In Yours Lord: A Handbook of
Christian Stewardship (A&C Black, 1992), pp. 96-97, Michael Wright offered
an adaptation of A Short Guide to the Duties of Church Membership as a help for
considering one’s own personal discipline. He suggests noting some specific
intentions for the next twelve months to be kept in one’s Bible or a devotional
book, for regular reference.
·
We have our unique part to
play in the life and witness of our church.
What do you see your part being in your church
now?
·
We have the opportunity to
reflect the light and love of Christ in our lives.
How do you see you can do that in your activities,
decisions and relationships each day?
·
We are invited to share
each day of our life with God.
How do you intend to safeguard time to listen,
love and share with him each day?
·
We are offered the Word of
God in the scriptures.
How do you plan regularly to read and seek to understand
the Bible?
·
We have the opportunity to
share in worship and fellowship with other Christians each week.
How often do you plan to do this?
·
Christ invites us to his
table, to be fed with the sacrament of his body and blood.
How often do you intend to accept this invitation?
·
Christ asks us to ‘always
treat others as you like to them to treat you’.
How do you plan to express this in service of
others?
·
Marriage is intended as a
lifelong partnership of love.
How can you help to nourish this ideal in your own
relationships, and how can you help others to do so?
·
Christ has a special love
and protection for children.
How do you aim to nourish and protect the
spiritual, emotional, social, educational, and artistic well-being of your own,
and other people’s, children, and help them to know Christ’s special love for
them, and to experience the joy of knowing him?
·
Christ invites us to store
up treasure in heaven, rather than treasure on earth.
What proportion of your income will you decide to
give this year, as an act of gratitude to God for all he has given you, that
you may help to do his will on earth as it is in heaven?
