2. The Mission of HOME
The Mission: To make and Mature Disciples
An Introduction
The mission of HOME Church is made up of the commission of Jesus to “Make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-20) and Paul’s desire for every Christian to grow in maturity (Eph 4:13).
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (Eph 4:11-14)
Strong trees are formed over long periods and in adverse conditions. Likewise, strong metal is forged under extreme heat and intense pressure. Similarly, strong disciples are made through a long and hard process. Jesus was very clear that “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt 7:14).
One cannot become a disciple alone. No disciple will be able to endure the difficulty of becoming a disciple by themselves. And it is a paradox that a disciple could be formed without being surrounded by people, for discipleship is about being formed in the pressure of relationships and through commitment to people over a period of time.
Maturity requires time; there is no shortcut to maturity without adverse consequences; discipleship takes a long period of time and requires many seasons, situations and settings for the disciple to grow into maturity.
The model of discipleship Jesus gave us
Consider the disciple making methods of Jesus.
Jesus didn’t train up one, he trained up twelve at one time; the twelve watched and learnt together.
Jesus focused on three of his disciples and trained them as his core leaders
Jesus lived with his disciples for three years; only leaving them for short periods of time for personal time of prayer
Jesus recruited those from various trades; he had a diversity of disciples.
Jesus’ disciples required more than three years of training. Their discipleship would require the Holy Spirit who would counsel and coach them for the rest of their lives.
Jesus’ disciples (except Judas) all died for what they believed; most were put to death because of their faith. They either gave themselves up for a lie or they really believed that Jesus was the son of God.
Discipleship is all about growing to be more like our Lord Jesus; the way we are to go about discipleship is not so different to how the disciples were trained
We join a community of believers called a church and with the aim of following Jesus together
We form various pairs and triplets during our lifetime; walking and working closely with these individuals; much like Peter, James and John
We recognise that there are seasons of discipleship, and that no season of discipleship lasts forever. We make the most of the short time we have with certain people and we take comfort that nothing is permanent in this life
It is important for us to surround ourselves with people that we trust yet those who are different to us; if we only have people that think the same then we are really no better off.
We embrace failure and we marry humility. We expect that we will get things wrong and we are not surprised if others fall. We learn from mistakes, we receive new grace and we get up in power from the Holy Spirit. We stay low but we never stay still.
We learn that discipleship is about commitment and consistency. We work out our faith with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12) and practicing (live out) our faith until we reach the joy that He promised we would enjoy (John 15:11).