The Archbishop of South East Asia, the Most Revd Ng Moon Hing, wrote the foreword to the major new Anglican Communion report, Intentional Discipleship and Disciple-Making - An Anglican Guide for Christian Life and Formation. We reproduce it here.
“Follow me”. These two simple words of invitation and command stand at the head of every relationship with Jesus, the Son of God, whether spoken on a Galilean lake shore, on the streets of Lusaka or in a hospital in Chicago. Like every child responding to the outstretched hand of a parent, Simon and Andrew, Mary and Salome, and millions of Christians through two millennia have accepted that simple invitation in faith and often with minimal understanding of the life-transforming decision they have taken. To follow Jesus of Nazareth into his cosmic reign is simply the most challenging, the most beautiful, the most costly, the most rewarding journey we could ever choose to begin.
Visit any province in the Anglican Communion today and in each place you will be struck by the courage, faithfulness and love with which our Anglican people are following Jesus. As Peter discovered on his journey up to Jerusalem, the road ahead is not always clear, and as James and John discovered there are temptations of power and influence. Some of us have even found ourselves as compromised as Judas, but the overwhelming impression I have of our Communion is that of a beautifully diverse family of women, men and children who are deeply in love with Jesus and seeking daily to follow in his ways.
Whether we speak in terms of discipleship or apostleship, a dynamic discussed in this book, our following Jesus requires much more than the latest course or introduction to Christian living. Courses have their place, and many excellent resources are mentioned in the pages [of the book], but our apostleship, our discipleship, demands much more – in fact it demands everything.
As you will know, the three priorities chosen by Archbishop Justin Welby for his tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury are the renewal of prayer and religious life, evangelism and reconciliation. I believe that these three priorities help us to unpack the invitation to discipleship. Firstly, it is an invitation to an increasingly intimate relationship with the Triune God whom we know in Jesus. This relationship which is both individual and communal is nurtured through prayer and the deepening of spiritual life.
As together we go on following the ways of Jesus we discover, with Paul, that our life becomes less and less our own and increasingly “hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). In stark contrast to the individualism that plagues much of our contemporary society we find ourselves becoming part of something (someone) much greater, much more beautiful and fulfilling. But this experience of true humanity “in God” is not something to hold to ourselves. It is for all humanity, indeed for all creation (Rom 8.19).
The invitation to follow is, in the Gospels, immediately followed by a promise which is often misunderstood as a command or authorisation – “I will make you fishers of [people]”. Evangelism is not a task given to the Church, but a promise. Jesus promises that as we follow him we will become fishers of men, women and children. Our lives, reflecting the image of God, will attract and change others.
To hold the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to ourselves is a supreme act of selfishness. As we follow and are shaped by the life of Jesus that selfish possessiveness of our relationship with him will be dissipated and we will naturally begin to include others in that love-relationship. Exclusivity has no place in the family of God, all God-centred relationships are inclusive and our evangelism has nothing to do with numbers and power but everything to do with love, generosity, inclusion and the all-encompassing life and love of God.
As our daily following of Jesus, our apostolic vocation, draws us deeper into the Body of Christ, the life of the Triune God, reconciliation becomes a pressing priority. Humanity shares the brokenness and pain of our world and this needs to be brought to God, to be offered at the cross – to find reconciliation, wholeness and life in the shattered life of God. As Paul reminds us the heart of our discipleship is not only to “be reconciled” ourselves with God but also to exercise a “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5.11-21). That ministry is to be exercised within the Church, in the wider community and in our relationship with the whole created order. In many ways this life of reconciliation is the most public aspect of our Christian discipleship and at the same time deeply enmeshed with our witness, or evangelism.
As a Communion we are profoundly in need of reconciliation and we find ourselves in a world equally riven by fear, division and brokenness. It is for this reason that, as never before, we need to accept Jesus’ invitation to an apostleship, a discipleship, of the whole of our lives. A narrow, pietistic, attachment to Jesus, whether individualistic or ecclesial was never what God intended and will not serve us well today.
Following Jesus will and must change every aspect of our being. At the core will be our reconciliation with God but this can never be complete until we are at peace with ourselves, in vital communion with the whole Body of Christ, in a renewed relationship with the whole human family and discovering a new harmony with creation as a whole. Wrestling with environmental issues, with peace-building and peace-keeping, with the complexities of human relationships, with truth, justice and loving, and with the care of our family and ourselves – these are all key concerns for those who accept the invitation of Jesus to “follow”.
I welcome this careful study of the way discipleship has been understood and practiced in the Christian church, and not least in the Anglican Communion, and I commend it to you as an inspiration and guide for a deepening of our apostolic vocation as we, members of the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church, joyfully accept the invitation to follow Jesus and the promise that we will become “fishers” of the many more to whom Jesus extends his same gracious invitation today.
The report, Intentional Discipleship and Disciple-Making - An Anglican Guide for Christian Life and Formation, can be purchased from the Anglican Communion Shop (available shortly), priced £6.50 GBP plus postage and packing; or downloaded as a PDF (148 pages) from the ACC-16 webpage.