Chapter twelve pulls together the various strands of the book reminding us that the churches goal is not growth numerically but to makes disciples who make other disciples to the glory of God and that the way to do this is through prayerfully teaching the Bible in every context. It reminds us too that discipleship is relational.
There follows an appendix which answers some of the questions that arise as you read. How do small groups fit in? etc...
Having finished the book I am grateful to God for Marshall and Payne's labour and wisdom. I think particularly helpful is that reminder that discipleship is the work of the church and the call to be prayerfully training others in relationship. There is also a realism that does not leave the reader feeling guilty for the times when such training gets put on the back burner because of emergencies but a gentle urging for us to re-engage with training when possible.
My main concern would be that despite saying this will make church messy with a interwoven series of disciples discipling other disciples there suggestions seem quite tied to the trellis framework from which they write. Some more development of what a messy gospel community would look like functionally outside of church structures would have been helpful and provocative. Picking up the theme of sharing lives and developing that a bit more would have been the icing on the very good cake.
No comments:
Post a Comment