Discipleship is central to our mission as a church. It covers virtually every aspect of life. How then do we get our arms around it? Where do we start? How much do we include? When and by what criteria do we consider someone discipled? These questions can incapacitate our churches and leaders in our attempts to make disciples. However, we need not lose heart. If God has commanded it, His Spirit wi
ll certainly be in it. He will help us if we obey. We realize it is not possible to prescribe a one-size-fits-all discipleship curriculum for the Free Methodist Church. We do, however, believe we might be able to provide a Biblical framework from which you, a pastor or leader, can design or adapt a discipleship program to fit your own setting. There are many good discipleship curriculums available. We will not presume to come up with a better one. We do hope, however, to prescribe a philosophy, or context from which to understand discipleship, one which is rooted in scripture and also in our Wesleyan heritage. We sense that at this time in our history, and in response to the cultural forces at work, the Free Methodist Church is in need of such a framework. We need a context for discipleship that both articulates and synthesizes for our people the vital Biblical components of faith, community, and mission. This paper, The Context for Discipleship, is an introduction and overview of our work for the 2015 General Conference of the Free Methodist Church. We seek to provide a framework that will help us answer five questions:
• What is the flow or pattern of discipleship?
• What should be the content of discipleship?
• How should we define and measure our effectiveness?
• How do we devise an effective system for discipleship for our local church? Where, when, and how should it happen?
• What are some helpful models and resources? We trust that our efforts will provide encouragement and guidance for the church. As the apostle Paul longed for his people, may the Free Methodist Church be in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in us.
