Moving in the Spirit: Called to Transforming Discipleship: Reflections from the Vantage Points of the Marginalized People

“Mission from the margins” is neither a mere perspectival approach nor an option but an inevitable way of being church in God's mission. Likewise, the marginalized people are neither a broad category of people on the fringes of the society nor mere objects of charity and victims of circumstances. They are prophets and pathfinders indicting the world for its injustice through their lives of suffering and striving for its transformation through their struggles. As signs of hope testifying to the movement of the Spirit amidst despair and death, they help us to see God's mission not as a mere religious activity but as a spirituality of resistance and transformation for the sake of life and God's world. Reclaiming discipleship from the vantage of the marginalized, therefore, offers an opportunity for the churches to rediscover themselves afresh from being mere communities of believers and power structures to networks of partners for God's justice, participating in the larger struggles for the transformation of the world. As the gospels tell us, Jesus did not commission his disciples to call people to a belief system but to a covenantal relationship through a vocation of striving for the realization of God's reign. Such a sense of vocation is possible only when there is a radical change in Christian self‐understanding. It involves, first, interrogating and reimagining the ways in which churches affirm and practise their faith; second, leaving aside their captivity to certain belief systems and turning toward Jesus of Nazareth to teach the way – to be active partners with God rather than being passive believers; third, appropriating discipleship beyond the language and sphere of transformation of persons; and fourth, learning from and being enriched by the visions and resources of the marginalized in living out the call to be one in God's mission of transformation of the world.     

Transforming Discipleship

The nature of oikoumene has constantly challenged a Christendom‐oriented lineal understanding of mission. The environment of doing theology of mission has changed from the denominational to the ecumenical era, from the Eurocentric to the global context, and from the mechanistic domination of the world to the age of ecological worldwide community; and the paradigm of mission has changed from evangelization to shalom, from missio ecclesiae to missio Dei, and from monologue to dialogue. Critically thinking of the dominant milieu of the people which challenges the church to transform her way of participation in the world, the church must discern the socio‐political and religio‐cultural biographies of the people as the most important language of people‐ and life‐centric missio Dei. The primary missiological question should be, then, not what God is doing with the church, but rather what God is doing with the people and creation. In the course of answering this question, the church may discern where the Spirit is at work and how to respond to it. The following article is an attempt to seek a Korean way of imitatio missionis Christi in terms of finding a contextualized spirituality and a strategy of a transforming discipleship.     

Missional Discipleship

Most communities of the world, and particularly in the continent of Africa, are multi‐faith and multicultural. Christianity is a major religion in the continent that has succeeded in persuading adherents of African traditional religions to switch off from their indigenous belief and switch on to Christian belief. 1 Christianity is not the only religious faith in Africa. It has other sibling monotheistic religions and other religious expressions. Christianity, being a mission‐oriented religious faith, has a mandate to bring about transformation as reflected in its sacred text, the Bible. This article will explore how the transformation is stimulated and sustained. Meanwhile, it is necessary to state that African people were religious people even before the advent of Christianity and Islam. As a result, religion plays a critical role in their public engagements. Nevertheless, what may be investigated further would be whether religion, and Christian faith in particular, influences the people to be good citizens/disciples as they engage in the socio‐political and economic life of the society. The article seeks to use the notion of missional discipleship as a compelling stimulus for inclusive transformation in African societies.     

Evangelism as Discipleship

This article gives attention to the challenges that the missional and conversational relationship of the church poses in the intercourse between evangelism, discipleship, theological education and leadership formation in its ministry and mission. This multi‐faceted and complex process brings together competing interests with different agendas that, in a number of contexts, have resulted in mis‐evangelization. This has called into question issues about human dignity and respect and the need for reciprocity to inform all missional response of the churches. The article argues that an appropriate model of theological education is needed to equip leaders for effective witness to the gospel. This necessitates the recruitment and mentoring of emerging leaders who have had a life‐changing encounter with the life‐giving Spirit of Jesus that controls their identity, vocation and witness. Some experiences of formal and informal theological education and formation within the Anglo‐Caribbean context were identified that disconnected and disorientated leaders from the Church's missional task of bearing effective witness to the gospel. This article calls for an overhaul of seminary‐ and university‐based theological education careerism, because they serve as an encumbrance to nurturing effective contextual witness of churches. The article argues that if Jesus calls and makes us into his disciples, then faithfulness in discipleship necessitates that (1) authentic evangelism must be grounded in humility and respect for all, (2) leadership formation must be infectiously relational, and (3) the gospel must be communicated through genuine interpersonal and community‐affirming relationships. The article ends with an invitation to all churches to embrace a missional model of witnessing that invests in living with, learning from and sharing with people in communities depending on the Spirit of God in Christ to lead and bear fruit in God's time.     

The Meaning of Discipleship

This article is an attempt to use academic tools to bring out the meaning of discipleship from the practitioners' perspective. The mandate of the Great Commission, making people disciples, is the process of making someone become like Christ. This contribution shows that as individuals learn from him and follow the pattern of Jesus' life, there will be marks of discipleship, such as commitment and being like him in deeds. The primary purpose of Jesus' coming to the world was to establish the kingdom of God through his death. The study demonstrates that the kingdom becomes evident in form and practice as people surrender to God's progressive rule. The strength and influence of the church is shown to be wholly dependent upon its commitment to authentic discipleship; that is, producing transformed lives and seeing those lives reproduced in others. The paper concludes that the transformed disciples must together take a journey of transforming communities into the kingdom of God.     

Missional Formation for Transforming Discipleship

Mission – in the larger sense, beyond the mission of the institutional church – in the 21st century is an urgent and decisive issue. We need to prepare for a transforming mission with transforming discipleship. Together towards Life, along with Evangelii Gaudium and Laudato Si', offer paradigm shifts to consider as we envision mission formation with other parameters – with a different theological and ministerial education. Participation in the world is necessary for any true transformative mission: it is there that we learn and practise the true challenges to abundant life for everyone and for all. Practice alone is not enough: we must always question our own praxis, reviewing it in the light of the gospel.     

Systemic Evil and Christian Discipleship

Although the churches have focused much of their attention on the individual's encounter with evil, it is urgent and essential that this focus be expanded to consider communal systemic evil. Rediscovering this emphasis in ancient sources – biblical and Indigenous – we begin to see that engagement with systemic evils like racism and colonialism is a central aspect of Christian discipleship. There is a preliminary and important anticipation and realization of this rediscovery in The Arusha Call to Discipleship document of the World Council of Churches. In an age that is beset by the deadly intersection of multiple forms of systemic evil, it is urgent that discipleship confront the principalities and powers that corrupt and destroy life.     

Transforming Discipleship: Missiological Reflections

Although not explicitly tied, the terms “transforming” and “discipleship” relate directly to and fruitfully qualify each other in the most important recent documents in contemporary missiology. Together they frame a profoundly rooted and deeply relevant notion of discipleship that ties the personal commitment of Christians to the larger Christian communion, work for justice, and the very fabric of our evolving universe.     

Discipleship Training Of Children and Youth

Today, we all face an infinite number of faith choices, especially youth. This makes confirmation ministry as discipleship training most important in our churches. This article explores the confirmation ministry of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Depew, NY, and critically analyzes the methodology—4 turnings, 6 disciplines, and 19 assets—behind the ministry. This methodology has been developed from researchers such as Jean Piaget, James Fowler, Duffy Robins, and researchers at the Search Institute.     

Discipleship and Spirituality from a Christian Perspective

Spirituality is an important aspect of being a human. One may approach this topic from a purely psychological or religious perspective. In this paper, it is argued that spirituality as defined from a purely psychological perspective is inadequate to capture the depth of this human experience because it misses the core of spirituality—discipleship. Following Foster’s (1998) Streams of Living Water, it will be argued that discipleship is the core of Christian spirituality, and each of these streams provides an important context for fostering one’s relationship to the transcendent.     

Missional Formation for Transforming Discipleship: A Response

As I approached teaching my first missiology course in the seminary of a Dominican partner church a few years ago, I had to ask myself, “How do we possibly talk about and engage in ‘mission’ in this hemisphere, where the first ‘mission’ ended in genocide?” In this article, I explore the context for mission, which I believe is sometimes given insufficient attention as we seek to form and equip our church leaders and members for mission. The contexts are both local and global, with much intersection between the two. I will also focus on methodology that may be useful for the formation of disciples for mission as part of the need for a different type of theological and ministerial education within the new mission paradigm that Míguez proposes.     

Creation,Theological Imagination and Questions about Discipleship

Science yields factual data about the unfolding nature of the universe that challenges us profoundly and with urgency. This data verifies we are living in a dynamic world within a dynamic universe that is still in the process of creation. This process is wrought with risk and is also defined by relationships that emerge from the most basic elements of life. These times require a new cosmology. Haught reminds us that the adventurous narrative of love and liberation at work beneath the surface available to science is the work space of theologians. The patterns of relationships in all life forms evoke the image of the Trinity as a communion of relations. Discovering a new way of seeing requires doing theology in new ways and Delio notes this means a search for the newness of God evident in the New Testament. Ultimately, new ways of seeing require examining discipleship. Contemplation through the ages permits us to grasp that this Trinity of Love is our God who dwells with us. Our insight into God continually unfolds in history through the continuity of the Paschal Mystery of Christ in his incarnation, death and resurrection. Profound suffering, disaster and tragedy mark the age in which we live. Yet God is not absent. The call to discipleship with the One who has realized God's presence among us in the Paschal Mystery is a realization of a humility that is far removed from power, control and domination. We discover a humble God in the place of the poor because this is how God has become incarnate among us.     

Discipleship Transforming the World: A Coptic Orthodox Perspective

Discipleship is the core of Christianity, based on the work of the Holy Spirit, in fulfilment of the Lord's command. True discipleship is capable of transforming the world, so that in the end all kingdoms and reign shall be to the Lord and his Christ. Therefore, discipleship is linked with evangelism, missionary, teaching, and social work. With the emerging hostile trends all over the world, faith is endangered. So it is important to remind ourselves of the aim of Christianity for humanity, for which so great a price was paid by our Lord (his precious blood) to bring the world into the knowledge of the truth. We have the privilege and honour to bear the precious name and to declare it to the whole world, even if we suffer for that. Even though this means that we have to bear his cross, to face the challenges, and to resist the powers of evil in the world. The church is aware of its mission, to reveal to the world Christ the lover of humanity, and for this end to serve them – to warn, teach, and guide them – through our behaviour, our acts, and our words. Copts are keen on serving their communities and everywhere they go, are always ready to teach others about the cause of our hope, that they also may enjoy the fruit and the deserts of the blood of Christ. This article honestly records the experience of the Coptic Orthodox Church regarding discipleship in practice throughout its history up to the present day.     

Confusion of Tongues: Christian Discipleship and the Problem of Patriotism

This article addresses the dynamics of faith manifested in Christian discipleship and patriotism. Exploration of the dynamics of faith, whether in Christian or patriotic discipleship, involves identifying the nature of the object of devotion and concomitant expectations of one’s relationship vis-à-vis the object. From this exploration, various contradictions between Christian and patriotic discipleship are identified. To resolve cognitive dissonance or smooth over contradictions, Christian patriots employ several psychosocial strategies, namely, merger, weak dissociation, rationalization, and denial.

Mission and Discipleship from the Perspective of Gender and Indigenous Culture

The presence and history of Indigenous Peoples present special problems for mission and missiology and requires some rethinking of basic concepts and the cultural location of mission. Because the next World Mission Conference will take place in Tanzania, this article looks more carefully at the basis of mission, the experience of Indigenous Peoples with missions, and the New Testament warrent for mission. In the latter we find, particularly in the gospel narratives of the resurrection appearances of Jesus and his sending of the disciples the particular and exemplary role of women. These narratives offer some guidance for framing mission with Indigenous Peoples and in relation to colonial legacies and global capitalism.