The Misimpression

At some point during the progress of Christianity over the past two millennia a misimpression was arrived at that to be a follower of Christ one had only to confess that Jesus is the Son of God, that he consumed the sins of mankind, to profess that Jesus is one's personal savior, confess and renounce one's sins and that all professors of this belief would be blessed by God and that nothing more was to be required other than to lead exemplary lives, be compassionate, charitable and loving.

Somewhere along the way, the call to discipleship lost its emphasis among the believers, and in these modern times, discipleship has all but been forgotten within the church body. While it is true on Sunday morning the various Christian congregations meet in their churches, supposedly to hear the Gospel proclaiming the salvation message, it cannot helped be noticed that a nearly universal mute tongue and deaf ear has been turned to the call for modern day disciples. While there will always be those who eagerly step up and do what needs be done, those dear hearts are in the minority.

Instead, what is being proclaimed in a great majority of churches today is a message that calls for very little personal inconvenience... a message that is being served up to the laity via multi-media productions, 'interesting' newly-composed hymns that serve to reassure the church body of God's giving of blessings, and an extremely strange and disturbing absence of the recitation of the 'Lord's Prayer'. At the same time, today's formal, established churches are hemorrhaging membership, while concurrently, charismatic church bodies are growing - both physically and virtually, via television and the Internet. Some of these church empires number into the multi-thousands and most have one thing in common: there's very little, if any, call to become a working disciple of Jesus Christ. One mega-church pastor, who is considered to be the leading charismatic on television today, seldom makes reference to the Christ, and centers most preaching on the blessings, rewards and prosperity that his congregants can look forward to receiving from God. A gospel of prosperity.

But, there's no call to discipleship. No call to carrying out the Great Commission of Jesus... that is, there's no call to go out into the world and proclaim the Gospel of Salvation - a vocation that in many situations can be dangerous to life and limb. Know this: It is Jesus who seeks out the disciple, not the disciple candidate seeking out Jesus. He comes to us and presents us with the Either-Or decision: 'Either follow me now, or don't follow me.' In our churches today, that call oftimes comes down to us from the pulpit... that is, if the call is given any thought at all. The last thing some churches want to do is to make the membership uncomfortable with the call to take up Jesus' cross, for fear of jeopardizing their source of future income.

That brings us to the purpose of The MISSION DISCIPLESHIP — to present a frank and realistic discussion on Christian discipleship in today's world as referenced from Jesus' and the Apostles' words as taken from the Greek New Testament. Those who do choose to serve in the cause of Jesus Christ have their orders, requirements and duties, explained to them in the clearest and strongest of terms throughout the passages of the New Testament - along with vivid descriptions of foreseen sacrifices. Needed wisdom is supplied by God's Holy Spirit; leadership by Jesus Christ; devotion to duty by the disciple.