DISCIPLESHIP

What is Discipleship?

There are over 260 mentions of the word “disciple” in scripture. How does the Bible define discipleship and how did Jesus show us the way to be a disciple?

How to Disciple

Whether you have been doing this for years or are just getting started, we want to provide you with biblical, practical help and encouragement.

Discipleship in the Church and Home

 Partnering with you to make disciples through time, moments, and milestones​ in the church and within the home.

What is discipleship? 
​Jesus called a total of 12 men with the same command: "Come and follow me." This invitation was not only to follow Jesus in His ministry but also an invitation to a close relationship into the life of Jesus. Study the Gospels and you will see that while Christ ministered for three years to masses of people, He primarily spent His time with twelve men into whom He poured His whole life. He took them everywhere with Him, taught them, trained them, and invested His life into them. They caught the life of Christ by spending time with Him.

If you are a follower of Jesus, He has commanded you — no matter if you feel unqualified — to go and make disciples right where you are. As the book of James says, we want people not only to be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word. Doing of the Word most often works itself out in the context of discipleship relationships.

Jesus makes it clear that He wants us to accomplish the Great Commission. His method of fulfilling it is through making disciples. But, interestingly, the focus of discipleship is on the individual. In Colossians 1:28-29, Paul says that he strives to “present every man complete in Christ.” His labor was designed to take a person from being a non-Christian through a process of change that culminated in his becoming a spiritually mature person with a love for God and a heart for people.
Disciples will make more disciples. Found people will go out and find more people.

Why Discipleship Matters
- We don't want to see 1,000 new people at church a year, we want to see repentant followers of Jesus living in surrender to our Lord's will. 
- Jesus modeled Discipleship before He left, and commanded it as He left
- Discipleship is a way to stand ground on the true gospel of Christ and to fight against folding to worldly morality as a church
- Discipleship in churches creates a unified movement with numerous disciples on mission and spurring each other on

Matthew 28:19 “ 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Acts 1:8 “ 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

2 Timothy 2:2 “ 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”

How To Disciple:
Simply put, disciple-making is about following Jesus and taking others with you. Whether you have been doing this for years or are just getting started, we want to provide you with biblical, practical help and encouragement.

1.  Center on Prayer. Pray for each other and your intentional time together.
2. Depend on the Holy Spirit. God will use you. Weaknesses do not disqualify you because it is ultimately up to God to change and lead hearts.
3. Share your life. The best discipleship relationships happen where you are letting someone into an inside look at your life. Spend some time catching up together, share a meal, do mundane errands/chores together, teach each other hobbies, go out and serve together. Jesus invited his disciples to share in everything together.
4. Think about your message: You are a messenger of the gospel, and you teach that message to your disciples. Discipling is not about answering questions but rather pointing each other towards Christ.
5. Focus on God's Word. Whether you chose to read through scripture, or a book/devotional there should always be intentional time studying God's character together and discussing what God it teaching you.
6. Teach them how to repeat this process with someone else. Remember disciples make more disciples.

Discipleship Characteristics
- Can hopefully see yourselves as potential ministers of the gospel
- Not self-centered but rather, people -centered living
- Understand the importance of engaging personally in the ministry of Christ
- Able to articulate the faith
- Knowledgeable of scriptures
- Skilled enough to effectively teach others and do your part in the great commission
- Desire to grow in your personal faith
- Can be trusted (not only with church stuff, but in general)
• Be Shifters of culture at Grace Church for their sake and yours

Practicals of Discipleship
- Have dinner at each other's houses and read the bible together
- Share struggles and excitements together as you do life
- Explore topics through the lens of the bible once every week or biweekly
- Call to check up on each other
- Accountability
​- Bearing each other’s doubts and questions and exploring together
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Family Discipleship
God calls the family to play a vital role in discipling the next generation. How this is accomplished varies from family to family and is as unique as the DNA of each home. Family discipleship isn’t one-size-fits-all, and it isn’t easy—even the most intentional of Christian parents may find themselves at a loss as to how to begin. That's why Grace Church wants to come alongside parents to help them craft their own approach to family discipleship. Though each family is unique, we believe that vibrant family discipleship can take shape through family worship and a framework of time, moments, and milestones.

HOW WE HELP PARENTS:
​We help parents create family discipleship time in the home by providing weekly material and resources that build on and connect to what your child is learning in our programming environments.

Through the use of ReThink's "252 Basics" curriculum, we are going to present God's truths in a way that is memorable, understandable, and doable for our kids. In keeping with our commitment to partnering with families, each week, we provide a take-home resource for parents that helps continue the faith conversations that take place on a Sunday morning into the home throughout the week; and we also provide take-home "God Time cards" that help our kids make their Sunday faith an everyday faith. We work hard to provide incentives to get your kid excited about spending time in the Bible and in prayer throughout the week!