Transformative Discipleship

Transformative discipleship flows from God love of us and is a combination of what we believe and how what we believe shapes how we live in the world. The fancy words for these are orthodoxy (right thinking) and orthopraxis (right actions). Any gathering of believers who wish to follow God must wrestle with what it means to be disciples in our everyday lives.

• Transformative Learning
  Transformative learning is teaching which enables us to encounter the living God. This can be bible studies, sermons, lectures, Sunday school, and special retreats. For such learning to be transformational, and not simply informational, it must propel us into Christian service and a fundamental change regarding how we engage others and the world in light of how God interacts with us.

• Transformational Relationships
  Transformational relationships are those which reflect God’s relationship to us—reaching out in love and service. There are many social service opportunities and ways to engage others which require no actual communication between the person who is giving and the person who is receiving. These are not bad. As Christians, however, we believe that when we reach out to others in Christian compassion we receive more than we give. When we serve the poor we more clearly see God. For this to occur we must go beyond simple charity to establish relationships, to establish trust, to know each other as fellow children of God. Opportunities abound which allow for just this kind of true discipleship.

• Transformative Wealth
  How we live with our wealth is an expression of our discipleship. What our checkbook says does tell us something fundamental about our priorities. This is not a conservative or liberal idea (neither conservatives nor liberals tend to engage this issue much!). What makes wealth sharing transformative is when it is shared in ways that (1) do not glorify the one giving; and (2) lead to more involvement than simply writing a check. There are ways to share wealth by giving it away. People can learn to live frugally and responsibly to conserve wealth and stem unnecessary consumption (which usually makes us less happy instead of more happy anyway). Finally we can give thought to how we invest our abundance in socially responsible ways so that our capital is also working for justice in the world.

• Transformative Advocacy
  There are many ways to hear the cry of those in need and crisis and lend our voices to theirs in the cry for justice. Again this is not a liberal or conservative issue (both ignore the poor fairly consistently) but rather this is a Christian calling. We stand with others in their need because Christ stands with us in ours—this knowledge is what makes advocacy transformative for us as disciples of Christ.
  

• Specific Ways to Get Involved
  View a list of examples of Engaging Opportunities in Durham. For more information, please contact Gaston Warner at 919-414-4167 or at g.warner@duke.edu.

Faith and Money Gatherings
For those interested in exploring issues of how we invest and use our wealth faithfully as Christians and for those interested in the corollary issues of how we can be better stewards of creation in general, there are regional and local group organized to provide ongoing support, teaching, and accountability. For more information on any of these gatherings, please contact Gaston Warner at 919-414-4167 or at g.warner@duke.edu.

Community Engagement Series
Duke Chapel's Community Engagement series offers opportunities for those involved in the life of Duke Chapel to grow in faith together with downtown Durham neighborhoods and congregations. Dean Wells leads quarterly sessions in various downtown locations using the format of Godly Play. Godly Play is a way of encountering the story of the Bible that encourages discovery, wonder and attentive interaction from people of all ages and backgrounds. It is a transformative blend of worship and teaching that makes space for all who are prepared to open their imaginations to God. As Duke Chapel deepens its commitment to seek the welfare of the city of Durham, we hope these encounters will foster meaningful and transformational relationships in our community.To learn more about Godly Play, read Dean Wells' reflection entitled "Imagination."

Downtown Durham Locations:

• Community and Family Life Recreation Center at Lyon Park
• Asbury Temple United Methodist Church
• Antioch Baptist Church
• SEEDS

To find out when the next Community Engagement talk is scheduled, contact Abby Kocher at abby.kocher@duke.edu, or sign up for the Engagement Opportunities listserv.