"A disciple is a person who lives in daily obedience to the will and purpose of God in their lives,
committed to bearing fruit for the kingdom."
This is the definition we use in my congregation, the Church of God of Landisville, for a disciple of Jesus Christ. These days we are far more concerned about people being maturing disciples than merely church members. We believe that part of the problem that Modernity created for the church is the idea that we are an organization with members (and membership has its privileges). In that sense, the emphasis for too many
Christians and the churches they populated was divorce their thinking for the missional or sending aspect of the Church. People said "come join our club" (and take responsibility for the club's survival) instead of going as faithful disciples out into the world, preaching the gospel and making disciples.
It also often meant that the work of the church was done at the church. As a result, few people thought about their vocations in the workplace as an expression of their discipleship with Jesus Christ. This compartmentalizing of their lives meant that they practiced discipleship by doing church work in their non-work time instead of living as disciples 24/7.
In a world where God is out of sight and out of mind because many people never go near a church, the time has come to be disciples-living in daily obedience to the will and purposes of God, committed to bearing fruit for the kingdom.
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