The Bishop of Rupert’s Land in the Anglican Church of Canada, the Rt Revd Dr Donald Philips, explains the thinking behind his diocese’s focus on discipleship, saying that “Discipleship is not a programme. It is not something with a five-year plan and a myriad of different processes. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in and through the members of the Church.”

I have been a diocesan bishop for 16 years but it was after about five to six years of being in episcopal ministry, and having heard lots of voices about the death of Christendom, that it became evident to me that many people in our pews were not equipped to talk intelligently about the Christian faith to people who don’t know the Christian story. This highlighted the need to look at ways to express the Gospel in 21st century post-modern western cultural terms, in a way that was faithful to the traditional orthodox faith. We had not done a good job equipping our people with that vocabulary – helping people to get beyond “insider” language.

We had previously gone through several of the usual kinds of strategic planning efforts in our diocese, attempting to get the majority of the parishes in the diocese to engage in particular programmes or strategic initiatives. We formed identity statements and vision statements. Although all these things were helpful as building blocks, they didn’t really excite the people. There was always that sense that, “this is what the diocese is asking us to do”, on top of whatever else they were doing locally in their parish.

We then engaged in a feasibility study for a capital financial campaign to raise funds for mission and ministry. It was at this time that we got some tough feedback. It was very clear that a significant number of people in the diocese, lay and clergy, did not see the kind of dynamic and strategic leadership from the diocesan level that they were looking for. There was a lot of anxiety and fear about the declining church, and they didn’t see the leadership doing very much about that. That was a wake-up call. It was time to step out.

These three realities above fuelled the focus on discipleship in our diocese. It was a very intentional choice to focus on discipleship.

We are a very diverse diocese, with the multiplicity that you will experience around Communion – many different cultures, different approaches, different theologies, conservative Christians, liberal Christians, Anglo-Catholic and evangelical parishes and everything in between.

There was a pressing need to rally and unify Christians in this diverse diocese around a singular focus. The word disciple or discipling or discipleship is context-free in the sense that you can take that principle and apply it in different contexts; it is not tied to any particular way of being church.

I knew in my heart that one of the things a whole lot of our people in the pews needed to do was to discover that they were disciples. Hence the choice of the phrase Discover Disciple – discover my own discipleship, help someone discover their own discipleship, or both.

So these three descriptors were chosen carefully – Discover Disciples, Develop Disciples and Deploy Disciples.

What I hoped it would do is give the local churches a framework in which they could then run with their own true context – high church, low church, evangelical, those interested in social justice, those interested in interfaith work, etc – taking discipleship and applying it in any of those contexts. It would give the local churches some focus.

But what I hope for, especially, is that it will also then give the Diocese as a whole an overarching frame in which to work.

Discipleship is not a programme. It is not something with a five-year plan and a myriad of different processes. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in and through the members of the Church. It is pointless to set goals like – “In two years we will have 10 parishes doing x.” Those kind of systematic and mechanical models are unhelpful.

And I knew that it would catch on gradually. Growth will be manifest as a little bit here and a little bit there. For some parishes the focus on discipleship has come at just the right time – others will need to find their own pace.

There is now a growing sense among the people in the Church, the gathered community in our diocese, that we are here for a purpose in God’s world, collectively and individually. Discipleship forms the foundation around which we explore both our sense of stewardship in God’s world, and our call to be part of God’s mission in the world.

Questions on the Way!

Discipleship?

• People growing in their sense of being loved by, and loving God as encountered in the Person of Jesus Christ; and responding by offering themselves to God and God’s world through coming to know Jesus more deeply, and ordering their lives around this relationship, in community with all of Jesus’ disciples.

Discovery (of Discipleship)

• In what ways are members of your congregation discovering, or discovering more deeply the call of discipleship in their lives?
  
  
• In what ways are members of your congregation (individually and collectively) helping others to discover and respond to Jesus’ call of discipleship in their lives?

Development (of Discipleship)

• In what ways are members of your congregation developing their experience and expression of discipleship? (and helping others to do the same?)

Deployment (of Discipleship)

• In what ways are members of your congregation (individually and collectively) intentionally participating in God’s mission in the world as disciples of Jesus Christ?

Diocese of Rupert’s Land