Vision 2030 A Disciple-Making Church


Disciple-making is what we are called to do as followers of Jesus. In his earthly mission, Jesus took a unique group of men and women (the twelve disciples plus the other people who followed him) and allowed them to sit at his feet so that they could learn what it meant to be his followers. We are called to be disciples who make more disciples! Throughout my life, I have had person after person share their life with me so that I could learn what it means to follow Jesus. In college, it was a man named Gary who mentored me in my relationship with God. I would not be the man, the pastor, the leader I am today without his guidance in my life at that important stage. That is what we need to do for each other. The first part of our vision is that we will be a Disciple-Making Church. We derive that from Matthew 28:16-20 where Jesus gives the mission of the church to make disciples of all nations! Here is what that looks like
  • Rockbridge will be a disciple-making factory. Our definition of a disciple is from Matthew 4:19 – "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people."
    • Follow me – Committed to know and LOVE Jesus.
    • And I will make – Committed to being transformed by Christ, to GROW.
    • Fishers of People – Committed to God’s mission to transform the world, to GO.
    • We want to make disciples who LOVE, GROW, and GO!
  • Rockbridge will have a well-developed disciple-making process. We are in the business of making followers of Jesus, not simply converts.
    • We need to allow for people to 'catch' what it means to follow through relationships with others. There will be an intentional mentoring program
    • We will have opportunities for people to learn what it means to follow Jesus through GROW classes
    • Rockbridge will GROW together by helping every person find a life group
For Rockbridge to be a movement that will catch fire by the Holy Spirit we need to commit to being disciples who make disciples!

What are you thoughts on how Rockbridge can be a disciple-making church?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time to Grow Up

This morning I lost my wallet. Well lost is probably not the correct word, I temporarily misplaced it. Whenever I lose something, especially something important, I get anxious, even frantic. Most people have outgrown the problem of losing their keys or their wallet by having specific places to put it. I struggle with this (I often give the excuse that it's because it is how my brain works, while true it's an excuse) because I have not taken the time and effort to develop a pattern of where to put my important stuff. I am a very forgetful person, my dad used to say I would forget my head if it was not attached, but with the proper effort and training, I could learn to change my ways. Friends, the same is true with our faith. We must choose to put effort and energy into growing in mature followers of Jesus. Check out Hebrews 6:1-9: So let’s press on to maturity, by moving on from the basics about Christ’s word. Let’s not lay a foundation of turning away from dead works, of f
Read more

This world IS our home and it DOES matter when we lose the battle...

You might be wondering what this blog is about today, or you might have already connected the title with two popular Christian songs on the radio: Home by Chris Tomlin and Greater by Mercy Me. Both songs represent a theology that is an epidemic among popular Christianity today. Many Christians believe that this world is not really our home, that it is just a temporary place that we are passing through and (hopefully if we found Christ!) we go TO heaven and not experience eternal conscious torment in hell. That allows us to say (as it says in the song Greater by Mercy Me) that if we lose the battle with doubt or sin, it doesn't matter because we have the grace of God and so we still get to go to heaven (side note: this isn't exactly what the song means, but it is what it says. The song seems to be saying that because we are redeemed we don't have to earn grace. That is true but it overstates the point). The Christian world has focused on eternal salvation, however follow
Read more

Thoughts from the first five chapters of Luke

Last week I challenged people to read the book of Luke over the next month, and I am very excited about that! I am now realizing the challenge, however, of blogging over 5 chapters of the Bible! I am going to hit some highlights, feel free to comment below if you have thoughts or questions. First of all, Luke is actually book 1 of a saga that also includes Acts! Many people call it Luke-Acts because it was probably meant to be read as one continuous story (hmm maybe we should read acts together next...).  Chapter 1 "I have also decided to write a carefully ordered account for you, most honorable Theophilus." Theophilus is probably an honorific and it means friend of God or beloved of God. It is debated whether the book is written to an actual person or to all believers whom Luke is calling friends of God. The story of the birth of John the Baptist recalls stories in the Hebrew text that are similar such as Sarah and Abraham with the birth of Isaac (Genesis 18)
Read more