Whole Life Discipleship
At Countess Free Church we encourage every member to pay attention to their own walk with Jesus, their care for each other, and their witness in mission. We call this ‘UP’, ‘IN’ and ‘OUT, and the 3 aspects of missional living.
UP
Personal discipleship – nurturing their own rhythms, diet & practices.
Every member active in being discipled and discipling others
IN
Caring for each other at multiple levels.
- We encourage everyone to be in some kind of prayer partnership or triplet.
- We encourage everyone to participate corporately: Sunday gatherings at a meaningful frequency, church meetings and whole church prayer gatherings.
- We also encourage participation in groups or Mission Activity Teams of various kinds.
OUT
Intentionally invest time and energy in the 3 Aspects of Missional Life described below.
1) Occupation: Family / Volunteering / Study / Workplace / Places of Ministry
Seeking to bring your own Kingdom mindset to influence and transform the area(s) where you already spend a significant part of your life. This is about living out your own personal calling – putting it into practice through what you do and how you pray.
This aspect includes time made for volunteering, and therefore includes involvement in Mission Activity Teams.
It includes the time spent in significant ministry areas (e.g. in chaplaincy settings) and seasons of life where significant time is invested in family and relationships. Other examples could be investment in others through adoption or fostering and so on.
2) Home & Play → Micro-Initiatives
Seeking to be an active witness amongst neighbours, friends or people you naturally come alongside.
Being open and praying into what initiative to take (asking Jesus ‘what is the next step …?’). Micro-initiatives might be done as an individual, but more likely involving other family members and/or one or two other believers. Overlap with aspect 1 is also possible (e.g. a micro-initiative in the workplace).
3) Corporate Church: To Bless & Resource the Whole Body
Investing and serving in ‘corporate church’: serving in the ‘Resourcing Hub’ so that it both blesses the whole body, and helps resource the whole body so that every member can flourish in whole life discipleship.
The ‘Resourcing Hub’ includes our Sunday Gatherings (as well as other core functions). The Sunday Gatherings represent both a coming together and an equipping for our whole life discipleship ‘out there’ in the periphery.