In this chapter we lay the foundational principles for the life of a house church. The life of the church is found in the members. A growing house church will constantly need to be giving attention to newer members as well as upgrading the life and ministry of its older members. Much time, effort, and energy will go into the healing ministry of discipleship in the life of the members.

Discipling provides the building blocks of reproducing churches. Jesus commanded His apostles to "go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you".
Their implementation of the plan is recorded in the book of Acts. And what was this implementation? The apostles went and planted churches. These churches, in turn, reproduced disciples who in turn went out and planted new churches. This cycle has reproduced itself down to the present age. The questions answered in this chapter is what does Scripture means by discipling, and how does it bring reproduction?

The disciples, of course, were discipled by the master, our Lord Jesus. Discipleship for Jesus was relational. He called his disciples to be with Him (Mark 3:14). He lived with them, ate with them, rejoiced with them, and wept with them. Over and over his love for them is stated and displayed. They were not students of a class He taught, nor were they "ministry projects" upon which he worked. They were brothers whom he loved and to
whom he was dedicated. He lived with them, worked with them, and loved them in such a way that their lives were changed forever. Such is the ministry of discipleship.

We see this discipling carried on in the ministry of Paul, both on his team and in the churches (Cf. Acts 20:17-38). The letters of Paul are filled with personal, often heart-wrenching exhortations, warnings, blessings, thanksgivings all of which reflect a highly relational ministry.

The ministry of Jesus and the early apostles reshaped broken, battered, carnal people in such a way that they soon also reflected the love of Christ. The apostles were merely the human agents of God's spirit who enables us to love God and our neighbor in practical ways. How did this happen? How does it happen today?

Scripture clarifies that we have been born into a fallen and broken world. God created us for fellowship with him and with one another. God created us to love and be loved. But the fall has fundamentally altered the face of our world. Instead of us giving and receiving love, we find ourselves battered by the sinfulness of this world which seeks for self rather than for others. We are born as sinners and are selfish by nature. We learn patterns of coping and survival which are self-centered (whether self-assertive or self-protective) and thus contrary to love. Crippled spiritually, we learn how to survive in a lost world, but it is a temporary survival which only leads to more pain later on, and more violations of God's plan of love.

Against this hopeless backdrop comes the man of hope, Jesus who is the Christ. He preaches good news of a new Kingdom--a kingdom of love, righteousness and peace. He lives such a life before the skeptical disciples and teaches them how to live it as well. He displays before them the ultimate act of selfless love by going to a cross and dying. Even worse, He is cut off from the Father, with whom he has enjoyed unbroken fellowship since before time began. He calls his disciples to follow him in suffering in this broken world. As they go they are to call out anyone who is willing to follow Him in His kingdom. Those who join them in this pilgrimage are trained along the way to love, even as Jesus showed and taught his disciples.

Thus Christianity is not simply a set of beliefs but a new life! Jesus Himself said that those who follow Him would be recognized by their love. Christianity is not a body of knowledge which needs to be imparted, but rather a relationship that needs to practiced. Our Lord began the process; His gospel must be transmitted in flesh and blood rather than by a book alone. He Himself came as flesh and blood to live out the life of the Kingdom before his disciples. He was tempted and suffered as they would in the process of living the kingdom out in the fallen world. Wherever His disciples went they modeled the kingdom. To those who followed they imparted the principles of kingdom living. They often remained for a time to help new disciples begin practicing life in the kingdom, learning as the original disciples did with Jesus, that it was not easy and there would be many failures from which they could learn and grow.

THE DISCIPLING NATURE OF THE KINGDOM
Since God's calling to us is relational in nature (He has called us to love him and love our neighbor) obviously a relational church is necessary to obey his calling. But obedience to His command to love is not a one time act of joining a church, for relationships do not work that way.

When we get married, the wedding signifies not the end of the relationship, but the beginning. The rest of one's married life is spent exploring, failing, and learning new ways to love. If the wedding day is the highlight of a marriage it is a sad relationship indeed!

In the same way when we enter into salvation we begin a new journey into a new kingdom. We are like immigrants leaving our old world and coming to a new country. New customs must be learned. A new language, new ways to do old things like money management, ordering the home, etc. We enter the Kingdom of God.

We often resist change; as we progress in this new life we find old ways die hard. We find that we are still self-promoting or self-protective. We find that we still love ourselves more than we love God and much more than we love our neighbor. We find that we are fearful, lonely, tired. We find that God does not always seem near. This kingdom is not what we expected. There are times when our mind wanders back to "Egypt" and the old life beckons.

But God never meant us to walk the life alone, nor did He desire us to learn the ins and outs of this new kingdom only from the pages of a book. Just as our Lord became incarnate to show forth the kingdom, He, through His Holy Spirit, is incarnating Himself in those who are following Him. Those who have progressed in the kingdom are called to display kingdom living to the newer ones and mentor them over the difficult obstacles in the road.

The church is the family in which this dynamic exchange occurs. Older ones in the Lord help newer believers. In so doing, they must learn to love these new ones who are often not lovable. As these older ones do so, they face the obstacles to love in their own life. The Lord uses unlovely ones to reveal to us our own selfishness. We are required to repent and be renewed in order to love and serve them. Thus not only do mature believers model the life of the kingdom and teach its precepts to the unlovely new ones, but they grow through the process. Thus the whole church is continually being transformed from one stage of glory to another as each one learns how to love more perfectly.

As you see above, discipleship means a dynamic relationship that brings God's healing to the crippled state into which we are all born and nurtured. The healing is for both the discipler and the disciple.