During Lent, the Cedar team offered a webinar series that explored the theme Defining Discipleship, with guest presentations by four innovative leaders from across the Episcopal Church. This theme grew out of the realization on the Forward Movement staff that, while we talk about discipleship all the time, we rarely stop to define it, or to see if we all share a common understanding of what it is!

We are now delighted to offer the edited video presentations plus Discussion Guides as free resources for you to use in your congregations or ministry contexts.

Highlights of this series, for me, included:

• learning from Dr. Scott MacDougall that there really is no one recipe for discipleship; though there are core principles and values in Scripture, so much of how we decide to follow Jesus reflects our own circumstances and context.
• The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers shared with us the “Four Prophecies of the ‘Nones’ and ‘Dones’ for the Church,” which I found provocative and exciting.
• The Rev. Nurya Love Parish reminded us that the life of discipleship always involves risk, and she shared movingly about her own experience of taking a big risk to start a new Episcopal farm ministry with young adults.
• And the Rev. Canon Ranjit Mathews shared examples of intercultural friendships across the Anglican Communion that challenged him to live a “cross-shaped life,” and to rethink his approach to Christian missions work.

One of our goals on the Cedar team is to spark conversation about discipleship and renewal across the Episcopal Church and beyond—we hope that these videos spark conversation for you in your community. And if you use these videos in an adult education hour, Vestry retreat, or diocesan gathering, we’d love to hear your feedback. Thanks for joining us in conversation!

In Christ,

Regina Walton

Editor and Content Developer for Discipleship Initiatives