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We have all been called to be Christ-like or Christian. This simple statement becomes a life long task of aspiring to live our lives for God in all we do; in our families, at work, when we are at church or even when we are alone. Jesus simplified this for a Pharisee in Matthew 22 by saying “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Life, in and outside the church, causes us to examine ourselves for these Christ-like principles, values and beliefs and how they manifest in our thoughts, emotions and actions. This examination may often lead to the need for change.
We as people do not like to be changed. We only have enough control to change ourselves, not anyone else or the situations we find ourselves in. Whoever we are and whatever part we play within this body know as Christ’s bride, we can only change our self and influence those that are near us.
Jesus came and surrounded himself with 12 individuals. He poured his life into these men and specifically trained three that were very dear to him. He set the model of discipleship. To take this term and remove its Christianese mystique; we could use the terms coaching, modeling, counseling, teaching or mentoring those who are apprentices or working students. This took time, great effort and love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
In John 17, Jesus prays to His Father stating that He has completed the work God had given Him to do - namely disciple. Later His prayers focused on unity of the believers. At the close of the book of Matthew, Christ asks us to go into the world making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them. Here at Real Life Ministries, we use small groups to create a community, so that we may obtain such relational environments to foster mentoring and apprenticeship. We feel Christ gave us this model and to stray from it would be not Christ-like.
Therefore when we work with other Christian organizations we first ask “How are you doing? No, how are you really doing?” We begin the process of discipleship with individuals and move to organizations, never losing sight of the people who comprise it.