summarized in "growing relationship with Christ" and "a ministry that is fruitful and healthy."

Additional items he adds:

- Healthy Marriage
- Healthy Family
- Healthy Body/Soul
- Healthy Lifestyle (time to enjoy life)

My journey is taking me down a direction of thinking about how important that our “health” is: I was thinking family health, working life health, friendship health, body health, emotional health. Often when something here is wrong, our life is not fully whole yet God offers healing in all these areas.

This same journey is making me read the Bible with a perspective of integrating the spiritual and secular areas of life -- spirituality is not simply about spiritual habits and church attendance. It's truly about how Christ intersects our relationships and how we live out the greatest commandments in the context of regular 21st century life. Looking at my own life, that means: how I live with Christy, how I bring up my girls, how I work with my co-workers, how I relate with my friends, acquaintances and people I share the road with.

"Everything God has done in our lives is unproven until tested in the midst of relationships," quoted by Loren Laumer.

Here's the blog posting:

Church Relevance Interviews Wayne Cordeiro

from The Digital Sanctuary by Cynthia

Yesterday, Kent Shaffer at Church Relevance posted a brief interview with Foursquare Pastor Wayne Corderio from New Hope Christian Fellowship in O'hau. I just covered Pastor Wayne's church here last week having returned from a visit there in early August. Here's the permalink of my experience at New Hope.

The Church Rlevance interview includes this bit of Pastor Wayne's simple advice:

Establish 5 or 6 things and live toward them. For example, his six are:

1. A genuine and growing relationship with Christ Jesus.
2. A genuine and healthy marriage.
3. A family that is close and healthy, spiritually as well as emotionally.
4. A ministry that is fruitful and healthy and one that overflows into resourcing other leaders.
5. A body that is healthy and a soul that is able to be creative.
6. Time to enjoy life with family and friends.

Head over to Church Relevance to read all 10Q. Permalink: 10Q with Wayne Cordeiro.

-Derek