There are some interesting discussions going on about discipleship all over the world. Andrew Smith from New Zealand recommends a good book and has some good thoughts:
This is Andrew, chaplain to messy NZ !
‘I’ve just completed a quick read of George Lings’ ‘Encounters on the Edge’, no 46 Messy Church: Ideal for all ages? … A very positive critique, I feel. George draws out the challenge of messy discipleship very fairly and squarely.
‘Do you know of Mike Breen’s LifeShapes, which emerged from his time, quite a number of years ago now, at St Thomas’, Crookes, Sheffield? I find myself constantly going back to the discipleship principles that Mike expounds (spelled out in A Passionate Life, ISBN 978-0-7814-4269-5). Myself, I find the term ‘apprentice(ship)’ more useful and notice with interest that George Lings refers to this on page 33, ‘I myself wonder about the apprentice approach, which is messier (!)…’ Mike has also co-authored a book with Bob Hopkins called, Clusters: creative mid-sized missional communities, ISBN 978-1-932503-67-8, which I have as a PDF copy. Interestingly, chapter 13 of that book, ‘children, clusters and inter-generational community’ espouses much that I’m sure will warm your heart.’
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