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The biggest shift in my thinking was moving from seeing discipleship primarily as spiritual formation for the individual to seeing it as participation in God's reconciling work in the world. Olofinjana challenged me to recognise that the church has much to learn from Majority World Christians whose experience of suffering, dependence on God and communal life often reflects aspects of Jesus' own ministry that can be less visible in Western expressions of Christianity.

Rather than viewing discipleship as a craft to master, I now see it more as a lifelong journey of humility, listening, sacrifice and being continually formed into the likeness of Christ alongside others. Although the elements of self-discipline and self-sacrifice are a required for either pursuit, so I would push back against some sentiments about cultural neutrality. We’ve already written Christianity of as something universal or transcendent if there is not significant commonality between those cultural paradigms.

Particularly with suffering, the concept of “taking up one’s cross,” I believe to be a cornerstone of the Christian belief system. Suffering is always viewed as something to be avoided or minimised, rather than owned, accepted, integrated and overcome. If we contemplate what really constitutes a heroic act, it is that of voluntary self-sacrifice (which is starting to sound a by Jordan Peterson, so I’ll leave it there).

On a complete aside it was interesting to learn something of the Ubuntu philosophy. I knew Ubuntu was a word from one of the Bantu languages but not it’s meaning. Working in IT, for a long time it was another Debian based Linux distro (I’ll translate the IT if anyone needs me to).

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I am a lot more acutely aware that racism is basically a sin issue and we must not make the assumption that we are exempt from the temptation to prize our ethnic identity over our primary identity as children of God made in His image. God has bestowed on us immeasurable worth that is not sustained by what colour our skin, what we we sound like, the kinds of food we like to eat or the music we sing or dance to. However, our fallen nature is riddled with fear, shame and anger which sometimes pushes us to treat people who are different to us with mistrust and judgment. Sometimes it is subtle or blatant driven by our desire to embrace the comfort that comes with the familiar, not venturing out to the unknown. I think of the example of Phillip who approached the Ethiopian Eunuch and struck up a conversation. We seek a move that that was motivated by a genuine sense of curiosity and concern for the welfare of the other and it began with a question. Discipleship for me means that I stay open to the transformative work that God is doing in my heart which aligns my heart with God's and he is all about people. People feel loved when they are seen and heard and which happens when we have the courage and humility to ask one another sensitively about our experiences in the world and we need not be defensive with the answers we may receive. Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well was an example of the great things that can happen when we going beyond barriers and reach out to the other. The church of Christ is meant to be the place where these walls of division are broken down and forgiveness and healing found. We all bring unique understandings from our different cultures that that strengthen our bonds and we must embrace the challenges and opportunities they bring with hope and oy knowing that godly unity is a powerful witness to the world. This was Jesus prayer for us and we must all work to building his kingdom where the love of Christ trumps over skin colour!

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Discipleship calls us to challenge where there are prejudice, division, power imbalance and exclusion.  Rightly so and important to understand the roots of division but more importantly to see that we are all God’s children, all created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and that we all have purpose and to live in unity on the one planet we all live.  I loved watching the Artemis 2 crew flying past the moon and looking back at earth, Victor Glover with a strong faith background reminded of Jesus command “to love God with all that you are” and “love your neighbour as yourself”, further “we got to get through this together”. “Together”.  Reddie (Cherry and Hayes) provides a good account of cultural changes here in Britain since what has been termed the “Windrush” generation.  Post colonial reflects on a time it was connected to empire and cultural domination.   For me the focus on human worth is far more important than how we look and there is a lot to learn from each other’s tradition, history and family values.  A pilgrimage walk program on TV including celebrities from different denominations, back grounds, beliefs, non-beliefs bring a group of people together in a refreshing way to learn more about each other.  Hospitality can be a wonderful way to bring people together to talk. Human worth is not related to ethnicity, nationality, how we perceive each other can be influenced by TV and media and sometimes in history this has been wrong.  Jesus did not hold barriers when he spoke to the Samaritan woman or people who had not yet believed.  In Christian discipleship it is important to listen to all voices, recognising where divisions still affect people and community.  Unconscious bias where someone is presenting to be non-judgemental but ok until it affects them type of thing.  All people have the same hierarchical needs as in Maslow’s chart of human need, belonging and love been one of them.  Discipleship needs to be open and inclusive, “come and see” should not be come and fit in, we need to reflect are we helping all people to know Jesus.  When we read scripture, whose eyes do we read it from and that is a challenge but a worthy one when reflecting scripture.  Over the past year in my church, we have seen an increase of different nationality attend church.  Living in a rural community with a traditional farming background predominantly white how do we respond to make sure we help all people know God’s love.  Discipleship does not require a whole congregation to be the same, worship, words, prayer and focus of unity will make way for inclusion and opportunity. It takes time to get to know someone and it’s been respectful, avoiding assumptions for any background.   I wonder if sometimes we can feel uncomfortable to talk freely because of fear of saying something wrong when not intended but there is so much to learn from each other when we talk.

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The resource material was both challenging and enlightening, bringing together the history of racism beyond the African American context. The texts 'Perspectives on Majority World' and 'Racial Reconciliation is Essential to Discipleship' highlight how racism has been deeply systemic at an institutional level, and that changing these entrenched patterns and behaviours is a long-term journey. Progress shouldn’t be measured by short-term outcomes but by taking consistent steps in the right direction to address racial injustice and unrest in the Church. For me as Christ’s disciple, this means embracing the call to reconciliation. 'Essential to Discipleship' reminds us that racial injustice is a discipleship matter because God’s desire is for all creation to be reconciled to Him, to flourish, and to reflect His glory. When any culture dehumanizes or diminishes any group of people, it stands in direct opposition to our Holy God. Instead of relying on cultural narratives about people and the world, we must look to Scripture for truth. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection ushered in God’s Kingdom, allowing us to see glimpses of His glory in and through the Church. In the Old Testament, God called the Israelites to remember the exodus from Egypt and His saving them from slavery, so they would never forget their identity, origin, and deliverer. He calls us to remember the same today. God delights when all His people worship Him, reflecting the countless aspects of His infinite and awesome nature. He longs for reconciliation not only between Himself and His people but among His people as well. Sadly, as the Church’s Director of Racial Justice emphasised, “Racism should not be tolerated in the Church, or anywhere,” yet in many churches today, stereotyping, exclusion, and being overlooked are still common experiences. I wholeheartedly agree with the challenge in 'Essential to Discipleship': we must approach this work with humility,- that we don’t know everything. We have to do the work of uncovering systems that have been tolerant or kept certain people out. It’s in all of us; it’s systemic. So, the work of the church is to speak truth to power."

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We can learn much from our Majority World neighbours regarding suffering and the importance of acknowledging it, even if we will never fully comprehend the consistent pain, suffering persecution and torment they have endured throughout history. Nevertheless, discipleship is about coming alongside another, enabling then to have a voice and be heard and valuing everyone equally. We can only do this, however, by being inquisitive, learning as much as we can about our cultural differences, and be willing to gain new insights and perspectives. We can only do it by acknowledging suffering which is a subject many avoid because it is too uncomfortable.

Olofinjana states that ‘this will mean church networks and organisations embedding racial justice thinking and action in their processes and structures’. but, in my experience, many already do. Maybe that is because I have always been privileged to live in a multi-cultural community. Even in my current location, which is far more rural than the big cities I am used to, the population is very diverse and the church I attend goes out of its way to integrate all ethnic groups which it does, in my opinion, very successfully. It surprises me therefore, that there may be other churches who are not doing likewise.

Unfortunately, however, prejudice still exists in some of our churches today and is due to fear, which is borne from a lack of understanding. However, God decreed that his desire for us all is ‘to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly in His sight’. (Mic 6:8) which means eradicating all prejudice and seeking justice. This is also a call to all followers of Jesus to take a close examination of themselves and find out if they are harbouring any prejudices which extend far beyond racial discrimination. The LGBTQ community, for example, often face unfair bias and bigotry from those who are ill-informed.

I agree, therefore, that lamenting the wrongs of the past and working together to further God’s Kingdom as one body is essential for transformation and healing. Remembrance Sunday is always set aside to commemorate all those who sacrificed their lives in both the horrific world wars. I think that we could also set aside at least one Sunday every year in the church’s calendar for honest reflection of historic and current injustices that have been and are being served on the marginalised and provide them with a platform to be heard.

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Previously in a previous Padlet, I had commented that discipleship is viewed in the west as something that can be carried out by an individual online at their leisure and in a way that suited to their demographic. This is evidenced by the numerous discipleship courses available online and aimed at the individual apart from the community of the church. It has almost consumerised what is the life long process of formation for a Christian.

I had never really considered that there was another way of looking at Discipleship and so to my surprise Olofinjana's observation and argument resonated with me, that Western discipleship is often "admin-driven" and consumeristic, treating faith as an individualistic "craft". But that there was an alternative way of approaching it through some of the Majority World theologies of Africa, Asia, and Latin America that presented a view of discipleship grounded more in the "suffering-servant" model of Jesus.  One that prepares Christians for hardship rather than just personal growth, enabling them to live a "best life now" form of Christianity . Upon reflection - I do think that one action that I think would be useful to take would be to explore how in the UK, those churches that are made up of Majority World members practice discipleship and to see if we can take it and adapt if where appropriate. Also this Majority World approach to discipleship offers a "theology of the cross" that views suffering as a critical element in a believers formation, whereas our popular Western models very often seem to treat hardship as an issue to overcome and not to embrace for formation purposes.

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