Before Jesus ascended, he left his disciples (and subsequent generations of Christians) clear final instructions, which we call the Great Commission: "go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20) Author and philosopher Dallas Willard says that the church has largely been successful at making converts of all nations, but less so at making disciples - mature apprentices of Christ who have been taught to obey all that Jesus commanded. Willard calls this "the Great Omission" of the church - a clever turn of phrase :) It's a difficult challenge though, isn't it? It's one thing to tell people what Jesus commands us to do, but helping all of us to actually get there is more complicated!

One way to tackle the challenge is by asking the question, "what is our intentional process for helping believers to become mature disciples of Jesus?" and then designing what many contemporary local churches are calling "a discipleship pathway" - a roadmap for people wanting to grow as followers of Jesus. We'd like to design a discipleship pathway at WMC (and at the same time do some work promoting and resourcing our small groups which are a critical component in the process). If this fires your imagination and you'd like to be involved in this short-term creative project, I'd love to hear from you!