For the past three years University United Methodist Church, Austin, Texas, has hosted a Sunday luncheon and workshop to recruit Covenant Discipleship group members for new or existing groups. Currently 45 people participate in 7 groups (37 adults and 8 youth). Preparation for the annual recruitment Sunday includes newsletter articles and personal testimonies during worship by group members. Two such testimonies follow:

From Erwin Schoenewaldt . . .
It was the particular genius of John Wesley to insist that, in addition to the "Methodist" society meeting and worshiping as a whole, they should also meet in small groups to encourage, strengthen, and, if necessary, admonish each other in the performance of their Christian commitment. I joined such a group at UUMC eight years ago and have found my spiritual life matured and deepened beyond anything I could have expected.

We have covenanted together to perform specific acts of compassion, devotion, justice and worship and to be sensitive to spiritual promptings and warnings. . . . No longer can we "melt into the crowd" or postpone indefinitely what needs to be done today. The covenant is not onerous, since we wrote it ourselves and can change it if we wish. . . . I feel enveloped by the warmth and lovingness (of the group members) as soon as I come into their presence. I have much to be grateful for in this church, and much of my spiritual growth I attribute to Covenant Discipleship.

From Jan Hames . . .
I have had the privilege of belonging to a CD group at University UMC for the last two years. . . . In the first year, one of our commitments was to pray daily for our enemies as an act of devotion. Each of us struggled with who, in our rather placid, comfortable lives might be our enemy. Christ's message is one of love and, as practicing Christians, we found it challenging to pray for a person or group as an "enemy." Some chose to pray for abusive parents. Others prayed that God would work to change the hearts of terrorists.

I chose to pray daily for a colleague who engaged in destructive behavior that affected many people. As I realized how much anger I harbored against my colleague, my personal prayer slowly shifted its focus. Instead of asking God to work in my enemy's life to change him, I began to understand that I needed God's help to change my anger into love.

Gradually, we all came to realize that anyone who, consciously or not, works against the will of God is an enemy of Christ's mission. We also realized that obeying Christ's command to love our enemy is hard. We needed each other for encouragement and support. For me, loving my enemy was not even possible without the support of my CD group.

CD groups are not for "good" Christians, "strong" Christians, or "faithful" Christians. They are for Christians of any level of faith and practice who, touched by God's grace and love, have a desire to live out Christ's mission, and who need a supportive company on that journey.

Submitted by Trish Merrill, member of University UMC and the Council for Accountable Discipleship.