The Men of St. Andrew’s

Being Disciples…
        Making Disciples…
                  Growing Disciples
 
    “Christianity Today” (www.christianitytoday.com) is a monthly publication that forthrightly and unashamedly calls itself “a magazine of evangelical conviction.” Reflecting such conviction, its pages are full of zeal for the Gospel. Because its readership is also theologically zealous, the magazine publishes articles and correspondence  of a substantive nature about contentious issues. For instance, what are the principles and priorities for Christian mission and ministry in our “post-modern” and, some would say, increasingly “post-Christian” world? On our own doorstep?
    Recently, “Christianity Today” featured lively and extended debate about  what one of its columnists called the “Great Evangelical Anxiety” of our time. What is the relationship for 21st century North American Christians between church tradition, personal conversion, and active discipleship? What is the relationship between Justification, Transformation, and Sanctification?  Between Worship and Witness?
    Such questions have also been on the minds and hearts of many of the most committed members of the Men’s Group at St. Andrew’s, not least because of our own zeal to increase our numbers and outreach.
    For Episcopalians in this time and place, anxiety about such matters in general is only heightened by our denominational disputes and divergences. What should it mean for us in our own daily lives, within our own families and our church family, and within our social and professional communities at large, to profess and call ourselves Christians, to be faithful disciples in the here and now, and in particular at St. Andrew’s?
    These are some of the kinds of concern with which the Men of St. Andrew’s are currently  wrestling in prayer and study and fellowship – with fear and trembling but in faith! We are not so much seeking “answers” as we are “seeking the Lord’s face” and the Holy Spirit’s own strategy for spiritual growth in Christ. We seek renewal in faithfulness to the Great Commandment  to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds; and to love our neighbors as ourselves; as well as Jesus’ New Commandment to love one another even as He loved us; and, beyond that, renewal in responsiveness to Jesus’ Great Commission to make more disciples for Him, in the power of His Spirit - to the end that all the world might know Him as Savior and follow Him as Lord in the communion of His Church.
    It is with this mission-minded goal at heart that the Men of St. Andrew’s and their friends from around the Fort Worth community gather weekly  for devotion, intercessory prayer, study, and service. Every Tuesday, beginning at 6:45 and concluding at 8:00 a.m. in the Parish House, the Men’s Group meets to further their own discipleship and explore ways to extend and enlarge the circle -- of being, making, and growing  disciples.  
    Currently, in order to address the incipient apostasy in the wider church, the Group has been studying Bishop FitzSimons Allison’s book, The Cruelty of Heresy.  Later in August, we will take up biblical material specifically directed toward  developing discipleship strategy for the fall season.  Two dates to keep in view are: “Rally Day “ at  the Parish, Sunday, September 13;  and the Fort Worth  community-wide “Men at the Cross” rally  scheduled for Saturday, October 10.
    In the meantime, the Men of St. Andrew’s continue to support and participate in activities around the Parish and City intended, under God, to extend His Kingdom, upbuild His Church, and increase His Harvest.
    Whatever specific program in discipleship is undertaken following “Men at the Cross” will entail one-on-one mentoring, evangelism, small group nurture in Christian formation,  growth toward “mature manhood” in Christ,  and mutual accountability one with another in His Body, the Church. While focusing  on ministry  specifically for and among  men as such, we  have a heart  as well for sharing in prayer, commitment, and outreach with the Women’s  and  Youth ministries of the Parish.
    In all of the above, and all that in God’s providence lies ahead, the Men of St. Andrew’s are  seeking to be responsive to Jesus’ call of discipleship, particularly as it is  spelled out in the Gospel according to St. John:  that we should “abide in His Word,”  that we should “love one another” as He has loved us, and that we should “bear much fruit”  in being, making, and growing disciples wherever and whenever we can, always and only to His and our Heavenly Father’s glory.

  

2009 Planned Events