November 2020 Conversation
Welcome
November is here and with it a fresh set of materials for the Lausanne Europe Impact Groups.
What does it mean to follow Jesus in 21st Century Europe? This question lies behind all the material in this month’s Conversation for the focus of all the articles is discipleship.
We will look at it from three different perspectives. Mark Greene asks if we are really following Jesus’ strategy of equipping his disciples to minister in their everyday contexts. Israel Olofinjana suggests some things we might learn about discipleship from the experience of suffering and loss of Majority World Christians. And Jay Eastman challenges us to make an impact in our communities through making disciples. All the materials can be found below. Please read these before you come together as an Impact Group.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us at conversation@lausanneeurope.org
And if you are just starting your Impact Group, or are confused about what they are about, then check out the introduction pages to the Conversation and Impact Groups to find out more.
What does it mean to follow Jesus in 21st Century Europe? This question lies behind all the material in this month’s Conversation for the focus of all the articles is discipleship.
We will look at it from three different perspectives. Mark Greene asks if we are really following Jesus’ strategy of equipping his disciples to minister in their everyday contexts. Israel Olofinjana suggests some things we might learn about discipleship from the experience of suffering and loss of Majority World Christians. And Jay Eastman challenges us to make an impact in our communities through making disciples. All the materials can be found below. Please read these before you come together as an Impact Group.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us at conversation@lausanneeurope.org
And if you are just starting your Impact Group, or are confused about what they are about, then check out the introduction pages to the Conversation and Impact Groups to find out more.
Download PDF Version
Reaching Europe – Jesus’ Strategy for Today?
By making converts and not disciples we are not equipping or empowering 98% of God’s people for mission in 95% of their waking lives. We need to bridge the sacred-secular divide to enable whole-life discipleship
READ THE ARTICLE HERE
Discipleship in a Context of Suffering and Loss
There is much that we can learn as Europeans from Majority World Christians when it comes to discipleship. Their experience of suffering and loss has developed a resilient theology that is a challenge and rebuke to many patterns of Christian discipleship in Europe.
READ THE ARTICLE HERE
Transforming Communities: Making an Impact through Making Disciples
This month in the discipleship track, we look at how knowing and growing in Christ not only transforms us and our churches and organisations, but our surrounding communities as well.
READ THE ARTICLE HERE
1. Introductions and Prayer
Give time for everyone to introduce themselves if this is your first Impact Group. Ask someone to pray that God would speak to us as we meet together.
2. Reaching Europe - Jesus' Strategy for Today?
- Why do you think Jesus put so much emphasis on nurturing rich, personal, developmental relationships with a small number of people? Why have so many churches not followed his lead?
- Do you think whole-life disciple-making is the key to long-term sustainable mission in your context? Why or why not? Can you give any examples from churches or theological colleges that emphasise this?
- The quote by Dorothy Sayers suggests that the church in the UK at the time was offering a one-tenth Gospel. What is the scope of the Gospel that is offered to non-believers in your context?
3. Discipleship in a Context of Suffering and Loss
- If it is the case that “Covid-19 has exposed that life is indeed temporal and that suffering and pain are real”, what kind of discipleship is required for this sort of context?
- What did you learn from the article about the Theology of Suffering of Majority World Christians? And how might your church or organisation more actively engage and invite voices from the Majority World?
- What changes might we need to make to our discipleship programmes or paradigms if we take more seriously the call to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him?
4. Transforming Communities: Making an Impact through Making Disciples
Jay Eastman’s article is very much a call to action so the questions below invite an active response. How you use these questions will depend on your group. You may be able to discuss them together or you may choose to discuss the article more generally and challenge everyone to reflect on these questions for themselves, or for their church or organization, after the Impact Group session.
- Where have you seen Christ’s redeeming power at work in your life in the last month or two? How could this be good news for someone else?
- How can you, your church, or your organisation be light to your community? What next step can you take to express God’s love in action by serving and sharing life and faith?
- What would your community look like if the vision in this article became reality? What would change? What would the impact be?
5. Prayer
Always make sure that you leave enough time to pray together every time you meet. Here are the prayer points for this month’s Conversation:
- Pray that we may be empowered to respond wholeheartedly to the call of Jesus - to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to follow Him in every part of our lives (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23).
- Pray that the Holy Spirit would give each of us a new urgency and a new commitment to understand discipleship through the lens of Jesus' humility, suffering and loss. Pray too for wisdom to find creative ways to do discipleship in these Covid times.
- Pray that we might understand that discipleship goes beyond "soul winning" and ask God for clarity on what He is already doing in our community, including our daily work surroundings.
- Pray that we may seek to partner with the Holy Spirit as we become the hands, feet, and mouth of Jesus to those around us every day of the week.
6. Make Your Contribution to the Conversation
We really want to hear back from your Impact Group after each session. Please find a few minutes to summarise what you hear from God, the highlights of the discussion, and any questions that were raised, in the comments box immediately below.