Reflections on Discipleship: Ron Anderson

Luke's version of the Great Commission is found in Acts: "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (1:8). The Greek word from which we translate "witness" is martueso, from which we get the English word "martyr." I often wonder how preaching would differ on this passage if our English Bibles read, "You will be my martyrs...to the ends of the earth." Certainly this version of the Great Commission points to its unique, cruciform shape; that is, the work of being a witness to Jesus is cross-shaped, cross-focused, cross-centered and cross-bearing work! This is the life of discipleship in which we are called to live and move and have our being.

            Ronald Anderson, in Losing Control: Becoming a Pastor/Leader with Influence, suggests twelve ministry principles to encourage growth in Christian discipleship (Anderson, 239 ff.). Anderson focuses many of his goals toward fairly traditional definitions of congregational ministry: a focus on nurturing discipleship, on forming our identity in Christ, and on developing spiritual giftedness within the context of community, for example. However, what energizes me about Anderson's list of discipleship forming ministry principles is the way he includes an outward oriented focus as well, thereby connecting to Luke's understanding of the Great Commission:

• Simple Goals: "The church's goals should be simple: that each believer master the spiritual disciplines...and develop the spiritual gifts needed to reach out beyond him- or herself to further the Kingdom in accordance with the direction of the Spirit."
• Unbounded by a Building: "The church is located wherever its people are found...not a set of activities located in a building, it is what goes on in the lives of the members of the congregation, all week long, wherever they find themselves."
• Staff: "All members of the [church] should see themselves as ministers and in a role of ministering to others, both inside and outside the community."
• Budget: "The majority of [a church's] giving should be directed outward, with much of this money ideally directed through ministries in which these believers themselves are actively involved."
• Missional: "The community, individually and collectively, reaches out in love to others...Their sense of mission reflects a concern for all dimensions of human life, including physical, psychological and spiritual."

What strikes me about these ministry principles is that Anderson targets some sacred cows of congregational life. Of necessity a congregation who takes seriously Anderson's call to make staffing, budgetary and programmatic decisions in accordance with the above will embrace the work of being a witness to Jesus as cross-shaped, cross-focused, cross-centered and cross-bearing work!Such work may be difficult, today, to do in our congregations, but it is within each of our grasps, today, to set it before ourselves as the horizon toward which we will journey together. The journey of 1,000 steps begins with a single step. And lest we forget: sacred cows make gourmet burgers.

Grace to you today and always,

Brad Munroe