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What is church? Why does it exist? This is a crucial question for all believers. The New Testament defines church as a community of believers who have been called out of the world by God and sent into the world as disciples of Christ. The church is God’s people called in Christ
(I Corinthians 1:1, 2 Ephesians 2:19). God gave birth to his people (John 1:12-13). The church began with the emergence of those who confessed Jesus Christ as the Son of God after Jesus’ resurrection.
When we define church as the people of God, we realize that church is not represented by just few pastors but by the laity who must daily live out their faith in the world and engage in spiritual warfare. Thus the laity is the key and the principle body of the church. They belong to the body of Christ and are given specific calling and gifts along with the ministers. The Holy Spirit allocates and mobilizes their gifts for ministry. However unfortunately, the laity remain dormant in many churches. Much of their potential and energy is being wasted. We need to, once again, awaken and mobilize the laity.
Discipleship can be understood as a biblical and foundational strategy that reconstructs the laity’s self-image to correspond to the biblical essence of the church. Discipleship provides the goal and the standard for training the laity who have been called to go out to the world.
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ABOUT DMI
DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING
