Imagine what it would be like, and what Jesus would do through us in the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) if we collectively renewed our commitment to our Lord’s commission to make disciples, and if we together reaffirmed our desire to become the fulfillment of his commandment that we love one another as he Has loved us?
Imagine what might happen, if every pastor and every congregation and every member in our church body made this same personal commitment to be living witnesses to and for our risen Lord Jesus?
Our vision is that the NALC will reclaim the confessional Lutheran emphasis on ongoing catechesis and intentional faith formation in the life of all of its congregations. This same disciple-making identity will permeate every NALC congregation, be adopted by every NALC pastor, and become part of our church body’s DNA. Our vision also includes becoming known to the ecumenical community as a church body that takes seriously its calling to make disciples and intentionally cultivates a framework to do so in its congregations.
We are to cultivate opportunities to teach others all that our Lord has commanded—to pass on the gospel witness of the apostles.
Because every disciple has been called and commissioned by the Lord, it naturally follows that every disciple of Jesus has been given the responsibility to help others become disciples of Jesus. This is the personal investment of the Word of God from one life to another.
Share your Life-to-Life Discipleship story with us to help us encourage others to pursue this call Christ has given us!
Do you think this renewal could happen in your congregation and community? Jesus did, or He would not have gathered you together and placed you where you are. Do you think this life-changing transformation could happen in your family and in your own personal life? Your Lord must have thought it could, or He would not have called you as he has.
But if it is going to happen, it needs to start with us.
During this season of Covid-19 our team has been working on developing an online discipleship guide training course that will help faithful, passionate individuals deepen their relationship with our Lord, increase their knowledge and self-awareness, and the confidence to walk alongside another disciple in mutual edification and consolation. We have had 34 discipleship guides take the online course in our first cohort and most of them have been trained in other models of discipleship. Our present cohort has been wonderful and we are so pleased to have so many participate lending their experience and collective wisdom to our efforts!
We’ve asked them to give their insights regarding the accompanying manual and online course in order to produce a 2.0 model. Therefore, we are waiting to start the second round of cohorts in order to have time to implement the suggestions received from the first cohort. Our plan is to start the second round of cohorts shortly after our Pastors’ Conference in February 2022, where a workshop on the course will be given.
Our hope is that those that have completed the discipleship guide training will go on to disciple others face-to-face, using our resources, as well as what you may have already found useful within your own community and congregational context.
We’ve asked you earlier to imagine renewing your commitments to God’s people and His love for the world, walking with each other to deepen our discipleship with our Lord, to cultivate opportunities to teach others about the good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed. Imagine with us now as we think of just half (we’ll talk about the other half later) of the first cohort going on to lead their own cohort of six, then those doing the same. That means that by the second generation there could be 102 trained discipleship guides proclaiming and walking the Good News! Another generation could mean 102×6 = 612, then another 612×6 = 3,672 trained discipleship guides … if each cohort or generation takes about six months, that means within two years almost 3,300 trained guides would be proclaiming the Good News in congregations, mission districts, at work, at home — wherever the Spirit leads to lift up the name of Jesus Christ.
This is only an imagining of “half” of those who are at present going through the training, but what if all 34 went on to lead?
What if we were intentional about learning more about our faith — in worship, devotions, prayer, and about sharing our Gospel-oriented lives with the world to help others learn about the Good News of God’s redeeming love in Jesus?
“As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” John 20:21
If this vision is going to become a reality, it needs to start in you.