Discipleship... The chosen must choose

Greetings from Europe! As you read this I'm some where in Europe and I trust that this blog finds you all doing well across the pond.

What a great message pastor preached on Sunday. Throughout the week I've been thinking about what true and authentic discipleship looks like and how we live that out. I thought it was such a beautiful image of Jesus choosing the disciples saying "Follow Me". He was saying this to the men that weren't good enough. He was saying this to the men that were the rejects of the discipleship program. And while he chose them, he was only meeting them half way. The other part was up to them. They had to CHOOSE to follow. I've always felt that God being the perfect Father never offers a free ride to anyone. He will however always initiate and always meet you half way. This is exactly what he did for the disciples, he met them half way. The rest was up to them. This is how he Fathers us as well. Almost on a weekly basis I tell the youth of MCAG that everything in life and everything in our Christian walk involves a choice. We either choose to serve others or we choose not to. We either choose to love one another or we choose not to. We either choose to follow Christ or we choose not to. It all involves a choice.

We at MCAG are doing our best to offer the opportunity to follow Christ and to offer the chance to be discipled. However, like Jesus, we can only meet you half way. The rest is up to you. As the staff of MCAG it's our hope that you'll make the same choice that the disciples made so long ago, to be discipled and to make new disciples of others.

Craig Swift

Youth Pastor