Whatsa Disciple?

A Guide to Living as a Disciple of Christ

Session I Movement
I. Gathering a. Pray with meLord, who has called me to live as a reflection of your Son, Jesus Christ, Help me to walk his paths, to express his love, and to carry his passion for justice, for righteousness, for you, throughout my life. Teach me who You are and what I can be in You. In the name of your Son the Christ, Amen. Movement video clip Watch on the Facebook post that linked you here, or at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz6nZFfSwuQ Discussion These are the questions that we discussed in one form or another after watching the video. Take a few minutes to think on them maybe journal about your answers, or even write them in the comments of the Facebook post!
1. Which description of movement rang true for you? What words were the most surprising? 2. As Disciples of Christ, we strive to follow Christ. Cathy Hubbard understood the life of the disciples as a journey of change. What changes have occurred because of the church? What changes is God calling this movement to create? 3. Michael Swartzentruber states a movement as being risky, bold, and creative. How does our church live out this understanding? How could we live it our better? 4. Syncopated with heaven! Christal Williams offers us a vivid metaphor of movement how are you, and the church dancing, walking, moving, in syncopation with God so we might live the prayer, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven?

II. III.

IV.

Identity Statement Below is the identity statement for the Disciples of Christ

denomination. It describes who we are and who we strive to be as followers of Jesus Christ. Read the Identity Statement, and take a few minutes to come up with an identity statement for your own life as a Disciple.
We are Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. As part of the one body of Christ we welcome all to the Lords table as God has welcomed us.

___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ V. Core Values of the Disciples of Christ Reflect on who we are as a denomination. What values are most important to you? What challenges you?
a. Celebrating communion every Sunday as a congregation. We practice unity and inclusion at the Lords Table for the sake of mission and for the sake of the world as the one family of God. b. Believers baptism by immersion that is, a person makes the choice to follow Gods call rather than the choice being made for them as an infant. Baptism is understood to be the basis of membership in the one universal Church and also a mark that every person is called to serve God the idea of the priesthood of all believers. (I Peter 2:5) c. Partnering with other faith communities to work for bringing about wholeness healing and justice in the world. One example is our cooperative work with the United Church of Christ in Global Ministries. d. Studying and reading scripture for ourselves. We critically and thoughtfully study scripture, taking into account the history and background the context in which it was written. e. Staying unified in covenant as a witness to the world so even when we disagree we can still make room, welcoming all to the table as Christ has welcomed us. Our spiritual ancestors in the Stone-Campbell movement were fond of saying, unity, not uniformity.

f.

Answering Gods call for justice particularly in the areas of care for the earth, the challenges for women and children, poverty and hunger and immigration. We seek to do this work in cooperation with other people of faith. Some say we get dirty for Jesus as a way of conveying the hands-on mission orientation of many of our faith communities.