Clergy 'are failing on discipleship'

The Church of England Newspaper ^ | 8/05/2005 | unknown

[sionnsar]

CLERGY are failing to train their congregations in discipleship, leaving them lacking the training and confidence necessary to make a difference in society, according to a leading Christian commentator. Mark Greene, Director of the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC), said that churches are adopting a 'convert and retain' policy rather than encouraging people to share the Gospel. He described this as “warehousing people for heaven”.

One reason that many Christians struggle with talking about their faith is that they don't know how to live the message of the Gospel, research conducted by LICC found. Addressing the Keswick Convention, Mr Greene said that church leaders were spending least time on discipleship, which Jesus spent most time doing. “The Gospel of Jesus is not just a way in, it is a way on. The goal of the church is not to make converts but to make disciples. It is extremely rare to find a pastor who regularly meets with a group of people to disciple them for life in today's world.”

Clergy themselves were not being trained in disciple-making in their time at theological college or afterwards. He pointed to research that found that only 36 churches out of 1,000 had put on a course in the last five years to teach people how to evangelise, adding that a new church culture of whole-life Christianity needs to be created. Christians tend to feel they are a tiny minority and unable to make a difference, but Mr Greene argued that, with 4.5 million people going to church once a month or more, there were enough to reach the nation. “We need church communities where people are briefed, trained, supported and resourced for whole-life missionary engagement in the world.