Abstract
Discipling youth may be one of the ‘missing links’ in developing missional thinking and missional local churches. This is even more so where churches suffer from a very obvious estrangement among generations. This article draws on the most recent literature on developing missional churches. The departure point is the argument of a the New Testament scholar, who refers to the description of Matthew 28:16–20 as the manifesto of the church – a manifesto that lies on the same level of value as the Shema of Israel: ‘Listen, o Israel, the Lord our God is the only One.‘ This manifesto wants to tell us how new and differently we have to think on how people come into the body and how people will stay in the body. Picking up on three of my theological premises this article will work with a research question: What kind of church will make disciples in youth ministry? It will also work towards theological suggestions on how to make disciples in youth ministry in such a way that young disciples will make disciples.
Highlights
I consider it a special honour to participate in the Festschrift for Christo van der Merwe
Personal investment is costly and time-intensive, we have put programs in place’ 3. ‘we have reduced the Christian life to the eternal benefits we get from Jesus, rather than living as students of Jesus’ 4. ‘we have made discipleship for super-Christians, not for ordinary believers’; 5. ‘leaders have been unwilling to call people to discipleship’ 6. ‘we have an inadequate view of the church as a discipleship community
In this radically new dispensation one finds in Matthew an imperfect (‘onvolledig’) church that cannot, like the 12 of old, claim a certain humanly roundedness – even the twelve has change to the eleven after Jude, Iscariot left – the broken group, the ‘sinners church’. It is this broken church that receives the great commission – not a perfect church, but an imperfect one, the elevenish (Bruner 1990:1090) church. In this regard it is important to consider the important role that Matthew 5:3 plays in the understanding of this Gospel: ‘Blessed are those who know how dependent they are upon God’ – the so-called ‘poor in spirit’ (NIV) – ‘Theirs is the kingdom of heaven’
Summary
Affiliation: 1Department of Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Malan Nel is an Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Practical Theology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. How to cite this article: Nel, M., 2015, ‘Imaginemaking disciples in youth ministry ... Discipling youth may be one of the ‘missing links’ in developing missional thinking and missional local churches. This is even more so where churches suffer from a very obvious estrangement among generations. Picking up on three of my theological premises this article will work with a research question: What kind of church will make disciples in youth ministry? It will work towards theological suggestions on how to make disciples in youth ministry in such a way that young disciples will make disciples Picking up on three of my theological premises this article will work with a research question: What kind of church will make disciples in youth ministry? It will work towards theological suggestions on how to make disciples in youth ministry in such a way that young disciples will make disciples
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