185. From Sunday Services to Real Transformation, with E.K. Strawser, author of Centering Discipleship

Spiritual Life and Leadership

E.K. Strawser is a co-vocational pastor of Ma Ke Alo o in Honolulu and the author of Centering Discipleship: A Pathway for Multiplying Spectators into Mature Disciples.
We've got a lot of discipleship programs in our churches. But how effective are they? Are they leading to real transformation in people's lives? In this episode, E.K. Strawser discuss how churches can cultivate real transformation in their people's lives.
THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

• E.K. Strawser is a co-vocational pastor of Ma Ke Alo o in Honolulu and the author of Centering Discipleship: A Pathway for Multiplying Spectators into Mature Disciples.
• Discipleship, according to E.K. Strawser, is imitating Jesus so that our spiritual confidence increases and our social competence as Christians increases.
• Discipleship without mission is discipleship without Christ.
• Discipleship has to be local.
• When discipleship is peripheral in a church, three things tend to be true:
  • Resources and energy are poured primarily into a weekly teaching time.
  • People are being moved to a weekly worship service.
  • Leadership has a vision for the church (as opposed to a vision for the community).
• But when discipleship is central in a church, these three things tend to be true:
  • Resources and energy are poured into imitation, providing tools and pathways to help people enter a life of discipleship.
  • People are being moved to the community around them.
  • Leadership has a vision for renewal in their local community.
• E.K. Strawser describes what centered discipleship looks like in her church.
• In looking for leaders in E.K. Strawser’s church, they look for “a discipled disciple-maker who has a heart for the community around them and have identified a space of mission and who are inviting others to do this with them.”
• Mission-oriented discipleship requires lots of experimentation.
• E.K. Strawser says that every discipleship pathway ought to look different in every community and neighborhood, but all of them should reflect the likeness of Christ.
• Churches need to look for certain developing marks of maturity in the people engaged in their discipleship pathways in order to know that the pathway they have chosen is actually working.
• Four marks of spiritual maturity:
  • Character – Are people actually becoming more like Jesus?
  • Christlike theology – Are we actually borrowing from Jesus how to think about God and the world?
  • Christlike wisdom – Are we becoming people who can navigate the complexities of life well together?
  • Being sent – We understand that we are a people sent by God into the world.
• As leaders who long to lead people into deep discipleship, our first job is to love the people God has entrusted to us.

RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:

• E.K. Strawser:
  • Website – www.centeringdiscipleship.com
• V3 Movement
• Books mentioned:
  • Centering Discipleship, by E.K. Strawser
• Church Leadership Institute

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