Embracing Christ’s Call of Discipleship: An Exhortation for the Youths of GKY Singapore to Reflect on the Importance of Being “Just Like Jesus”
Versi bahasa Indonesia dari tulisan ini bisa dibaca melalui tautan ini.
As a youth in GKY Singapore who is also a committee member of the upcoming church retreat, I long for my fellow youths to join the retreat to learn together about how we can become “Just Like Jesus”. However, since registration opened about three weeks ago, only a few youths have registered. To investigate the cause of such low participation rate, the retreat committee conducted a survey and found that many are not joining because they are not interested. With the other promotional materials still being processed and the early bird closing this Sunday, I decided to write this article to exhort my fellow youths to reflect on their view about the discipleship in Christ (and, through it, their decision to [not] join the church retreat).
Before I state my case, let me share an interesting observation. This “lack of interest”, although seems valid, is actually as obscure as an arrow aimlessly shot. Which aspect(s) of the retreat exactly that is not interesting to you? There are several potential directions for that lack of interest (e.g. the price, the social needs, and the distance/timing), but I want to talk about one particular direction: the theme, not because it is the retreat’s theme, but because of its centrality in Christian life.
You may have been a Christian since you were a baby and may have been told since your understood speech to live like Jesus has, to become “just like [Him]”. Because of this upbringing, you may think you have known about it entirely, hence to join the retreat would be a repetition and a waste of time. Or, you may find the topic to be boring and dull, hence your lack of interest. Or, worse, you are not interested at all to be like this guy Jesus whom you were told to worship since you were a toddler.
I only became a Christian when I was fifteen years old, so I do not and cannot understand what you may have gone through with regards to the idea of becoming “just like Jesus”. I do know, though, that as Christians we cannot treat this idea lightly because of the following reasons, which happen to be my convictions for the discipleship in Christ and I hope would be yours as well.
Firstly, it is God Himself who calls us to be like Him, to be His disciples. The identity of the caller is the first and foremost reason for its importance. He is the Lord who created all things, still loves us when we sin against Him that He even gave His only Son to die on the cross to save mankind from eternal death and live eternally with Him. He is the God who healed our blind hearts with “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6), enabling us to respond to His call of discipleship. How can we regard trivial and boring the calling of the Lord of all creations?
But what kind of discipleship does God call His people to? To deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him (Mark 8:34); to bear Jesus’ easy yoke and learn from Him (Matthew 11:29-30); to to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29); to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to do all of Jesus’ commandments (Matthew 28:19-20). In other words, the call to the discipleship of Christ is to live like Jesus has, having the same mind and heart as Him (Philippians 2:5) so that we can make others become like Jesus too. God wants us to partake in the completion of His mission by making us His disciples; His call for us is to be discipled to make disciples. So, in light of all this, which part of becoming “just like Jesus” that is not interesting?
We have seen why Christ’s call to discipleship is important, but how can we respond to this calling in our current individual capacity as a student (and our future vocations)? While each person will have his/her own unique answer only they can find, the Lord also provides us help through His Holy Spirit, His Word, and the fellowship through His church. You may have already joined a small group, whether in church or in your school. I would be very glad if you have, but if you have not, I highly recommend you to join the church retreat. For it is organised in the first place to equip God’s congregation with a map to become more like Jesus in their daily lives.
This, and in light of fulfilling our congregational vision to be “a caring community that multiplies authentic disciples”, our pastoral team has identified four formations of an authentic disciple—spiritual, teaching, character, and ministry—that would be discussed and reflected upon throughout the entire retreat. There will also be a workshop where we can learn a selected spiritual discipline (out of four) and begin practising it after the retreat. Finally, the retreat will not be an end in itself. Instead, we hope that after this retreat you will desire to become more like Jesus, to be a more authentic disciple of Christ. For discipleship of Christ is a lifelong journey in imitating Him.
So, can you still say you are “not interested” in the discipleship of Christ? By God's grace, if you indeed choose and are able to join, see you at Sijori Resort Batam in August!
Soli Deo gloria.
As a youth in GKY Singapore who is also a committee member of the upcoming church retreat, I long for my fellow youths to join the retreat to learn together about how we can become “Just Like Jesus”. However, since registration opened about three weeks ago, only a few youths have registered. To investigate the cause of such low participation rate, the retreat committee conducted a survey and found that many are not joining because they are not interested. With the other promotional materials still being processed and the early bird closing this Sunday, I decided to write this article to exhort my fellow youths to reflect on their view about the discipleship in Christ (and, through it, their decision to [not] join the church retreat).
Before I state my case, let me share an interesting observation. This “lack of interest”, although seems valid, is actually as obscure as an arrow aimlessly shot. Which aspect(s) of the retreat exactly that is not interesting to you? There are several potential directions for that lack of interest (e.g. the price, the social needs, and the distance/timing), but I want to talk about one particular direction: the theme, not because it is the retreat’s theme, but because of its centrality in Christian life.
You may have been a Christian since you were a baby and may have been told since your understood speech to live like Jesus has, to become “just like [Him]”. Because of this upbringing, you may think you have known about it entirely, hence to join the retreat would be a repetition and a waste of time. Or, you may find the topic to be boring and dull, hence your lack of interest. Or, worse, you are not interested at all to be like this guy Jesus whom you were told to worship since you were a toddler.
I only became a Christian when I was fifteen years old, so I do not and cannot understand what you may have gone through with regards to the idea of becoming “just like Jesus”. I do know, though, that as Christians we cannot treat this idea lightly because of the following reasons, which happen to be my convictions for the discipleship in Christ and I hope would be yours as well.
Firstly, it is God Himself who calls us to be like Him, to be His disciples. The identity of the caller is the first and foremost reason for its importance. He is the Lord who created all things, still loves us when we sin against Him that He even gave His only Son to die on the cross to save mankind from eternal death and live eternally with Him. He is the God who healed our blind hearts with “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6), enabling us to respond to His call of discipleship. How can we regard trivial and boring the calling of the Lord of all creations?
But what kind of discipleship does God call His people to? To deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him (Mark 8:34); to bear Jesus’ easy yoke and learn from Him (Matthew 11:29-30); to to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29); to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to do all of Jesus’ commandments (Matthew 28:19-20). In other words, the call to the discipleship of Christ is to live like Jesus has, having the same mind and heart as Him (Philippians 2:5) so that we can make others become like Jesus too. God wants us to partake in the completion of His mission by making us His disciples; His call for us is to be discipled to make disciples. So, in light of all this, which part of becoming “just like Jesus” that is not interesting?
We have seen why Christ’s call to discipleship is important, but how can we respond to this calling in our current individual capacity as a student (and our future vocations)? While each person will have his/her own unique answer only they can find, the Lord also provides us help through His Holy Spirit, His Word, and the fellowship through His church. You may have already joined a small group, whether in church or in your school. I would be very glad if you have, but if you have not, I highly recommend you to join the church retreat. For it is organised in the first place to equip God’s congregation with a map to become more like Jesus in their daily lives.
This, and in light of fulfilling our congregational vision to be “a caring community that multiplies authentic disciples”, our pastoral team has identified four formations of an authentic disciple—spiritual, teaching, character, and ministry—that would be discussed and reflected upon throughout the entire retreat. There will also be a workshop where we can learn a selected spiritual discipline (out of four) and begin practising it after the retreat. Finally, the retreat will not be an end in itself. Instead, we hope that after this retreat you will desire to become more like Jesus, to be a more authentic disciple of Christ. For discipleship of Christ is a lifelong journey in imitating Him.
So, can you still say you are “not interested” in the discipleship of Christ? By God's grace, if you indeed choose and are able to join, see you at Sijori Resort Batam in August!
Soli Deo gloria.
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