Are You Ready for Battle?

Without being too philosophical, or overly optimistic, I think it's healthy too look for the good in 'bad things'. I mean, if we as Christians believe Romans 8:28, that is 'we know that for those who love God all things work together for good', then surely this is something we should become accustomed to doing / considering? COVID 19 being no exception of course... And already I have heard many stories of the unexpected good resulting from the circumstances this virus has forced upon us. Bearing in mind 'good' often comes in 'bad' packages!

About 2 years ago C2C developed a discipleship assessment as a way of putting our Christian faith to the test. That is, to assess one's biblical faithfulness and maturity across 10 foundational discipleship elements. This test results in the creation of a personalized set of discipleship blueprint reports, to be used to help build one's 'spiritual home'. Pretty nifty if you ask me (in my biased opinion). So what has all of this got to do with COVID 19 and 'bad' packages you might wonder? 

Well, I think in some ways, these reports were pretty exposing... That is, the test results were more often bad news. For example, I would estimate that the average score for the approximately 70 assessments conducted to date, is in the region of 50% (on the discipleship maturity index) - bearing in mind that the vast majority of the respondents have been church go'ers for most of their lives. Most concerning however, is that these results are unlikely to improve on the current faith trajectory of most respondents. In fact, it is more likely to get worse. The reason I say this, is that true faith, or to be more accurate, discipleship (that is actually following Jesus) always looks like something. That is, there are certain core elements that comprise being a disciple of Jesus, in the same way that their are certain core elements that comprise being a motorcar. 

For example, as much as I wish or want or pretend that my motorized (80cc) bicycle is a Ford Mustang, it wont be. That's because it simply can't be. It doesn't have the engine, the design, the brakes, the tires, the... on and on we could go. And so the best a brand new motorized bicycle can ever become, over time, is well, an old motorized bicycle. No Mustang here... And to think otherwise would be lunacy! This in my opinion, is sadly an accurate description of the church today. That is, calling ourselves disciples of Christ, but in fact, bearing very little resemblance to what, or how, the bible defines a disciple of Christ. 

And no matter how much I wish or want or pretend that my faith is that of a disciple, in reality, it bears little resemblance to the biblical definition thereof... And that's simply because it doesn't have the necessary 'engineering'. This then is the philosophy (or theology if you like) behind C2C's Discipleship Assessment. That is, good can come from (a) bad (report), but only where it's received with the eyes and ears of faith (Romans 8:28). If you haven't done your C2C assessment yet, or its been over a year since you did (and you'd like an updated version), Click here!

In saying all of this however, sometimes the bad news can be better packaged or positioned, and so over the past 6 months, C2C has developed a series of War Room videos to give more context, visualization and support to the Discipleship Assessment. This includes the development of C2C's latest discipleship tool - the C2C Battle Plan Checkup sheet. Because as we know, the Christian faith (and discipleship for sure), has been designed to be a team exercise, undertaken with the support and accountability of fellow soldiers, on a regularly, intentional and strategic basis. This, or what C2C refers to as Belonging, remains a vital competent or ingredient in the Building process required in our faith journey! 

I'm sure you'll all agree with me, that engineering and building a Mustang, is no accident. Well, in the same way, neither is building and finishing strong in our faith, remembering that as Christians, we are disciples of Christ, called to become men of war... A spiritual war that is! For there is a furious Battle raging all around us, all the time, and to think or believe otherwise, is to mistake a motorized bicycle (faith) for a Mustang (faith)! 

In conclusion, and in responding to the Lord's Call to Conquer, every disciple of Christ must learn how to Belong, to Build and to Battle - which is exactly what C2C's War Room Video series is all about. I hope to see you there my brothers!