Missionary DiscipleshipSample

Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it

remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the

branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you

can do nothing. John 15:4-5

As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are

one body, so also Christ. I Corinthians 12:12

Jesus used many organic images in his teaching. He used a vine to illustrate what it means to

remain “in” him. A vine is made up of shoots that support other shoots that branch into still

more shoots. Not all the shoots are directly attached to a single line; rather the whole vine is

joined together and receives its nourishment by what one shoot passes to another. This is a

picture of Christian disciples—we stay connected to Jesus by staying connected to one another.

The apostle Paul said the same thing using the image of the body. The whole body is Jesus, and

all his disciples are parts of that body. We who are many, with varied gifts to offer, are one

body in Jesus Christ.

To be a disciple of Jesus means to be integrated into his body, the Church. It is in the Church

that we receive grace from the sacraments, instruction from those called to teach and

encouragement from our sisters and brothers. Here we are bound together by the same love

that binds together God himself, the Holy Trinity.

The church is not perfect; after all, it is full of sinners! But this community has taught the words

of Jesus, offered his body and blood for the world, fed the poor, healed the sick, and nurtured

saints for two thousand years. It is here that discipleship is lived out and it is here that we

welcome those who are seeking God. To remain in Jesus means to remain in his church—to

receive the nourishment of the vine and to pass it on to others.

The church, as an organic whole, is the agent of missionary discipleship. As we demonstrate and

declare the love of God, our message takes on flesh and is brought right into our own

neighborhoods. As we participate with faith, hope, and love in the life our of local parish, we are

part of the Body of Christ. This is how Jesus comes to live in my neighborhood.

Here and now, especially where we are a “little flock” (Lk 12:32), the Lord’s disciples are

called to live as a community which is the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Mt

5:13-16). We are called to bear witness to a constantly new way of living together in fidelity

to the Gospel. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of community! Pope Francis, Evangelii

Gaudium, 92.