Andy Rogers

I'm just back from more missional 'guerrilla' worship adventures in Eastern Europe and I'm beginning to understand more and more what Jesus meant when he said 'go... and make disciples' rather than converts.

The discipleship process doesn't start, nor does it end, at the point when someone comes to faith in Jesus. That should happen almost as a happy by-product of the process, a natural next step when folks are journeying towards God.

Here's what that looked like for our band in Lithuania.

We played in bars, homeless & addict drop ins, orphanages etc and whilst folks may have thought they were being entertained (I hope!) what really was happening was they were being led in worship. They were getting to experience His presence, to taste and see that He is good.

One comment that lingered with us after a gig in a bar came from a lady whose daughter has recently become a believer. She said that when she hangs out with the Christians she experiences a real sense of peace and after our gig her whole worldview was different even to the extent that all her colours were brighter and more vibrant. She looked into her neighbour's garden and she saw colours that she hadn't even seen before!

Sounds to me like she is being drawn closer to the Light.

Knowing that we're called to make disciples is a lot more liberating than clocking up 'convert notches'. It means we can invite and involve people into what Jesus is already doing in our lives, in our communities.

We can go were Jesus 'is'. In his book he had a reputation for hanging out at parties and befriending the outsiders - I, for one, am enjoying hanging out with Him there too - even though it's messy sometimes!