Beloved<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Kingfisher leadership we are experiencing that God is teaching us from the story of the first Christians in Acts. Why were they such effective disciplemakers? What were their strategies? What does a disciplemaking group look like? What can we learn?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of their key principles was that a disciplemaking community share their lives with one another \u2013 the fact that they even shared possessions is a sacrament of believers living in harmony. This \u201cwonderful harmony\u201d (Acts 2:44) consisted of several building blocks \u2013 common meals (TABLE) being one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey committed themselves to\u2026..the common meal (Acts 2:42)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They followed a daily discipline of \u2026 meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, (Acts 2:46)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Making disciples is not a programme \u2013 something you sometimes do and sometimes you don\u2019t do it. It\u2019s a lifestyle of loving people \u2013 and eating with them \u2013 still is one of the most biblical ways of loving them. In true disciplemaking style we are building relationships, listening to people\u2019s stories, sharing ourselves with them by \u2013 EATING with them. People are their stories \u2013 storytelling and listening to stories. Humans live for stories \u2013 not for sermons and lectures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his book \u201cFrom Tablet to Table\u201d Leonard Sweet says you can explain the whole Old Testament and New Testament in three sentences each : The Old Testament: \u201c\u2018They tried to kill us. We survived. Let\u2019s eat!\u201d The New Testament : \u2018I love you! I forgive you! Let\u2019s eat!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the church Jesus had very bad table manners – His theology of the TABLE – was to eat with so-called bad people: in fact He was crucified for His \u201cbad\u201d eating habits : He was \u201ca glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners\u201d (Matthew 11:19). He ate on fast days. He ate with dirty hands. He ate with tax collectors. He sipped water at a well out of the bucket of a woman of highly questionable reputation. His \u201cparty\u201d attitude annoyed the church. \u201cThis man welcomes sinners and eats with them\u201d (Luke 15:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you give a lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbours. . . . But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind (Luke).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s clear \u2013 in Jesus\u2019s disciplemaking strategy Jesus did not try to convince people with knowledge \u2013 He rather invited them to a table. Setting the example that the way to get to people\u2019s hearts is not primarily through arguments and convincing programmes \u2013 but through relationships, love and hospitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have to rethink our strategies of just giving food to the poor and the outcasts \u2013 is it possible that we can rather use the same food \u2013 but set them a table and invite them to a communal meal \u2013 loving them, sharing ourselves and not only our resources to feel good ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Disciplemaker left us a most powerful strategy \u2013 the TABLE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I invite you \u2013 spoil yourself by spending 8 minutes on this : <\/p>\n\n\n\n