Discipleship Pathway.
Discipleship is a garden not a factory. The discipleship pathway is how we tend the garden of our souls through walking through the six elements of discipleship on our journey of becoming more like Jesus.
Know God.
According to A.W. Tozer, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” The foundation of life as a Jesus follower is getting to know our creator God. To know God means to start to comprehend the awe of God and develop intimacy with Him.
Know Self.
The world disciples us in shallow superficiality. Social media is about presenting our best self. God wants to know our real self. God doesn’t want to form the fake you, he wants to know the real you. To know self means to shed your false self in order to live authentically as God created you. This happens through examining our inner life. In order to develop depth in your relationship with God you must understand your shadow side and how you have been formed by your family of origin. Only after discovering this can we move towards spiritual formation of being who God created us to be.
Find Friendship.
In order to practice the way of Jesus we must do so in community. Finding people to journey through life together with is essential to life with God. Biblical friendship includes having a common purpose, authenticity, affirmation, forgiveness, and laughter. We are called to do life together and must have people around us pushing us closer to Jesus. This should also be fun! God did not make us as robots but real people who are called to find joy in life together.
Find Freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17 teaches us that where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. As followers of Jesus we are to find freedom from the three enemies of the soul: the devil, the flesh, and the world. We do this through confession that leads to accountability that leads to breakthrough and in breakthrough we find freedom.
Live Mission.
Before Jesus ascended back to the father he sent his disciples on mission to change the world. He sent them with the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life for something greater than just themselves, and Jesus emparts us with the same mission today. We are sent to make disciples and to show the world around us the love of Jesus. In Acts 1:8 Jesus sends his disciples to Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria, and to the ends of the world.
Live Service.
In John 13 we see Jesus washing his disciples feet as an example to what leadership looks like in the kingdom of God. In this upside down kingdom leadership is serving. The way we love the people around us is through serving them and “washing their feet”. Everyone has a part to play in the body of Christ, no one gets to sit on the bench which means we should all be “in the game” in some way.
