Discipleship and Missions

So, I'm in America, and I've been here for about a month now. That is hard to believe. It's actually to the point that I'm preparing to say goodbye again. This morning was my second to last Sunday at FBC. I almost cried. Next week, I can almost guarantee that I will. It's much harder to leave this time and I'm already feeling it.

With America, comes driving. I get to drive! And with driving, comes thinking! Driving has always been where I've done a lot of thinking. Sometimes even talking out loud to the radio, or just the empty car. Something about driving clarifies things for me. Much the way running and biking used to. I hate going to a gym though because if you talk to yourself there, people think you're crazy!

Anyways... in the past year I've just been kind of exploring what awaits in seminary for me. What course-work do I want to take? Should I go for ordination? Where is seminary going to lead me? Is it worth the money to go do this if I honestly think I might live in India for an extended period of time?... etc...

Brought me to some concentrations you can do: Missions and Discipleship. There are some amazing schools that don't offer anything specific and broad about missions. This kind of bummed me out. There are some schools that have awesome discipleship programs.

And all this led me to the fact that discipleship and missions are the same thing. Granted, one implies finding non-believers with whom to disciple, and the other implies discipling someone already saved, but really, they are the same thing. In order to be effective in any setting, you are creating disciples. I feel that many people forget this. They forget the connection... the Great Commission said "Go and make DISCIPLES of all nations", not "go SAVE all nations." God wants disciples all over the world. He wants people who are yearning for a relationship with Him and learning and growing closer to Him. Not just people that are baptized and then forget that there's more to being a follower of Christ.

There's so much more to this in my head, but that's the jist. I just feel that discipleship is lost in a lot of ways in America due to the disconnection everyone has, thus the lack of deep relationships. We were created for community and unfortunately, don't live in it often enough. In community with our neighborhood we make relationships that lead to discipling someone. Without community, we disciple ourself and that doesn't grow the Kingdom.

I've also learned since being at home, that when you serve in another country, you are also serving at home. When you come home, you are educating people all the time about another culture. Always a teacher, I guess.

But I'm having fun, and loving reconnecting with friends and family, and getting my fill of unhealthy American food.

I'm really going to have a hard time leaving again. But, it's all for His glory, and thus, it will be okay.