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Make disciples, not converts. Initiate them into a community that's learning to live out the life of God in the world. Help these learners to embody Christ wherever they go - in motivation, in wisdom, in relationships, in character. Enable the presence of Christ to release and empower them for this mission.
'If we don't disciple people the culture surely will.' - Alan Hirsch
Whole-life discipleship is not 'A' level Christianity. It's the vocation of every believer. A joy and delight. And also a very tough calling. No wonder many paid church ministers feel ill equipped for the task of cultivating a disciplemaking community over the long haul. Yet it's absolutely vital that we embrace this challenge if we are to be fruit-bearing, life-affirming followers of Jesus - together and apart.
Churches may well need a whole variety of resources, training and support. But at heart the invitation to any church is to restore whole-life disciplemaking to the central role Jesus assigned it in his own ministry and in his commission to the disciples. By embracing this vocation we might grow healthy individuals, connected to one another in healthy communities, able to be 'living testimonies', demonstrating to the rest of society a viable alternative way of life - however imperfectly!
'The gospel is good news concerning the Kingdom, and the Kingdom is God's rule over the totality of life. Every human need, therefore, can be used by the Spirit of God as a beachhead for the manifestation of his kingly power.' - René Padilla
'Imagine' is therefore designed not so much to deliver content - though it does do that - but to help change the culture of local churches so that they become communities committed to discipling one another to live and share the Gospel out in today's rapidly changing world. It therefore has the potential to radically transform the effectiveness of the UK Church's ministry to its own people and its ministry and mission to those currently outside the Church. This is what has excited so many church leaders.
In sum, 'Imagine' is not a project designed to offer the church a new tool, to add a raisin to the church bun, it is a project designed to add yeast to the dough, to change the whole orientation of church communities in the UK.
Go further
Read more about the challenge of shifting church culture to create whole-life disciples, click here
Read about the leadership task in disciplemaking churches, click here
Watch videos exploring some of the key concepts behind whole-life disciplemaking.
Click here to download the article 'Why do churches resist disciplemaking' by Steve Davie first published in the LICC book Let My People Grow.
