This fall, we begin a new chapter of Saint Nicholas’ congregational life with a new look to the Nicholas News, a new logo for our stationery and banners, a new organization, a new look to the Weekly, our new North Wing, new programs and some new faces in new places. Much of the “newness” has been some time in coming as we have been working through what it means for us to be a “Discipleship Church.”

Over many conversations, we have settled on the ideas of “Love God, Love Others, Teach and Learn, and Serve the World” as expressing something important about being a Discipleship Church. That is what is depicted in the logo for the new stationery (see next page). The logo depicts the Cross (Love God), a Heart (Love Others), the Word (Teach and Learn) and a Globe (Serve the World). The world discovers itself at the foot of the cross, the same cross on which love finds its true expression and the Word finds its true voice. I am so grateful to Edith Crane and Danielle Willis who developed the new logo and stationery.

But there is one problem. My friend Kay Aronhalt has the gift of asking the question that nobody wants to answer in such a nice way that you want to try to answer it. She asked, very nicely, “What is this, ‘Love God, Love Others, Teach and Learn, and Serve the World?’ What should we call it?”

She has a very good point. It is not a new mission statement. We have a mission statement that works quite well: “Growing and empowering disciples of Jesus Christ for the ministries of God’s work in the world.” In fact, many of us who like the “Love God,” etc. idea like it because it is so congruent with the mission statement.

Many people who think about discipleship might try to talk about a “path” to discipleship, but “Love God, Love Others, Teach and Learn, and Serve the World” doesn’t really describe a path, exactly. Some might begin by loving God in worship, move to loving others in fellowship and then to teaching and then service, but I’ve also seen people begin with worship and go right to service. In my view, there isn’t any single path to discipleship.

‘Four Elements of Discipleship’? OK, but what is an element? “Element” includes the notion that it is an integral part of discipleship (which is, I think, close to true) but begs the question of what an element is, which sent me back to the drawing board.

I thought of a “Discipleship Diet” being comprised of four basic spiritual food groups: worship, fellowship, education and service. True discipleship comes by partaking of each of these four basic food groups of discipleship, I thought. I wasn’t sure whether this idea would work for everyone (or whether anything as wonderful as discipleship would be accurately characterized as a “diet”) so I pressed on.

‘Four Marks of Discipleship’? A true disciple can be identified by worship, fellowship, teaching and service? I do like this, I confess, but I know for many “cradle-Lutherans” this will feel like works-righteousness. I wouldn’t want to suggest that God approves of people who get four punches in their ticket. That’s not what this is about.

What it is about is that if we want to progress as disciples, we have four basic areas in which we want to move forward: to “Love God, Love Others, Teach and Learn, and Serve the World.” None should be neglected, none should be lingered over obsessively. Some of us are not great teachers, some cannot serve in the usual ways. God will grant salvation through the power of the Gospel to all who believe. As we are saved, because we are saved, we seek to serve, to teach, to befriend and to worship with our brothers and sisters.

Marks of Discipleship? A Discipleship Diet? Elements of Discipleship? A Path to Discipleship? I’m not sure that any one of these is superior to all of the others, although each has its virtues. I suspect the conversation itself may be more useful than the outcome. In the coming months, we’ll see some new wrappings and formats for some very old and very lovely and traditional ideas – loving God and God’s people, teaching and learning and serving the world.

Pastor Greg