Front row: Julia Proper, Sandy Miller, Gloria Miller Back row: Diane McCartney & MaryAnn Goudy

I belong to a Covenant Discipleship Group that meets at 6:00 on Tuesday mornings. We have been meeting for seven years. Why do I get up at 5:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and go out in the dark and the cold every week in the winter? Why do I get up in the summer, when as a teacher I don't have to because I'm not working? Of all the activities that I have been involved in over the fifty-two years of my life, this Covenant Discipleship Group has been the most beneficial to my spiritual growth and my walk with Christ. The women in the group love me; they love my heart, my soul, my family, my laughter, and my Jesus. With them, I am free to doubt, to disbelieve, to cry, to question, to rage, and to seek.

John Wesley tells us that we have an obligation to watch over one another in love. This is different from studying the Bible, singing in the choir, or teaching Sunday school. Covenant Discipleship Groups exist solely for the purpose of watching over each member's spiritual growth and development. By establishing a covenant that makes members accountable to one another for their daily Christian walk, Covenant Discipleship Group members commit themselves to close scrutiny and responsibility for one another. This may sound hard and painful; often it is.

Opening up your spiritual walk to others makes you vulnerable and often ashamed. Confessing that you have not prayed or read Scripture, that you have done nothing in a week for anyone but yourself, or that you don't listen to the Holy Spirit's leading in your life is a challenge unlike anything that you will ever do in or out of church. However, you are never alone in your walk. The love and prayers of the rest of the group hold you up. You realize that you do not want to walk alone. You understand why Jesus gathered disciples to follow him, why early Christians met in house churches, and why going to worship on Sunday is vital to your relationship with God. God gathers us together so that he can watch over us in love. When we watch over one another, we are sharing in God's love and care. We are truly wearing the face of God.

When I wake up at 5:00 a.m. and want to roll over and go back to sleep for another hour, I get up because someone may need me this morning. That someone is my sister in Christ, a person I have needed and prayed for. How can sleep be more important? How can I neglect my sister's spiritual welfare? Maybe I have a need that I am unaware of until I get to the group.

Are these women my best friends? Not in a worldly way. Do we go shopping? Not often. Do we gossip on the phone? Never. Our ages range from the mid-forties to mid-seventies. We are very centered on one another's families. My children know that if something happened to me, these women would be the first at the door. I know it too. The men in our lives know that we are there for them too. My husband wants to know what we laugh about we he hears us meet. Our individual social circles know how important these women are to each of us. Everyone in my life has noticed the change in me.

These women are my sisters in Christ. Given to me by my Father God, they are my family. We have all been on an Emmaus Walk. Individually, we have been on Emmaus teams, have done lay speaking, have taught VBS, have been lay members of annual conference, and have taken and taught Disciple classes. We have hosted showers, done special music for worship, prepared meals for Habitat workers, fed Pedaling Parsons, given money for emergency needs in the community, worked for the Salvation Army, and made items for the mission auction. Our activities all grow out of what happens on Tuesday mornings in our Covenant Discipleship Group. None of it is as important as Six Sisters Seeking the Savior at 6:00 a.m. on the second day after Sunday.

Diane McCartney is a member of Millersburg United Methodist Church in Millersburg, Ohio. She is an English teacher who is married with two adult children. Diane is a certified lay speaker and the lay member of annual conference for her congregation.

Posted 5-14-03


    Text Only Version