Gifts for building

The church has had a long history of misunderstanding the five gifts of service mentioned in Ephesians 4:11-13. What is perfectly clear is that Christ himself provides apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to equip us to serve - that is what the passage says. And his purpose is clear too, he wants us to reach unity in the faith, to be knowledgeable about him, mature, and growing to fully measure up to him.

Outward and integrated

This is an important piece of the jigsaw; movements cannot exist unless there is an effective process of spreading. In the case of the church, spreading involves going out from where we already are and becoming embedded in the culture wherever the 'going out' takes us.

Christian Books Free

Many thanks to Christian Books Free who have made JDMC available to their readers. If you haven't visited this site before I suggest you take a look.

Review by Felicity Dale

Felicity Dale has just reviewed JDMC on her blog, Simply Church. She writes:

Becoming disciples

Last time we looked at the central part, Jesus at the Centre. This time we'll take a brief look at Becoming Disciples.

Jesus at the Centre

Let's take a look at the central part of JDMC, the hub, the part around which everything else revolves. It's hardly surprising to hear that Jesus is at the centre. It would be disturbing if he was not!

JDMC? Shouldn't it be JCMD?

Hmm... Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church.

OK, I understand why Jesus comes first, few people would argue with that. But surely the other three are in the wrong order? Why didn't you have Church second because until you have a church how can you do mission? And Mission has to come before Disciple, because the purpose of mission is to make disciples and build more churches.