Discipleship: Going Deeper
Pathways to help you explore how you might develop each of these characteristics in your own life.
Experiencing Gospel Renewal
The gospel doctrines of sin and grace are actually experienced, not just known intellectually
Experiencing Gospel Renewal
Timothy Keller helpfully describes personal gospel renewal this way: “Personal gospel renewal means the gospel doctrines of sin and grace are actually experienced, not just known intellectually. This personal renewal includes an awareness and conviction of one’s own sin and alienation from God and comes from seeing in ourselves deeper layers of self-justification, unbelief, and self-righteousness than we have ever seen before.There is a new, commensurate grasp of the wonder of forgiveness and grace as we shed these attitudes and practices and rest in Christ alone for salvation. Perhaps we have previously said that we were “resting in Christ’s work, not our own work” for salvation, but when we experience gospel renewal, we have a new clarity about what this means in our mind and a new experience of actually doing it with our heart.”
This type of being renewed personally is the wellspring out of which all of the other changes will flow, both personally (greater growth in holiness, a greater hunger for God’s word, growth in hospitality and witness) and on a corporate & social level (the church loving one another well, being unified, working for justice in the world and defending the powerless).
Watch a Video This type of being renewed personally is the wellspring out of which all of the other changes will flow, both personally (greater growth in holiness, a greater hunger for God’s word, growth in hospitality and witness) and on a corporate & social level (the church loving one another well, being unified, working for justice in the world and defending the powerless).
Video Intro
Recommended Reading
Pray and Reflect
- When we experience gospel renewal, we become aware of deeper levels of our own sin and our own tendency towards self-justification. Is there any area of your life, recently, where you have become aware of deeper levels of your own sin and your own tendency towards self-justification? What have been the effects of this awareness?
- When we experience gospel renewal, we also become more aware of the depth of God’s grace for us, in our sin. Is there any area of your life, recently, where you have become more aware and more appreciative of the depths of God’s grace for you personally?
- 1 Corinthians 2:12 says that Christians have received, “not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” Pray that the Holy Spirit would help you understand more deeply “the things God has freely given you”—that He would help you to personally grasp your own justification and adoption.
Get Connected
Growing as a disciple is a group project. Here’s how you can grow in this characteristic with others:
- I’d like to join a small group where I can discover with others how to lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples.
- I’d like to get coffee with a staff member and consider how I can either begin or continue to lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples. Email Richard to set this up.
- I’d like to check out a Christian Formation course to learn alongside others how to think with a gospel lens about the issues of my everyday life and world.
Dive Deeper
Check out these books and videos for a “deep dive” into the theology and practice of how to intentionally lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples.
- Renewal as a Way of Life by Richard Lovelace Based on a study of times of significant gospel renewal throughout history, this book distills primary beliefs that catalyze gospel renewal in the church, as well as the practices that help sustain gospel renewal.
- Keep in Step With The Spirit by J.I. Packer This book is an in-depth study of the Holy Spirit’s role in the renewal and growth of a Christian.
- “Kingdom Centered Prayer” by Tim Keller This article helps motivate and instruct Christians in praying for gospel renewal.
Applying the Gospel
Have a growing understanding of the gospel narrative, and how to apply it to the issues of their everyday life and world
Have a growing understanding of the gospel narrative, and how to apply it to the issues of their everyday life and world.
We hope to see people grow in their grasp—with both the head and heart—of the gospel narrative. By “the gospel narrative”, we are referring to the story of God’s gracious work to rescue and restore his fallen creation. We want people to feel like they can situate themselves in this narrative and apply its good news to their individual struggles, hopes, fears, and aspirations, as well as to pressing societal issues. We hope to see the gospel increasingly come to define and root people’s identities, such that they can grasp the call to live both distinctly different from the surrounding culture, yet also deeply engaged with it, for its benefit.
Read More Pray and Reflect
- Reflect on the last article on the gospel and body image, or the last video on the gospel and justice. How might we approach these “issues of our everyday life and world” differently, if we didn’t believe the gospel?
- Think about an area where life “hurts” right now (loneliness, fear, insecurity, etc). How might grasping the gospel narrative change the way you think and feel in the midst of this?
- Pray that God would give you an increased hunger to grow in your understanding of the gospel narrative, and increasing wisdom to view all of life from a gospel “lens.”
Get Connected
Growing as a disciple is a group project. Here’s how you can grow in this characteristic with others:
- I’d like to join a small group where I can discover with others how to lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples.
- I’d like to get coffee with a staff member and consider how I can either begin or continue to lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples. Email Richard to set this up.
- I’d like to check out a Christian Formation course to learn alongside others how to think with a gospel lens about the issues of my everyday life and world.
Dive Deeper
Check out these books and videos for a “deep dive” into the theology and practice of how to intentionally lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples.
- Gospel Fluency by Jeff Vanderstelt: Speaking the Truth of Jesus Into the Stuff of Everyday Life This book is a great resource for clarifying how to practically apply the gospel to our everyday life.
- How People Change by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp This book dives deeply into how Christian growth “works”, and how the gospel brings change in our everyday life.
- “The Centrality of the Gospel” article by Tim Keller This 12-page article explains how the gospel, as opposed to both moralism and relativism, is the key to Christian growth in everyday life, and gives several examples of how to apply the gospel to both individual and societal issues.
- “The Story of the Bible” (Bible Project Video) This video helps illustrate the overarching story of the entire Bible, the “gospel narrative.”
Forming Friendships
Are forming deep, meaningful, and honest friendships, both inside and outside of the church
Forming Friendships
Rich friendships are an incredible blessing in and of themselves, as we all search for a place to belong. They are also the primary context in which spiritual growth occurs. Friendships take hard work to form and maintain. We aim to see people striving to form the kind of friendships that are long lasting, transparent, and supportive; friendships where each person can feel safe to let their guard down and show their real selves.
Read More Video Intro
Recommended Reading
- WATCH “The Grace Narrative” by Tim Keller (5 mins).
- READ “What’s All This ‘Gospel-Centered’ Talk About?” by Dane Ortlund (5 mins)
- READ “What The Gospel Says to Teens About Food and Body Image” by Rebecca Lankford for an example of applying the gospel narrative to a real-life issue
Pray and Reflect
- How has friendship played a role thus far in your growth as a disciple?
- What are the top two or three barriers in your life to forming deep, meaningful and honest friendships?
- Pray that God would give you an increasing desire to open up your life to others, and an increasing grace to embrace the “costs” of true friendships.
Get Connected
Growing as a disciple is a group project. Here’s how you can grow in this characteristic with others:
- I’d like to join a small group where I can discover with others how to lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples.
- I’d like to get coffee with a staff member and consider how I can either begin or continue to lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples. Email Richard to set this up.
- I’d like to attend a Connect I or Connect II gathering at the church and find out how I can more intentionally “belong” to the church, and form friendships.
Dive Deeper
Check out these books and videos for a “deep dive” into the theology and practice of how to intentionally lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples.
- “Friendship” Sermon from Tim Keller in Proverbs: True Wisdom For Living Series A great sermon on the unique necessity of friendship, the forging of true friendship, and how the power that comes from Christ helps us form true friendships.
- Befriend by Scott Sauls: Create Belonging In an Age of Judgment, Isolation, and Fear This book makes “a case for friendship” by sketching a deep picture of real, biblical friendship and through a series of twenty essays illustrating what it looks like to truly befriend all types of people.
- Caring for One Another: 8 Ways To Cultivate Meaningful Relationships by Ed Welch This book explores practical ways that we can “care for each other’s souls” in the context of meaningful friendships.
- Brene Brown, TED Talk on The Power of Vulnerability This talk explores the connection between vulnerability and real human connection.
Living On Mission
Have a growing awareness of the everyday settings where God has placed them for mission and are intentionally trying to live as a witness for Christ there
Living On Mission
We often struggle to view the places where we spend most of our time during the day—our workplaces, schools, homes, cafes - as our mission fields, and lack the understanding, boldness, or creativity for how to live as fruitful witnesses for Christ in these settings. We aim to see people grasp that they are missionaries in these everyday settings, and make bold, creative efforts to communicate Christ’s grace there, in word and deed.
Read More Pray and Reflect
- Reflect on Anne’s story in the video. Can you relate to her experience? What everyday settings in your life might you be looking as places to be a witness for Christ?
- Pray that God would lead you into a growing awareness of how the places you live, work, and play are places for mission, and pray that God would share with you his compassion for the people in these places.
Get Connected
Growing as a disciple is a group project. Here’s how you can grow in this characteristic with others:
- I’d like to join a small group where I can be encouraged, prayed for, and challenged to live on mission in my everyday settings.
- I’d like to get coffee with a staff member and consider how I can grow in my intentionality in living on mission in my everyday settings.
Dive Deeper
Check out these books and videos for a “deep dive” into the theology and practice of living on mission in everyday life.
- Fruitfulness on the Front Line: Making a Difference Where You Are by Mark Greene This book helps bring clarity to how and why we can live at witnesses for Christ in our everyday settings
- Theology of the Ordinary by Julie Canlis This short book illustrates how Christ’s life, death, and resurrection in the sphere of ordinary life brings value to how we view our everyday settings, and empowers us to live as faithful witnesses in these settings.
- Missional Motherhood by Gloria Furman This book richly unpacks the place of motherhood in God’s grand plan to fill the earth with transformed disciples, and how mothers can make disciples of their children in everyday life.
- Watch Paul Tripp on “How to Disciple Children For Mission”
Multiplying Your Faith
Are engaged in intentionally leading others to live as gospel-centered disciples, either formally or informally
Multiplying Your Faith
This is the hardest component to develop, as we often feel inadequate and untrained to pass on our own imperfect knowledge and example to other Christians. Though we’ll never have a perfect grasp of the first four characteristics of a disciple, we aim to see people intentionally passing on to others the grasp they do have. As Paul told Timothy, "What you have heard from me…entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others also." (2 Tim. 2:2)
The wording “formally or informally” means that the passing on could happen through an official church ministry, or simply in a relational setting. What matters is that the effort to pass it on is intentional, by identifying certain individuals and leading them in how to live as gospel-centered disciples.
Read More The wording “formally or informally” means that the passing on could happen through an official church ministry, or simply in a relational setting. What matters is that the effort to pass it on is intentional, by identifying certain individuals and leading them in how to live as gospel-centered disciples.
Pray and Reflect
- Jo Saxton describes the process of leading others to live as gospel-centered disciples (“investing in others”) as painful and costly. Practically speaking, what might it cost you to invest in others (e.g. time, sleep, money, privacy, a shift in priorities)?
- Pray that God would stir your heart towards a specific person or people who you could lead to live as a gospel-centered disciple.
Get Connected
Growing as a disciple is a group project. Here’s how you can grow in this characteristic with others:
- I’d like to join a small group where I can discover with others how to lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples.
- I’d like to get coffee with a staff member and consider how I can either begin or continue to lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples. Email Richard to set this up.
Dive Deeper
Check out these books and videos for a “deep dive” into the theology and practice of how to intentionally lead others to live as gospel-centered disciples.
- Conference Videos from Greg Ogden, “Making Disciples Like Jesus Did”, (Part 1), (Part 2), and (Part 3) These long conference videos go deep into Jesus’ heart for and method of making disciples, and offer practical direction for how you can do the same.
- Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time by Greg Ogden This is a great resource for giving a practical model of “passing on your faith” to others, and also the biblical basis for intentional discipleship.
- Cultivating a Life For God by Neil Cole This book offers another practical model of “passing on your faith” to others, and further biblical basis for intentional discipleship.
- “Making Athletes Like a Soldier, Farmer, Athlete…Mom” This article encourages mothers in their calling to pass their faith on to their children, in the midst of their day-to-day life.
