Revisiting the person of peace: A response to A. Matthews

Luke 10:1–16 records Jesus sending a group of 70 (in some texts 72) disciples to proclaim the kingdom. If an open-hearted “child of peace” welcomed them, the messengers were to stay with them, blessing and evangelizing them and their household. Since the 1960s, proponents of the “person of peace strategy” have derived from this text a methodology for contemporary disciple-making. Matthews, writing in this journal, critiques the strategy as a hermeneutically weak misreading of the text, which hijacks instructions intended only for the original hearers, and uncritically applies them today. Matthews does accept that Luke 10 contains principles relevant to contemporary mission, but for reasons of space he declines to say what these principles may be. I attempt to identify these principles through a missional reading approach and ask how Luke 10 forms communities for mission then and now. I conclude that its prime purpose is to form Christians to be interdependent messengers of profound peace, who seek out interdependent children of hospitable peace. I then apply these insights to our current missiological moment. Finally, in light of this discussion I assess the specific “person of peace strategy” itself. While I offer some criticisms, I find more to appreciate about the strategy than Matthews does.

A Theological Analysis of “Teaching Everyone To Live Like Christ”

This article is a theological analysis of the hymn, “Teaching Everyone to live like Christ,” written in support of the 2020/2021 theme of Methodist Church Ghana (MCG). The hymn emerged from the author’s pastoral and theological analysis of the MCG’s theme, “Discipleship: Teaching everyone to live like Christ” (Col. 1:28-29). The hymn touches on two key functions of the universal Church, namely, mission and nurturing of believers. The author brings out the message embedded in the hymn through an expository study of the lyrics together with secondary sources such as books, articles, and others. The paper contends that the survival of the Christian Church now and in the years to come depends on effective disciple-making, which places high emphasis on the teaching ministry. Keywords: Hymn, Christ, Teaching, Church, Perfect, Mature.

Church-Based Research: Challenges and Opportunities

Because the church is the body of Christ, research focused on the Great Commission and Jesus’ concern for evangelism and disciple-making needs to be church-based. The goal of such research is to better share God’s love to a world who does not know him by building up a collection of knowledge that will enable us to do so. This research may be both theological (focusing on what the Bible and other theologians have said) and scientific (focusing on collecting new data and interpreting it, especially in light of theology). Church-based scientific research may be either qualitative (exploring broad ideas and phenomena in a relatively subjective way) or quantitative (testing specific ideas by collecting data measuring the variables of interest as objectively as possible). The Great Commission Research Journal is an especially appropriate outlet for publishing such research.

A Case Study in Adult Discipleship: Stories of Apprenticeship to Jesus at an Urban Anglican (Episcopal) Church

Anglican (Episcopal) churches around the world face a serious problem in discipleship and has called for a season of “intentional discipleship and disciple-making.” The Anglican Church of Canada renewed its emphasis on discipleship, providing some helpful resources, but there are no studies of how discipleship may be experienced at a congregational level. This study focuses on an Anglican church, identified as a leader in discipleship ministry. Through in-depth interviews and observations of formative events, I sought to discover how this congregation understood discipleship, engaged its Anglican tradition, lived and nurtured its reality in their context.

“Commit To Faithful Brethren Who Are Able To Teach” (2 Timothy 2:2): The Pastor/Preacher As A Leader In Disciple Making

Many have come to associate discipleship process in the church with Bible studies. As such, preachers pay little attention to disciple-making in their delivery with the assumption that preaching time is not the time to build up disciples. Some preachers are also affected by postmodernism, capitalism, and secularization-individualism and as such want to project themselves only and think about what they can get. They forget that biblical leadership is about building others and developing other people’s faith in Jesus Christ so that they grow to maturity. Preachers who do not see the need to build others and overlook committing the word to them cannot be ideal leaders of the church. Bearing in mind that the key role of the pastor is preaching, this paper emphasizes the role of the preacher in disciple-making. It argues that for effective disciple-making, the preacher must intentionally aim at committing the message to others who have the capacity to teach others too in order to have a multiplicative effect. Using the practical theology approach, the paper demonstrates that when a preacher builds relationships intentionally, lives a life of integrity, and builds up knowledge, the command to commit the word to faithful brethren can be fulfilled.

Making Disciples in Croatia

This project explores how the Evangelical Pentecostal Church (EPC) in Croatia is making disciples of Jesus Christ today. The goal is to demonstrate that despite the worldwide and local deficit in effective disciple making, the EPC has the resources and potential to live in obedience to the Great Commission. This has been shown by looking at the historical definition of a disciple, exegeting Matthew 28:16-20, exploring the proper context of disciple-making, and interviewing several members of the EPC. Upon examination, while there are multiple causes for the lack of disciples in Croatia, the primary problem is that of what will be called naive disobedience. It will be argued that local churches in the EPC have not been taught how to properly make disciples. By presenting the importance of teaching, relationships, and practicing the spiritual disciplines, it will be demonstrated that a solution to the lack of disciple-making exists within the EPC.

Making Disciples in Croatia

This project explores how the Evangelical Pentecostal Church (EPC) in Croatia is making disciples of Jesus Christ today. The goal is to demonstrate that despite the worldwide and local deficit in effective disciple making, the EPC has the resources and potential to live in obedience to the Great Commission. This has been shown by looking at the historical definition of a disciple, exegeting Matthew 28:16-20, exploring the proper context of disciple-making, and interviewing several members of the EPC. Upon examination, while there are multiple causes for the lack of disciples in Croatia, the primary problem is that of what will be called naive disobedience. It will be argued that local churches in the EPC have not been taught how to properly make disciples. By presenting the importance of teaching, relationships and practicing the spiritual disciplines, it will be demonstrated that a solution to the lack of disciple-making exists within the EPC.

Overcoming Digital Distance: The Challenge of Developing Relational Disciples in the Internet Age

Jesus' model for discipleship (John 15:1–16) is grounded within a context of human and divine relationships: abiding in Christ, fellowshipping with other disciples, and ministering to needs of others in the world and in the church. As the Christian community becomes increasingly reliant on digital technology and the Internet to provide an environment and resources for disciple-making we must also be familiar with the available options and understand the benefits and limitations of using these methods as we seek to establish and enhance these essential spiritual relationships.