Growing as disciples is a primary value for us. Jesus’ followers in the Bible were called disciples, so we will use that terminology. The disciples in the New Testament were growing in their understanding of Jesus as they engaged with him in his mission; we believe the context of mission is where disciples are made.
It is important for us to define exactly what is meant by discipleship.
We do not define discipleship as the following:
Often in American churches, discipleship is understood as being a very personal, almost selfish endeavor. It often sounds like this:
“I want to learn to read and understand the Bible so that I can grow in Christ and then God will bless me. I want to understand my spiritual gifts so that I can find where I fit in the church so that I will be happy. I would like to serve others occasionally so that I can feel good about what God is doing in me.”
Do you hear the subtle selfishness in these statements? It makes discipleship all about that person, rather than the person they are supposed to be following. It is discipleship for personal gain, which isn’t discipleship at all.
We do define discipleship as the following:
Christian discipleship is about Jesus. We were made to mirror the image of God, and in Christ, we see the “radiance of God’s glory” and the “exact imprint of God’s nature” (Hebrews 1:3). Following Christ is about rediscovering God’s original intention for us—reflecting his glory as seen in Jesus.
Following Jesus practically means that we learn to fight sin through repentance (turning away from sin and to God) and belief in the gospel. Christian discipleship is living out the simple rhythm of repentance and faith. The 16th century reformer, Martin Luther, said that the whole life of a Christian is one of repentance. Throughout our life, we will seek to uncover the things we love more than Jesus at any given time, repent of them, and learn how satisfying Jesus alone is. We will equip you to fight sin, and be the person God intends you to be.
Our strategy for discipleship is simple and is designed to make the most out of what we learn. We do discipleship on three levels.
Level #1: Sunday Worship Gatherings
On Sundays, large groups gather together for worship through singing, prayer, scripture reading, taking the Lord’s Supper, and through hearing the Bible preached. In these large group gatherings, we are equipped to live a life of service to Jesus, the Church, and the world. As much as we love these weekend gatherings, there are certain aspects of the Christian life that can only be fleshed out in smaller group gatherings.
Level #2: Gospel Communities
During the week, our gospel communities gather in various ways and at various times. These communities are of between 6-20 adults plus children who have committed themselves to share their lives together. It’s ordinary life lived with gospel intentionality. (For a deeper understanding of Gospel Communities, click here.) While the groups usually have a formal gathering, smaller groups within that group may get together for meals, projects, or just to hang out. These groups practice many of the “one anothers” of Christian discipleship such as praying together, encouraging one another, bearing one another’s burdens, etc. In the gospel communities, we are able to learn from one another is many ways. Often by watching another man love his children well, I can learn his ways, or by watching others serve well, I can learn to serve well, too. In order to get the full impact of gospel community life, we must covenant (promise) to share more of our lives with each other.
Level #3: DNA groups
The gospel communities are made up of smaller groups (3 men or 3 women) called DNA groups. The purpose of these groups is to do what the gospel communities can’t do well because they are simply too large. Primarily, the DNA groups fight sin together and grow in the gospel together. Yearly, each group studies together through a resource on gospel, community, and mission as well as help one another with various issues that we often struggle with. For instance, three men may fight anger issues together and encourage one another towards purity in the things we watch on TV or the internet. Three women may battle against insecurities together by reminding one another that Christ’s makes them accepted and loved no matter what. These groups will confess sin to one another, rebuke one another for sin, or correct false teaching. This is a relationship of three people who learn to have one another’s back and encourage one another to run the race of faith well. These groups learn to trust one another and fight hard together.
All 3 levels of discipleship are pursued as we live on mission to our neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family. We believe that we are blessed to be a blessing. We are saved by the gospel for the gospel. Discipleship is not a process intended to terminate on our good feelings about ourselves, but on the glory of Christ as he lives in us. Gospel transformation or “discipleship” is for God’s glory, not ours.
Our structure mirrors our commitment to functional discipleship. Growing up in the church, I learned a lot about discipleship, but there was little functional commitment to it. Theoretical discipleship means little if it is not functionally practiced.