(Note: this is the last part of chapter 1 of the Irreligious Followers book I am working on. You can now download all of chapter one its entirety here--though it will still go through several more edits.)
In all cases, though taking many different shapes, the living church-as-a-movement will lead to an outbreak of followers begetting followers. Discipleship movements—disciples reproducing disciples—will become the new norm.
This will be the heart of part two of this book.
For now, I just want to say that we have viewed ‘making disciples’ as far too difficult. It’s not.
Followers of Jesus naturally do several things that lead to more followers of Jesus:
- We tell faith stories because we are living them daily.
- We do radical, compassionate things because we are following the most radical lover of all.
- We listen attentively to His voice and walk, however unsteadily, in His footsteps.
- We invite others to join the most amazing adventure on earth by becoming followers and doing the above three things with us.
In this way, followers of Jesus naturally birthing more followers of Jesus, will create an explosion of Kingdom life more than we have yet seen. God is awakening His church in ways we have not yet conceived. As this continues to take place, we will be amazed at how the power and wonder of His body is expressed and reproduced on earth. I am reminded of Eugene Peterson’s translation of Ephesians 1:15-23:
I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!
… At the center of all this, Christ rules the church... The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.
But First…
Before moving on to the amazing topic of ‘follower movements’ we will look at becoming… freer still.
