I recently read a testimony of a person who walked into church for the first time and heard the gospel. She was a young mom struggling with being a single mom with absolutely not time to even come to grips with what giving her life to Jesus meant. Another young mom in the church watched her go to the prayer rail and felt God tug her to connect. They met after church, exchanged contact info and began a friendship neither knew would be so important. Over the next year they shared life together laughing and crying at all that life threw at them. No dramatic events, no cancer, no children being terminally ill, just life, jobs, kids, movies, tea, lunch, and most of all, faith. They read together, prayed together, talked about what they were learning, held each other accountable and worked through successes and failures. Before long, the young single mom began to see how God could use her to influence other people, so she modeled what she had learned. She began to spend time with another young mom, and then another. In the beginning she could not find time to begin to be with God and now she came to the place there was not enough time to accomplish everything for God.
In his book MENTOR LEADER, Tony Dungey says the time mature Christians spend with new christians is FAR more important than the amount of time they spend in personal study for personal improvement. So the question for mature Christians becomes not “Are you going to church?” or “What small group are you in?” or even “What did you read and learn today?” The critical question is, “Are you discipling someone in faith?” WOW, now there is a wake up call for most of us. Wesley leadership is birthing a new standard for discipleship here at Wesley and it is EXCITING. You will be hearing much more about this in the weeks to come.
~Grace & Peace~
Pastor Ernie