Wesley Vander Lugt

Wesley Vander Lugt is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts at the University of St Andrews and serves as a part-time youth pastor with Holy Trinity Church in St Andrews, Scotland. Before coming to St Andrews, Wesley received an MDiv from Covenant Seminary and has worked as the director of youth ministries at Twin Oaks Presbyterian Church in Saint Louis, Missouri and as a staff member with Armonía Ministries in Mexico City.

2011 Forum Sessions

Luncheon Workshops

Following Jesus without Faking It: Exploring Authentic Discipleship

In several of his letters, the apostle Paul describes following Jesus as a process of taking off worldly character and putting on Christ-like character in the power of the Spirit. In doing so, however, there lurks the danger of putting on this character like a costume, pretending to be Christ-like without any inward change. Much like a child who says “sorry” but is not interested in real forgiveness, we are often tempted to perform actions that look Christ-like while in reality our attitudes, values and feelings remain unchanged. What does it look like, then, to be a disciple of Jesus while being honest about our struggle? Is it ever appropriate to perform certain actions without the corresponding feelings or attitudes, and if so, how does this differ from hypocrisy? Using a range of Scripture and some helpful theatrical metaphors, this workshop will explore these questions and several practical ways of following Jesus without faking it.

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