Why Read this Book?

We can go to church, yet, miss our calling as disciples of Jesus. We can regularly attend worship services and still not fulfil his mission. How can a churchgoer become a missional disciple?

Turning missional is free of charge, yet comes with a cost. We may have to abandon a life that we have become comfortable with. We may have to give up a self that we eagerly protect and call our own. Then we break out from a churchgoer mentality and churchgoer culture and step into a mindset and a lifestyle where our calling permeates everything.

We achieve the transition from churchgoer to missional disciple against mental resistance. It’s a struggle, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. Before we get started, it seems risky, even scary. Yet, when we compare it with what we receive in return, the price we pay appears embarrassingly small.

What will happen to us when we turn missional? We will become agents of God’s love and see his kingdom come to the people he entrusts to us. We will discover God’s Spirit leading and his power working through us. And we will accomplish the good work that he has prepared for us. As a result, people will be blessed, encouraged, healed, delivered, and saved for eternity. We will glorify the Lord.

If this is what you want, but are still hesitating, this book is for you. It will stir you up. It wants to make you desperate enough to announce that enough is enough. It will encourage you to overcome the mental resistance and step out into your calling as a disciple—and turn missional.

A Life’s Commitment

Following Jesus turned out to be more profound and far-reaching than I had ever expected. The challenge is to live a missional life.

As I look back over the last five decades, the time since my first conscious encounter with God, I can see the missional life I’m living now as the outcome of a constantly growing relationship with him. There has been an increasing conviction that I am here to carry out his will, beyond personal interests and preferences. Thus, over the years, Jesus’ commission to make disciples has turned for me into a quest far beyond mere obligation or responsibility. Today, I would call it my life’s commitment. To make disciples for Jesus is my joy and my fulfilment. You could call it an expression of love.

Loving means serving. It’s my response to the One who first loved me, long before I ever cared. And it is fuelled by a constant awareness of God’s grace and my calling to live for him and for the benefit of others.

Admittedly, at no point in my life have I felt extraordinarily successful in terms of impressive numbers, yet I have done whatever the Lord has set before me, and that was far more than I expected.

After all these years, his guidance and the fruit it has produced have become all the more apparent. My family and friends can testify to the significant impact that my wife and I have had on the people who have come into contact with us. Moreover, I can see the transformation of my own life from a focus on objects and programmes to an attitude and lifestyle where people and relationships matter much more. Today, my life is more about loving and caring than about accomplishing specific short-term goals.

In this book, I share insights and experiences that have fuelled my commitment and kept me on track. Not everything you will find here is sunshine and roses. At times, working out God’s mission may be painful and more of a struggle than a joyful experience. Yet, throughout the process, I have sensed a constant undercurrent of deep satisfaction and lasting joy—the joy of the Lord.

What Can you Expect?

The purpose of this book is to sharpen your focus, help you make the necessary adjustments and step out into your calling. To find your fulfilment and your joy in living a missional life. What you can expect from these pages, therefore, is a game-changing provocation, not a handbook. Our approach will be to expose the resistance that typically keeps disciples of Jesus from becoming missional. We will describe the mental obstacles within us, as well as the resistance that comes from a churchgoer culture and the mentality it produces.

While critical in their approach, these articles will not only alarm, but also show a way forward. Throughout the book, the emphasis will be on overcoming the obstacles that exist and entering a missional life and community.

The analysis presented here is probably applicable to many disciples and most institutional churches, and it also reflects my own background. I am, to a great extent, a product of a churchgoer culture.

For more than 40 years, I was deeply involved in the institutional church on all levels; and I loved it. However, I reached the point where I could no longer ignore its fundamental weakness as regards disciple-making and forming genuine communities of disciples. Finally, I had to reconsider my involvement and, I believe, found a way out and forward.

Not everyone is in a situation similar to my own, and not everyone will necessarily agree with what I now see as my journey. After all, the Lord is capable of working in a variety of circumstances and with all kinds of people. Lastly, following him is not so much a question of working within the right system, but a matter of the heart. We do our best according to our understanding, but the Lord makes it work.

The Structure of the Book

This book contains 144 short articles, arranged in three parts and nine chapters. Many of the materials were published earlier on my blog egmontmika.com. Now, the articles have been further edited and complemented for the focus of this book. Here follows a short overview.

Part 1 - The Churchgoer Culture

The first three chapters contain a diagnosis of the churchgoer culture, the churchgoer mentality and the institutional church. How do churches create a churchgoer culture, why does it attract us, and why do we want to stay there?

Part 2 - The Transition

Chapters 4 and 5 offer suggestions as to how we can make the transition from churchgoer to missional disciple. How can we reassess our values and priorities? What are the mental and spiritual challenges that disciplers can expect and how can we overcome?

Part 3 - Missional Discipleship

Chapters 6-9 describe what a disciple of Jesus is, and how we can translate that into everyday life. What are the mental and spiritual qualities that form us into better disciple-makers? What is the discipling process like? How can we develop a way that works for us, and how can we get started? The last chapter offers a glimpse into the natural outcome of disciple-making, a community of disciples.

Conclusion

Finally, I am wrapping up the message of this book in its shortest possible form.

Appendices

There are three appendices.

In Appendix 1, I tell the story of how I was born again and reached the starting point as a disciple of Jesus. It will give you an understanding of my background and the reason why I wrote this book.

Appendix 2 is a collection of Bible passages referred to in the articles.

Appendix 3 contains a list of resources on missional discipleship and disciple community that have been helpful to me and that I recommend.