Discipleship: An unchanging call to community

The nature of our world is changing around us, with political instability, economic downturn, personhood being redefined, climate change and wars affecting crop and food supply.  Yet the unchanging nature of the world remains constant.  Jesus is the answer to the big questions of life and the Gospel is still the transformational agent of change for our communities.  There is no place that carries more hope and potential for life transformation in our communities than the Church.    

The Church from its beginnings has been called to move out beyond its buildings; to leave its nets and go fishing.  God’s people in every generation are held together and sustained with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  It is this unchanging power that enables and equips each of us to witness to an unstoppable redemption story.  In the book of Acts we read how the early church was birthed in Jerusalem, the centre of the religious world, and then pushed out beyond her boundaries and comfort zone in mission and evangelism to make disciples of all nations.  

The people of God bring hope to the world and historically Christianity has brought significant, deep, permanent societal change.  The Church was engaged in healthcare long before the National Health Service and provided education before the introduction of the universal education system.  The Church was behind prison reform and at the cutting edge of the abolition of slavery.  Presently, it is the Church that is most effective in supporting addictions, providing food through food banks, offering shelter with emergency housing to the homeless and facilitating daily encouragement for mental health in café settings and wellbeing hubs.  God is at work and there are many opportunities for the local church to express love and compassion to their neighbours, but how does that relate to evangelism?  

To read more on this click here for the full article in our Foundations magazine.