[ACNS, by Gavin Drake] The Anglican Consultative Council has called on “every province, diocese and parish” in the Anglican Communion to “adopt a clear focus on intentional discipleship” as part of a “season of intentional discipleship” to run for the next nine-or-so years.

The ACC-16 meeting also called for “resources to equip and enable the whole church to be effective in making new disciples of Jesus Christ”. They council also commended a resourced published last month by the mission department of the Anglican Communion Office, “Intentional Discipleship and Disciple making – An Anglican Guide to Christian Life and Formation”, for study across the Communion.

The call comes in Resolution 16.01, which was passed unanimously by the Council at the end of their ACC-16 meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, this week. It stresses the “Gospel and theological imperative to make disciples” as the reason for their call.

Intentional Discipleship in a world of differences was the theme of ACC-16. Throughout the meeting, members heard that discipleship was the call to live as a Christian in every aspect of a person’s life – to be a Christian not only in church on a Sunday but throughout the week in work and family life too.

The role of churches in intentional discipleship was to go beyond evangelism to helping Christians to grow in faith and witness.

Earlier, ACC-16 members discussed different ways the Church can promote intentional discipleship.

The study guide can be purchased from the Anglican Communion online shop or downloaded as a pdf free of charge.