Charles Spurgeon said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.” As disciples of Jesus, we are simultaneously sent to live on mission. Living on mission is part of what it means to be a disciple. Biblically, there is no such thing as a disciple who does not live on mission. As Christ was sent for us, we have been sent to the world around us.

As church leaders consider “discipleship” and “mission,” they must not view these as divorced from one another, as if “we disciple people” and then later “challenge them to live on mission.” We don’t graduate from discipleship and move on to mission. Both are always essential and deeply connected. We must challenge people and teach people to live on mission as we disciple them. And we must continually disciple them as they live on mission.

Discipleship is neither information nor behavioral modification but is ultimately transformation. In the book Transformational Discipleship, we unpack a framework for transformation based on research.

Seminary students have a reputation for taking theology seriously. But would they relocate from, say, New York City to Mississippi for a better doctrinal fit?

“Seminarians are not relocating to go to seminary,” said Ligon Duncan, president of the Jackson, Mississippi–based Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS). “Many are choosing to attend regional institutions with which they have less theological affinity in order to stay in the same city.”

That’s one key reason why RTS has formed a new partnership with Redeemer City to City, a church-planting network founded in 2001 by Tim Keller. Now RTS students based in New York won’t have to choose between a local school and a Reformed one. (It also has six other extension campuses.)

For some, the choice not to move is financially driven, said Duncan, given that student loans and the collapsed housing market “have made it impossible for many students to relocate.”

Imagine the scene with me. A man in ancient Rome has been summoned to a governmental building in his town. He knows what’s coming as he walks through the gates, for he is a professing Christian, and Christianity is a threat to the empire.

It’s not a threat because the Christians are powerful; nor is it because they are extremely numerous, though their numbers are growing. It is a threat because Christianity runs counter to the fabric of what holds the empire together.

In Rome, being religious was perfectly acceptable. It was celebrated even. It was, however, second in terms of allegiance. When the Romans conquered, the people were able to keep their religious beliefs as long as they didn’t interfere with their allegiance to Rome and the empire. The phrase of the day left little doubt about who had the final word, for the regular confession in the empire was “Caesar is Lord.” And that was the problem.

The most difficult place to be a convictional Christian in North America is probably the campus of a university. Christian students frequently speak of the hostility they face on campus when they are open about their Christian faith and practice.

If the university is a microcosm of the rest of society and a sign of where our culture is headed, then Christians can expect hostility and marginalization to increase in the coming years. The good news is: if Christian organizations on campus are any indication, this marginalization could become the catalyst for more effective mission.