Walking the Way
living the life of Jesus today
Our vision:
“Jesus-shaped churches, full of Jesus-shaped people, making a Jesus-shaped difference“
What’s it about?
Walking the Way is the United Reformed Church’s focus on whole-of-life discipleship. It’s not a programme or initiative. Instead, it’s all about celebrating and sharing existing experience and wisdom about what it means to empower people to be the presence of Jesus through their everyday lives, across the denomination, and beyond.
Walking the Way
Living the life of Jesus today
Missional Discipleship
In the Yorkshire Synod, Missional Discipleship is our expression of what it is to Walk the Way, and has been our Synod focus since we first adopted the Many are called … report in 2013.
The Church is not an institution, it is a community of disciples, people like you and me, who follow Jesus and are engaged in his mission of transforming the world into the Kingdom of God.
Missional Discipleship is a process of deepening our discipleship and engaging more faithfully in mission: becoming more recognisably like Jesus as individuals and as a church, and making a Jesus-shaped difference in the lives of the people and communities around us.
Missional Discipleship is a process of exploring and deepening close, intentional following of Jesus – Discipleship – and wholehearted participation in God’s work of transforming this world into what Jesus called the Kingdom of God – Mission
We have committed extensive resources to this focus – employing personnel, commiting money, producing practical and theological resources to equip and inspire you, and investing in new technologies to help us communicate more effectively.
We have reshaped our budget to match these priorities, and are in the process of updating all our means of communication to equip us for the digital age.
Summary
Missional Discipleship is about rediscovering ministry and mission in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a process of renewal, refreshment and resourcing for mission that is sustained by each member playing their part in Spirit-enabled ministry, creating mission communities of disciples that are making a Jesus-shaped difference in their communities.
A Process not a Programme
Missional Discipleship is about churches being what they are meant to be – recognisably like Jesus – rather than something different. For this reason, mission and discipleship is a process rather than a programme. It’s a process of engagement with the key areas of Christian life and faith:
Reconnecting with Jesus
Missional Discipleship is the process of helping to reconnect local churches and the life of the Synod with Jesus on the assumption that Jesus-shaped churches are faithful to their calling and significantly more credible and effective through being recognisably like Jesus.
Sound familiar?
If you’re reading all this and find yourself saying, “But I thought this was only what churches were meant to be, anyway”, then you’re exactly right! Paul meant talks about the churcvh as the Body of Christ: we’re to be the means by which Jesus is present and active in the world!
If you need any further information or have stories to share about missional discipleship where you are, please e-mail wtw@urc.org.uk or call us on 020 7520 2718. We’d love to hear from you!
We are
the United Reformed Church
www.urc.org.uk