Discipleship 101

This week I listened to a message from Andy Stanley, a pastor in Georgia, who answered an important question for our church. The question was, "How does God grow our faith?" Our relationship with God is based upon our trusting him in faith. When Adam and Eve sinned they basically didn't trust God or have faith in his goodness for them. So, how does God grow our faith? This is basically, the same question as how do we make disciples? Jesus commanded us to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations. How do we do that at New Song? Sometimes we want a discipleship process that has sequential steps or graduation points of achievement. The problem is that's how college works not a relationship with someone we love like God. So how does God grow our faith? How do we make disciples at New Song? The process of discipleship and growing our faith can be summarized in these five ways.

Practical Teaching

As we look into the Bible each Sunday and apply it to our lives we are beginning the process of discipleship. The key verse here is 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

We learn truth from the Bible so that we can be equipped do the good works God prepared in advance for us to do. Application of truth is the key to discipleship here. Not just knowing more information for information sake. James 1:22 tells us, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."

Providential Relationships

God designed us to live in community and love one another, so it's only natural for us to grow as disciples together. One of the most powerful ways discipleship takes place is when we develop relationships with other believers. Through these relationships God gives us opportunities to serve and love and grow in ways that we could never do alone. Sometimes people say, "I am a Chrisitian, I just don't go to church." Someone who says that is often struggling with personal relationships and the way God wants to change their heart through interaction with others.

I have found that I struggle most in my Christian walk and become prideful when I am isolated from other people. When I am isolated from people, I always think that I am right. But when I get close to other people, their observations, encouragement, and even reactions to my sinful attitudes makes me want to change and grow. God often uses people like a mirror to reflect back to us areas where he wants us to grow as his disciple.

This Sunday we'll be sharing more about our Life Groups, which is a great place to grow as a disciple!

Spiritual Disciplines

Discipleship also takes place when we engage in personal spiritual disciplines. These are habits that we practice regularly to grow in our faith. Examples include journaling, daily Bible reading and prayer, times of solitude, and fasting. For me, tithing is also a spiritual discipline that grows my faith. When Susan and I give regularly and sacrificially it is an act of trust in God's ability to provide for us.

The spiritual discipline that has helped me grow the most in recent years is using the SOAP journal that I have talked about many times on Sunday mornings. By taking time to write our a scripture, observation, application, and prayer, God has helped me grow in my faith tremendously. Just FYI, we have SOAP journals available in the back after church if you want to give it a try.

Serving Others

Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Part of discipleship is learning to be more selfless and less selfish. By taking time to invest in and serve others we grow in our faith. I think this is because as we take the focus off of ourselves it makes it easier for us to focus on God and worship him. As we serve others both inside and outside our church we grow in faith as Christ's disciples.

At New Song, we have many wonderful people serving on a regular basis. I shared a few weeks ago about some of the great people working faithfully each week! This last Sunday, we had our first Servant Leaders Team meeting. Our Servant Leaders Team (SLT) is made up of people who are leading key ministries in the church. At New Song, we are staff led and board protected, which means we have staff and elders like a traditional church. In addition, we now have what are often called deacons. These are people who lead a ministry team within our church.

Pivotal Moments (Trials)

One of the biggest ways that God grows our faith is through a pivotal moment in our life. This could be the birth of a child, moving to a new city, or something unpleasant like the death of someone close to us or the failure of a marriage. God doesn't want bad things to happen to us, but he can use these dark times to disciple us and help us grow in our trust for him. Pivotal moments often shake us out of a rut and help us move forward in our faith in ways that we otherwise would not. They help us trust God and know deeply that Jesus is enough for us.

I have had many conversations with people whose faith came alive when they had their first child. When they realized that they were responsible for the well being of another person they saw the need for God in their life. I have also saw many people turn to God when they lose a job, go through a divorce, lose a close family member, or struggle with a disease like cancer. I have also seen long time Christians grow in their faith when they experienced a painful circumstance. In moments of struggle we develop compassion and character in ways that we otherwise would not have and become more mature disciples of Christ.

As you can see from this list, discipleship is not necessarily linear or a systematic process. We have systems and strategies in place at New Song like our Life Groups, Sunday morning teaching, and service opportunities to help facilitate discipleship, but we don't have a step by step class system. Instead, we focus on developing a loving relationship with God through all five of these discipleship methods.