This week I am teaching at Ridgecrest National Conference Center as a part of LifeWay’s Discipleship Week. Pictured here is Dennis Rogers, Discipleship & Family Ministries’ Specialist from the Georgia Baptist Convention. This week, in the main discipleship session, we are taking a close look at a newly published LifeWay tool, Discipleship: Stepping-Stones to Developing your Church’s Strategy.
This morning Dennis talked about the following four conditions of discipleship from the Stepping Stones resource:
- Discipleship is rooted in relationship. Obviously, discipleship is rooted in a relationship with Jesus, but it also is rooted in relationships with other disciples. In these relationships, we encourage, teach, mentor, love, correct….whatever is needed to continue spiritual growth.
- Discipleship expresses itself in purpose. Following Christ implies that we are no longer doing “our own thing,” instead, we are doing those things that God prepared for us to do. God has a purpose for each of His followers.
- The call to follow Jesus is lifelong. Being a disciple of Jesus is an exciting, sometimes up-and-down, lifelong journey. God walks with us through every season and event in our life.
- Following Jesus is more important than material gain. No accomplishment on earth is greater than being a true disciple of Jesus. As disciples, we should be willing to give up anything that keeps us from following Jesus and becoming like Him.
Stay tune for additional updates throughout this week from Ridgecrest, but I have to run and teach an assimilation session right now. I might even grab a little lunch before class.
