It's simple. Disciples are given the opportunity to make more disciples.
Drawn by God. Saved by Christ. Filled with the Spirit. The body of Christ, the Church, the priesthood of believers have this beautiful mission - love others as Christ loves us. Christ reconciled us to Him and as ambassadors of reconciliation we direct others to Christ and draw them into our families and extended families on mission.
This doesn't always start in our homes does it? We come to Christ at the strangest times and in the weirdest most unexpected places right? Coffee shops, funerals, next to the toilet after a long night. God calls and gives us the grace to respond to Jesus' incarnate work and it doesn't matter where or how.
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| a great disciple and partner on mission |
But when this call changes us in every place but the home (the most intimate) it's a problem. Our spouses don't see a broken, forgiven, regenerate husband, wife, mother or father. Our neighbors might. Our coworkers see a change. Our local church body is in awe and spurs us onward. But do our kids feel the new creation. Is that same grace spilling over onto our family. Is our spouse held tight by us in love and forgiveness the way we are in Christ's arms?
Let's be careful not to draw families on mission independently of one another in every area of life but to let our individual gifts and missions be an overflow of a discipling rhythm in the home.
After Moses personally engaged YHVH on the mountain he called Israel to a great mission. A great rhythm of life. Read more in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 about the family discipleship rhythm designed to create nation in love with their Redeemer.
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| my little partner on mission and apparently stung by a bee... |
I'm excited. We've received a final draft of the Journal and are pretty pumped to share this rhythm with others. No, as disciples we're not prompted to shutter up our families in the house to keep safe from the big bad world. That's ridiculous.
On the other extreme, if we're all engaged in the body and even on mission outside of the home and never worshipping, partying and serving together as a family then as parents we're missing out on discipling those entrusted to us directly from the Lord first and foremost. Our children then miss out on how a family lives and breathes the Word.
So go and create your own Action Journal. If you need a hand then pick up A Family on Mission Action Journal when it's out later this month!