Our regional conference team (myself, Chris Rowland, Darris McNeely and Steve Myers) is looking forward to seeing the ministry in the Southeast region this week. It will be preceded by a day-long Sunday leadership workshop themed "What Every Member Supplies." More than 100 have signed up for this, and we look forward to meeting you all. Additional speakers at the ministerial conference will be regional pastor Ken Martin, Scott Hoefker and Matthew Fenchel.

We are pleased that our brethren have been contributing towards the new video studio. More than $94,000 has been donated towards this very much needed facility which will be connected to our main home office building. You can view a video of the Council discussion and resolution at http://coe.ucg.org/content/beyond-today-studio-proposal-and-resolution

Thank you very much for helping with this vital endeavor.

Making Disciples

Last week we examined a fundamental element that constitutes what a disciple of Christ is. Christ summed it up in Luke 14:33: "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." That includes your own life also (Luke 14:26). To become a disciple is a relationship not casually or blithely entered into. There is no such thing as a nominal Christian or one who is just "affiliated" with Christianity. The relationship is one of highest devotion and 24/7 attention. It is not a hobby or a pastime. That's why there are not huge multitudes of dedicated Christians who fit this description.

Our work in "making disciples" continues by working with those who have been called by God the Father and who have repented.

Christ knew it would be this way, as He also described life's correct choices as the "narrow" way in Matthew 7:13-14: "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

In the sixth chapter of John, Christ spoke about the Passover and equated eating bread and drinking wine at the Passover to symbolically eating His flesh and drinking His blood. This hard saying bothered some of the disciples, and some no longer followed him after hearing it. Notice this account in John: "Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, 'This is a hard saying; who can understand it?' When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, 'Does this offend you?'" (John 6:60-61).

Continuing in John 6:66-68: "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, 'Do you also want to go away?' But Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." The twelve who were around Christ understood that this was the only way to eternal life and committed to stay on this path.

While being a disciple to this degree is not an easy endeavor, it is also one that Christ describes as an easy yoke: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

How can that be?

We may think that being a Christian is hard, but I'd like for us to think again. What's more difficult is not being a Christian and a disciple. I think of so many people living in ignorance, darkness, fear, despair, hopelessness, uncertainty and depression, with no understanding whatsoever about their origin, purpose and Creator. That's a lot harder than the liberty and release that we have found in our enlightenment about God, ourselves and our relationship with God. We have learned and tasted of eternal life. That's an easy yoke, and that's rewarding. What a lightening of burdens!

Christ then commands those who became His stalwart disciples to "go into all the world and make disciples" (Matthew 28:19, emphasis added throughout). On the surface, that sounds like it means simply to add converts and build a following. Indeed, we are to be persuasive, knowledgeable and convicting by every means possible through Beyond Today magazine and TV, Internet, advertising and Beyond Today Live appearances to "make disciples." But the actual process of an individual turning to God and repenting is a dynamic that exists among God the Father, Jesus Christ and the person hearing the message. While we may be able to change people's minds about what the Bible teaches, we can't change the hearts of anyone. Giving repentance, conviction and a changing of the heart is a work only God can accomplish.

Jesus Himself revealed this truth: "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father" (John 6:65). That "granting" includes repentance, as Paul explains to Timothy: "And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

Our work in "making disciples" continues by working with those who have been called by God the Father and who have repented. We continue, through preaching and by our personal example, to help them build upon the convictions already established.

You and I know that there was a defining moment in our lives when we came to those convictions and became disciples. It is no different in the working of the lives we impact through the work we do. The hearers must experience the same defining moment when God has indeed called them and granted them repentance.

We all have a significant part in "making disciples." Remember, it's disciples who make disciples. For some, it's a work of proclamation. For others, it's a work of example and service. All this works to strengthen those whom God has called.

There is much more that can be said about this vital building block topic of church growth. We'll continue to look at discipleship in future columns.