Growing disciples in Bermondsey

Our two PCCs (church councils) for St James and St Anne's met today for a morning focussed on the subject of discipleship.

We started off with a full cooked breakfast of the kind that has become so popular with our men's breakfasts, and then with some physical nourishment under our belts, we turmed to the Bible for some spiritual nourishment from  Ephesians 4.1-16.

It was good to see from this passage that every Christian is part of the body, that every Christian has been given a gift by the ascended Lord Jesus, that God has appointed pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles to minister God's word in such a way that 'all God's people' are prepared for 'the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.'

The final goal is that we become mature in Christ ('no longer ..children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people') by speaking the truth (ie the truth of God's word) in love.

In other words what our church, and every church needs, is more truth and more love, with the result that the whole body 'grows and builds itself up through love.'

After our bible input, and before coffee, we spent some time thinking of our particular responsibilities as PCC members, including looking at Ten Commandments for PCC members, and then we turned back to the subject of discipleship for the rest of our morning.

In small groups we looked at these three questions and then fed back our answers: (1) What do you think are the marks of a growing Christian?; (2)  What would most help you grow as a disciple?; (3) What do you think St James and St Anne's should be doing to help people grow as disciples?.

The results will be collated and we will think further about this vital matter. After all, the parting shot of Jesus to his church, commemorated in our Ascension picture in St James with its the text from Matthew 28.20 was to 'go and make disciples' of people from all nations.