Discipleship: Fan into a Flame, don’t Blow it out

Blog by Margaret Uche

We just had a workshop at our intercommunity novitiate on the theology of mission with Tony Gittins, CSSp.

We spent two days learning about discipleship. We were asked the question of the meaning of discipleship. I learned that discipleship is God’s mission shared with Jesus Christ as His follower. In order to be a disciple I have to first encounter or be called by God. And I can not love until that encounter and then I have to answer the call. The aim, he said, is to become a teacher for others.

I was reminded that I must listen and learn God’s words. I must be willing to be out of place, to be different, to be out of my comfort-zone, to become a stranger because Jesus was treated the same way. There is a disturbing quality about the urgency of Jesus call to be His disciple, it shakes the foundation, that one called who wants a quiet life is bound to resist. I learned mission has me not the other way around. I will find myself where I will not want to go, but it is not my control, it blows me where it will.

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ means encountering others. It is through the Power of the Holy Spirit that I can go out there encounter others not by coercion or force but my own willingness to be servant to others and thereby announce the Good News of Jesus Christ to the community.

I was reminded of my ministry experience at a school where I encounter adolescent youths of different ages

and backgrounds. It has been such a rewarding experience to be of service to them during my weekly

ministry. I have been encouraged to discover the qualities and witness to the gifts each brings. I feel that the students appreciate my presence and the help I provide. Just being there for them and doing whatever I can to help them has been a joy for me.

In second Timothy (2 Tim 1:6), we hear St. Paul say that discipleship comes with hardships but I must stir into flame that gift God has given me. Jesus is telling me that to be His disciple, I must do it with courage, crossing the boundaries, taking risk, and touching others life. As one in religious life, I am to be a witness to the Risen Christ in the world.