Discipleship (A Series of Retreat Conferences)
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Date
2006-01-31
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
The term disciple-mathetai is rather broad. It includes 'apostles,' the twelve,'
[c.f. Mt 10:1; 11:1; 13:10, 14:15.22.29, Lk 6:40, 19:161, 'The multitude' or 'the crowd'
that trails Jesus, Lk 6:13.17, 19:37 etc. Discipleship is an offer and invitation which
Jesus makes to any persons and everyone he chooses; apostles Mk1:16-20 or otherwise
Lk 9; 23 and the responses by those called/chosen/invited. Discipleship is an act of God,
miracle by divine grace; c.f. Gen 18:14, Zech 8:5-8. A person receives a call to
discipleship only in obedience and surrender c.f. Mk 1:16-20, 2:14-17, 3:23-29 Acts
9:1-22.
Discipleship and following of God involves whole nation- Israel is called and
chosen, groups-apostles, special groups-singers of temple liturgy c.f. IChron. 25:8,
families-Simon Peter and his brother James, individuals- Judas Iscariot. Part of this
discipleship is follow me, walk after me. This goes on to explain relationship between
realities of higher and lower orders, teacher-pupil expressing deference and service of
the taught to the teacher or leader-follower indicating loyalty and service of the latter to
the former, Jesus-disciple relationship. The new discipleship demands understanding
like which Jesus himself shows to his disciples. It is inspired by Jesus and demanded by
him. This new discipleship does not fit with the usual rabbinic phenomena prevalent
then. Let us have a glimpse of how it is in comparison with the new discipleship that
Jesus brings: Jesus calls each person to discipleship. In his time he called groups, individuals- the rich
young ruler. And he calls you and me today. The disciple is a person called by God-
Jesus to be with him and to be sent our [vertical and horizontal dimensions]. Jesus does
not have a specific age which he prefers. Each age is preferable for discipleship. He
calls young people as well as older people. He calls different people to different
ministries in the church and the world. Jesus calls some people to a very specific
ministry in the church and others to very specific professions/ ministries in the secular
world.
This retreat wants to speak to hearts about discipleship both for lay young
people and candidates for religious life and ministry. Retreats are special moments to
reach out to people. They can be powerful, life changing events for young people. They have proved to be effective in evangelizing and community building. A retreat provides
an environment go grapple with faith issues and learning ways to pray and live. People
have opportunities to share their faith stories and build relationship of trust. A retreat
can awaken in young people the sense that they have a central place in the church. It
assists the young people to discover that the church needs their gifts ad talents and calls
them to fuller participation.
Again a retreat is a chance for everyone to have lots of fun- a chance to help the
young people realize that they do not need computer games, televisions or recreational
drugs to have fun. Fun is encouraged in retreats whichever topic may be. The first three
conferences are directed to a group of lay young people and how they respond to the
discipleship of Jesus amidst all their giftedness and temptations. And the second series
of retreat conferences are directed to a group of candidates for religious life. The young
people who join religious life think that discipleship waits till they make their final
profession and get ordained to the ministry. The two conferences want to show them
that discipleship begins immediately a person is called by Jesus. Most young people
hold to the fact that discipleship is a reserve for the older people. We want to tell them
that it is not necessarily so and that young people are disciples of Jesus. It is time after
high school, college, or university, early in employment, jobless etc. They are still
grappling with proper self-identity, testing their values, developing character, deciding
who they are. This retreat will try to translate the message of Christ into action for
everyday living. We need also to encourage them to take what they have learned and
live it.
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Keywords
Disciples, Youth, The call, Jesus