Jesus calls us to be and to make disciples. What does this
look like in practice? Saint Paul understood it in this way: “imitate me,
as I imitate Christ.” In my life, there are those who invest in me as I
seek to learn from them, and those who I invest in as they seek to learn from
me.
For twenty years I was a member of The
Order of Mission: a religious Order established by the Church of England in
2003 but now both global and embracing members from many denominational backgrounds,
which exists to serve the wider Church by identifying, equipping and supporting
men and women who are called to pioneer the Church’s mission in the context of
rapid and discontinuous change that we are living in today.
Every Order has a Rule of Life: that of TOM has been carried in iconic
form, a series of eight Lifeshapes. These tools for discipleship were
developed by Mike Breen and others within the Order, and address: choosing to
learn from life; living in rhythm with life; balancing the relationships of life;
defining the priorities of life; knowing your role in life; praying as a way of
life; practicing the principles of a vital life; and living a life with a
mission.
Discipleship resources I have written are categorised under
headings including:
discipleship : spiritual
formation : lifeshapes : lifeshapes
circle : lifeshapes
semi-circle : lifeshapes
triangle : lifeshapes
square : lifeshapes
pentagon : lifeshapes
hexagon : lifeshapes
heptagon : lifeshapes octagon
Other posts relating to The Order of Mission can be found in: