Discipleship at Grace United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church has a mission. It lines up squarely with the words of Jesus to “go and make disciples” in Matthew 28:16-20. Our denomination says it like this, “our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Ultimately, everything we do as a church comes down to making disciples, but you might be wondering, what, exactly, does that mean? How do we make disciples?
Making Whole Disciples
I was asked a question along these lines several years ago when I first started at Grace United Methodist Church. One of the things I recognized in answering it was that the things the church historically does (worship, small groups and missions) is not all-encompassing of what it means to be a disciple. Our mind, body, heart and soul all need to be developed in ways that honor God and help us to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:35-40). To that end, I’ve developed a document that is a more inclusive look at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It lists some ways we can grow, since literally, anything we do can be done in such a way that it honors God, or shows love to our neighbor and moves us closer to the ideal God has for us. ‘Disciple Making at Grace’ (attached below) shows five categories that help us grow: intercultural competence, emotional intelligence, spirituality, mental development and physical development. All of these areas contribute to discipleship and help us to fulfill our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Too often the church can get caught up in one area, spirituality, and think only “spiritual” things matter, ignoring all the other categories. We recognize focusing on spirituality alone will never be enough for us to be whole disciples.
Churches, though, are uniquely positioned to help people grow spiritually. Out in the world you can find communities and classes that help you grow socially, emotionally, mentally and physically, but you will be hard pressed to find a secular class that helps you grow spiritually. In fact, many of the social ills we suffer from in this country stem from secularization. The less people are challenged to grow spiritually through moral discourse, practicing other-centeredness, and finding meaning in something beyond oneself, the less likely they are to value life. This has all kinds of dire consequences, so we have to take specific steps in the church to help people grow in these specific ways. That’s why we have a vision statement.
The Vision of Grace United Methodist Church
The vision statement of Grace United Methodist Church is to be an inclusive community, passionately following Jesus Christ. This vision statement is narrower than a mission statement, and helps us look at specific actions and tasks people at Grace can do to grow spiritually. This doesn’t mean that making whole disciples is not important, it is, but no one church could possibly do everything it takes for people to grow. We look at three specific areas taken from our vision statement to help us grow spiritually. They are inclusivity, community and passion. Here are a few thoughts on each category:
Inclusivity
Gracious Reconciliation
Several years ago, the Gracious Reconcilers group met to discern what “inclusive” meant for Grace United Methodist Church. Every church will have a different view of this. Some even think that just because you are friendly toward someone you are “inclusive.” That can be far from the case! We have a statement approved by the highest body of our church that says we welcome all. My favorite part of this statement is that we covenant to, “be a congregation who serves all people including the overlooked and the unseen; the people who are seen by God, but who may be invisible to us.” If you’ve ever felt invisible, or unseen, we want you to feel that you have a place here with us.
This group continued to ask what reconciliation means for our church and came up with a welcoming statement recently. This statement is published in our bulletin every week. It says, “We welcome all people as friends in Christ, without prejudice or distinction based on race, national origin, gender, gender identity, social or economic standing, education, sexual orientation, physical or emotional limitations, or any other classification by which humanity divides people.” We understand that human distinctions between people are not the distinctions by which God sees us. We are a new creation in Christ, so any violation against people or God is reconciled through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14-19).
Grace United Methodist Church is an inclusive place when we “walk a mile in their shoes” and consider things from another person’s perspective. When someone says something we don’t understand, or violates our understanding of God, we don’t berate them, we ask a question. Dialogue is the way forward when we are truly being an inclusive community.
Community
Visitors
Visitors to our church connect in various settings, some only being loosely connected to the church. It is most often Sunday morning worship, but could be any small group, mission, ministry, event, fundraiser, or any encounter members and friends have in the community. At Grace we record the names and information of new people so we can encourage them in this journey. Often it begins with a visit, phone call or email from the pastor, but many people join the church because a friend invited them to come
Members
Membership formalizes part of the discipleship process. As visitors and friends connect with our worship service, attend in small groups and participate in missions work they are taking steps of discipleship. Members take a vow to participate through their prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. These are key ways members keep these vows at Grace
Worship
Greeters and ushers meet people at the door of our church. Sometimes they even bring an umbrella to your car! But always they have a bulletin and a smile to make you feel welcome in this space. You can fill in a prayer request as you enter, which will be brought to the pastor for a time of corporate prayer. If you have children, they can join our Sunday School program, but don’t forget to fill out a Sunday School form first so we can make sure they are safe. In worship we have songs we sing, prayers and responses that signal our commitment to God, and we listen to the scripture reading. We hear both the Bible read, and an interpretation of that scripture. This sermon is meant to connect with real life as we consider how it is God calls us to live every day. As worship ends we have a coffee hour to spend some time connecting with other folks, but be quick, the children often get the sweet treats first!
Small Groups
We have several small groups in our church. If its your first time, the short-term studies with Pastor Brian are a good start. They last usually 3-4 weeks, for about an hour each week. When you are ready to go deeper, join a long-term group, like the choir or bells groups, the adult studies, the movie club, youth group, the men’s group, or help us relaunch our young adult group.
Missions
Missions work is an exciting area of church ministry. We help feed the homeless or those with transitional housing needs through Family Promise, we make soup to be delivered to those who are sick, hospitalized or homebound through our soup ministry, we assist in educating young minds through CAMP YDP in Paterson, and collect food for CUMAC, a United Methodist ministry in Paterson that feeds over 40,000 per year. That’s not to even mention our Christmas collections, food drives, visits from the congregational care team and the SOUPER Bowl.
Passion
Service
Perhaps the biggest, and most important change that happens in a disciple is when they go from “getting” to “giving.” Participating in worship or a small group or a mission is good. We wish more people would do that! But, we also know we are only limited by the number of people willing to do good in this world. With passionate volunteers and more leaders, the church could do innumerably more good. Are you ready to take the step from being in a small group to leading it? Are you ready to go from sitting in a pew to leading in music or preaching? Are you able to not just offer some support for a good mission project, but to actually make it happen through organizing a project and volunteers? Too often we think we can’t do it. Maybe we think we don’t have the gifts or skills, but discipleship means we are growing! We are developing those skills so that one day we can say “I didn’t have the skills to do this, but now I do.” This is true at any age or stage of life. Someone once told me they were “too old” to volunteer, but I reminded them how they call their friends on the phone all the time. How is that not a gift that God could use to help the church and help build the kingdom of God?! We can serve God and others with any gift we have; it is simply a choice to make the mental shift from being served to serving others. How are you called to serve today?
This is a touch of what the discipleship process looks like here at Grace United Methodist Church. We want to help people become whole disciples, and the best and most unique work we can do as a church is to help people grow spiritually. Opportunities abound, so we invite you to consider what your next step in the discipleship process may be. God bless!
In Christ,
Pastor Brian Neville