3rd Millenium Discipleship

Third Millennium Discipleship

As we confront the challenges and opportunities of the third millennium,our vision is to be a worshipping community of disciples who are bringing God’s Kingdom to bear upon the world and building His Church among all peoples.
(vision statement of Town North Presbyterian Church)

What does it mean to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Third Millennium since his first appearance? At first glance the millennium we live in seems vastly different than the one in which he founded his church. Think of the following list: electricity, indoor plumbing, automobiles, airplanes, radio, television, telephones, cell phones, motion pictures, anesthesia, antibiotics, recorded music on CDs, supermarkets, drugstores, men on the moon…. None of these were present in the first century AD. In fact, most of them came into existence only in the last hundred years of the second millennium. Is it possible in such a technologically advanced culture that the teachings of a carpenter’s son from a small town in an insignificant corner of the Roman Empire over 2000 years ago could be relevant now?

Now consider two other lists (from the book of Galatians):

sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies.

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Regardless of our technological sophistication, it’s apparent that man’s fallen nature and his redemption from it are just as much a central issue of our third millennium as they were when our Lord addressed them in the first.

Yet, there is no doubt that the trappings of our millennium produce both unique challenges and unique opportunities never seen before in the history of our planet. Against this background, then, we want to ask the question: what does it mean to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ in this new millennium? We will be addressing this question through a series of inductive Bible studies, augmented by other material that gives us insight into the way which discoveries in the realm of general revelation impact our understanding of our Creator and his love for us.

Three books will aid us in our studies:

· The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
· The Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard
· Christ’s Call to Discipleship, by James Montgomery Boice

In addition we will be viewing a video entitled Unlocking the Mystery of Life, produced by the Access Research Network, to give us insight into just how “intricately woven” our bodies are as designed by our Sovereign and Loving Creator.

The course outline below is meant to be indicative of topics we will explore together. However, we want to be flexible in these topics depending on the needs of the class. Please feel free to make suggestions for topics that you would like to see emphasized, and areas of concern that you would like to see addressed that may not be on the list below. Our only constraints are that the topics should line up with the general subject of discipleship, and the videos are non-negotiable: you have to see them!

(Tentative) Course Outline

1. What is a disciple?
· The first disciples
· The Apprentice and the apprentice
· What do disciples do, actually?

2. The cost of discipleship
· Taking up the cross
· Leaving father, mother, sister, brother
· Cheap grace

3. The covenants and the disciple
· What is a covenant?
· What is the “new covenant in my blood”?
· The new covenant and eternity

4. The disciple and the Kingdom
· What is the Kingdom of God?
· How near is the Kingdom?
· How powerful is the King?

5. The disciple and the family
· Does bearing the cross mean abandoning the family?
· Sanctification in the family
· Who disciples our children?

6. The calling of the disciple
· Part time Christian service, or full time?
· What’s my line?
· Who’s my boss?

7. Disciplines for disciples
· What did Jesus do?
· What did Paul do?
· A review

8. The disciple in God’s creation: part 1
· Psalm 139
· Viewing of Part 1 of Unlocking the Mystery of Life
· Discussion

9. The disciple in God’s creation: part 2
· Viewing of Part 2 of Unlocking the Mystery of Life
· Discussion

10. The disciple and the sanctifying Spirit
· Romans 7
· Romans 8

11. The making of other disciples
· The Great Commission
· Why is evangelism so hard?
· Our place in the Body

12. The worshipping disciple and his Lord
· Who is Jesus, really?
· “Your God is Too Small”
· Glimpses of Heaven

13. Death of a disciple
· The end of this life
· Our deaths and those of ones we love
· How long is eternity?

Posted by John Dishman at November 21, 2004 05:31 PM