2ND AFRICAN CONGRESS ON DISCIPLESHIP

06-10 May 2019

RCCG Redemption Resort, Redemption Camp, Ogun-State, NIGERIA

Theme: LIFE TRANSFORMING DISCIPLESHIP AND THE NEXT GENERATION.

Communiqué

We want to deeply appreciate the warm welcome and hospitality accorded to the delegates of the Congress by the RCCG Redemption Resort, Redemption Camp, and the MANI Anglophone West Africa Region 2 (Nigeria).

The Congress attracted 82 delegates of various denominations from 9 countries respectively: 5 people from Ghana, 1 person from Canada, 1 person from USA, 1 person from France, 1 person from Chad,  9 people from Kenya, 3 people from Republic of Benin, 1 person from New Zealand and 60 people from Nigeria – 10 States.

On each day, the meeting had devotions, presentation of focus and critical issues on discipleship and presentation of discipleship models. Break out groups’ discussions delved further into the issues and models presented.

The following summary captures the feeling and reflections of the Congress:

1. We underscore the imperative for the Church to acknowledge and understand the threats and dangers facing the next generation and the huge responsibility of reclaiming and preserving God’s heritage in the next generation.
2. We affirm that the Church in Africa is in danger of losing the next generation because she has lost focus on the need to intentionally disciple the next generation by placing less and less premium on this aspect of her call and mandate.
3. The present discipleship models and methods used by the past generation will not be effective for discipling the next generation. Therefore, we need to re-think and re-work how we do discipleship so as to capture the mind of the young people.
4. To be effective in discipling the next generation, we need to understand the current worldviews of the younger generation that are shaping their culture and find the key to meeting them at that point.
5. This meeting stressed the irreplaceable impact and the importance of the family as an integral unit in the reclaiming and preserving the next generation. It is the primary responsibility of the parents to disciple their children through teaching and modelling and mentoring.
6. Children have great value – a value found in their precious, God-created souls – not in their family background or circumstances. For this reason, ministry to children must become the most strategic ministry of the church. The church must invest time, materials, prayers, teaching and expertise for equipping parents and guardians on discipling children.
7. One of the greatest tools or needs for successful discipling of the next generation is the interface of the trifecta of influences – Family, Church and the Bible, for spiritual growth and the stamina to withstand the barrages and storms of life.
8. Pastors must be a personal model of discipleship in their families so that their Churches may emulate their examples. Pastors must shepherd their flocks – nourishing and encouraging them. Pastors (and the Church) must equip the saints for the work of service – especially the work of discipleship.
9. The Church must not underestimate the ability of children to accept Christ and learn as they are being discipled. The Church must encourage, equip and facilitate the family to carry out its responsibility in this.
10. There has been a missing link in the prosecution of the Great Commission somewhere along the line. Thus, the Church must recapture the holistic concept of the Great Commission which are Missions, Evangelism, and Discipleship – all of which are carried out by believers in and worshippers of Christ.
11. The discipler must be faithful, humble, open to God’s voice, active, patient and willing to pass on what God has placed on him. The discipler must be willing to listen to and understand the disciple and model a Christ-like life because the discipler cannot pass on what they are not.
12. The disciple must be passionate about the things of God, willing and available, teachable, open to God’s voice and action, obedient and humble in all areas of life.
13. The meeting acknowledged the reality of the statistics on the development stages of children that are necessary for the Church and parents to learn from. However, the statistics must never be a source of discouragement to the church or parents – God is able to redeem past shortcomings by committed discipling.
14. We implore and urge all the regions of MANI to domesticate and replicate this consultation in their various Regions and Countries to further the cause of the urgency of Discipleship of the Next generation in Africa.