A Practical Discipleship Model That Fosters Spiritual Maturity

Jesus challenges us to live in him and continue living out the truth so that we claim our allegiance to Christ and live as disciples free from fear and from cultural customs that contradict the gospel message. This project has found that the lack of discipleship training among the Anyuwaa churches has resulted in a lack of understanding of what this ministry entails--teaching and making disciples. In addition, failure to embed elements of the Anyuwaa culture into the discipleship approach, and the persistence of certain elements of Anyuwaa life that run counter to gospel beliefs, has inflamed this crisis. Therefore, this book presents a call for the church to challenge the culture of syncretism and the fear of witchdoctors, to shift its paradigm and begin interpreting the gospel message, utilizing contextual elements but interpreting them through the lens of the gospel, calling people to embrace gospel values within their own cultural context. When we start interpreting strong cultural beliefs and traditions through the truth of the gospel, it is proof that we have come to the best discipleship approach, as we speak the truth of the gospel in the life our church and the hearts of our believers.

Owar O. Ojulu has been a pastor of Ebensburg and Colver Presbyterian churches in west Pennsylvania since 2019. He was an organizing pastor of Hope Christian Ministry in Minnesota and served First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue Iowa as a youth pastor. He had served as director for mission and theology in East Gambella Synod in Ethiopia. Ojulu holds a bachelor's degree in biblical theology, as well as an MDiv and DMin.

Samuel Deressa is Assistant Professor of Theology at Concordia University, St. Paul. His published books include A Church for the World: A Church's Role in Fostering Democracy and Sustainable Development (2020), which he co-edited with Josh de Keijzer, and The Life, Works, and Witness of Tsehay Tolessa and Gudina Tumsa, the Ethiopian Bonhoeffer (2017), which he co-edited with Sarah Wilson. He has written numerous articles for books and journals on Christianity in the Global South.