This is Discipleship

Hey!

They say that legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi, used to encourage his team during a rough game by holding up a pigskin and saying, "Gentlemen, this is a football." The whole point was to remind his exasperated players that the game is really quite simple if we can get back to the fundamentals.

Jesus had a "this is a football" statement in Matthew 28:18-20 and it went like this: "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

The way we do that at Compass is really through three simple words: Know, Grow, and Go. These words form the process that we use to accomplish this command of Jesus, the Great Commission. These words also drive the environments we have created at Compass. Here's what it looks like, in its most basic form:

Know: We want people to know the grace of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. Our dream is that hundreds, even thousands of people who right now are far away from God come to faith in him and have their lives totally transformed. The "environment" that best accomplishes that is our Sunday morning services. Each Sunday we craft the service to be something that a non-believer can understand and relate to, and at the same time make it challenging and compelling for the believer to want to grow deeper in their walk with God. Each Sunday is an opportunity for you to worship God alongside someone you've invited to observe what Christians believe and practice.

Grow: God created us for each other - we were not intended to be alone! Yet so many people go through life disconnected. At Compass, we want to grow closer to Jesus as we grow closer to one another. We want to experience God together, encouraging and supporting each other. The environment that best fits this step is Home Groups. That's why this Fall we will be starting many new groups along with the ones we already have. It is our dream to have no less than 80% of our church involved in Home Groups, so that everyone's name and need can be known.

Go: The Christian life is a journey. The late missionary Roland Allen wrote almost 50 years ago that every great city has a great prison and a great railway. The question every church has to answer is which one its going to be: a prison that locks up talented, passionate people and keeps them "contained" in its structure; or a railway that sends them out to the adventure God has for them, holding them loosely as they constantly welcome in and develop new people. The environment that best fits "Go" at Compass Church is all of our various ministries. Have you found where in our church you can use the gifts God's given you to his glory and to strengthen the church?

Now here's the only tricky part: Everything about Know Grow Go must multiply. Worship services have to multiply; Home Groups have to multiply; Ministries areas have to multiply. Otherwise it will all end with us. The biggest challenge we have at Compass is building a culture of multiplication. That means every one of us, from the pastoral staff to the person who thinks that God could never use them, must embrace Jesus' "this is a football" command of making disciples.

So here's the whole point: The question isn't, "Are you knowing, growing and going?" The question is, "Who are you helping to know, grow and go?"

Gentlemen (and ladies!), this is discipleship.

On the journey with you,

Pastor Tim