Perhaps you can help me. I’m trying to think of a word that starts with C. Because I want to add to the 3Cs, but I figure the 4Cs sounds a lot more memorable than the “3Cs and a P”.

In case you’ve no idea what I’m talking about: the 3Cs are words used to describe the task of discipleship or training: i.e. the idea that we want people to grow in Convictions, Character and Competence. In The Trellis and the Vine, Tony Payne and Col Marshall put it like this: “… an integral part of making disciples is teaching & training every disciple to make other disciples. This training is not simply the imparting of certain skills or techniques. It involves nurturing & teaching people in their understanding & knowledge (their convictions), in their godliness & way of life (their character), & in their abilities & practical experience of ministering to others (their competence).” (P. 155)

This is a useful way to think about the goal of Christian discipleship. But in Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3, we are was struck by another word that is significant when it comes to training or discipling someone to become a co-labourer with us in the work of growing the gospel.

Paul has just been talking about the damage being done by some of the corrupt influences that have crept into households—people who “oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith” (2 Tim 3:1–9). These people are in marked contrast to his beloved Timothy, whom he commends with these words: “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions & sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium & at Lystra …” (v10–11; ESV). Or the Christian Standard Bible translates “my aim in life” as, “purpose”.

There’s something there we often miss in this description of Timothy.

Actually, there’s more than one thing that we miss. We don’t often prepare people to face “persecutions and sufferings” when we train them in ministry. But the word that particularly struck me in verse 10 was “purpose” (“aim in life”, ESV). Paul is pleased that Timothy has learned to follow Paul’s purpose in life.

It is such a profound, life-shaping conviction that I wonder if it deserves its own C among the other three. Purpose describes our fundamental response to God’s grace. And understanding our purpose as Christians is a very worthwhile goal to bring more to the fore in terms of the task of growing disciples.

So if you think of a word starting with ‘C’ that captures this idea of our purpose— please let me know.

(Taken from an email from Matthias Media)

Cameron