At my churches we are working on a new concept for discipling people to maturity in Christ. It is called the Foundry, borrowing an image from Methodist history and a metaphor from the work of a foundry. John Wesley based his London ministry in an abandoned foundry. A foundry melts metals down to liquid form, pours them into molds with the desired shape, and then removes impurities and flaws.
The Foundry at Burnt Church has in mind the process of shaping and molding God’s people into the image and likeness of Christ, with the goal to bring us “to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
Shaping experiences will do more than just pass along information. A three-part foundry-inspired process will be used. First, we will heat things up and melt preconceptions and misinformation that have solidified in our lives and hindered growth. Then we will look to Scripture, particularly what Jesus said and did, to find the truth, the mold, if you will, into which to pour our lives. Then we will chip away things that don’t look like the desired result with real experiences that put our faith to work. The thing about genuine old-time Methodist discipleship is that Scriptural and practical go together.
Shaping experiences will also have varied formats for optimal learning and transformation. Brief lecture, small-group conversation, multi-media, outside reading, and a supporting blogspot with links to resources like articles, videos, and commentary.
The quarterly cycle will have us studying and applying for ten weeks. Then we’ll break one week to have a “love feast” (fellowship meal with no agenda), one week to have a night of working on a mission project of some kind beyond helping ourselves, and one week to do all the church’s business (committees, church council, things like that).
I am convinced that true discipleship does not happen when people come on Sunday for an up-beat “worship service.” Jesus’ application of discipleship required commitment and worked for life-change. If we don’t have those components we are not making disciples, we are entertaining consumers.
Our goal is to apply Wesley’s general rules of discipleship, which call on us to do no harm, do good, and attend to the ordinances of God. It is to allow ourselves to be truly impacted and changed by God’s grace, to bring us to the place of maturity Paul describes in Ephesians chapter 4. The video below helps explain the balanced approach to spiritual formation we hope to achieve with the Foundry.
The Foundry at Burnt Church has in mind the process of shaping and molding God’s people into the image and likeness of Christ, with the goal to bring us “to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
Shaping experiences will do more than just pass along information. A three-part foundry-inspired process will be used. First, we will heat things up and melt preconceptions and misinformation that have solidified in our lives and hindered growth. Then we will look to Scripture, particularly what Jesus said and did, to find the truth, the mold, if you will, into which to pour our lives. Then we will chip away things that don’t look like the desired result with real experiences that put our faith to work. The thing about genuine old-time Methodist discipleship is that Scriptural and practical go together.
Shaping experiences will also have varied formats for optimal learning and transformation. Brief lecture, small-group conversation, multi-media, outside reading, and a supporting blogspot with links to resources like articles, videos, and commentary.
The quarterly cycle will have us studying and applying for ten weeks. Then we’ll break one week to have a “love feast” (fellowship meal with no agenda), one week to have a night of working on a mission project of some kind beyond helping ourselves, and one week to do all the church’s business (committees, church council, things like that).
I am convinced that true discipleship does not happen when people come on Sunday for an up-beat “worship service.” Jesus’ application of discipleship required commitment and worked for life-change. If we don’t have those components we are not making disciples, we are entertaining consumers.
Our goal is to apply Wesley’s general rules of discipleship, which call on us to do no harm, do good, and attend to the ordinances of God. It is to allow ourselves to be truly impacted and changed by God’s grace, to bring us to the place of maturity Paul describes in Ephesians chapter 4. The video below helps explain the balanced approach to spiritual formation we hope to achieve with the Foundry.
No comments:
Post a Comment