‘Come, follow me’
Discipleship isn’t an easy path, but Jesus calls us to it
By Sara Alvarez
The idea seems so simple: Meet regularly with someone and encourage each other’s daily faith journey. Jesus did it when he called his disciples from their day jobs, and asked them to follow him. The group stayed together all the time as Jesus explained his values and showed the disciples through example.
But despite its simplicity, discipleship requires attention. Discipleship takes cultivation and care, both from the person being discipled and those walking with them.
In this issue of Beyond, there are different perspectives from people who are driven to grow in their relationship with God, and learn more about what it means to live like Christ. They want to go deeper in their faith, and are willing to make the effort to develop their spiritual discipline.
I was privileged to attend the reflection weekend where I heard stories from four congregations about their experience with the Missional Discipleship Initiative. Many people talked about how difficult it was to find time to meet during busy weeks, or even that it was hard to find time to read the Bible and reflect regularly.
But every church agreed that the effort was worth it.
In one church, a woman who was smart and active in the church, but shy, participated in a relational discipleship group. After a few months, she would share openly with others in the group and would ask for prayer. People in the congregation even noticed the change.
In another congregation, the leader implementing the discipleship initiative noticed that the young adults participating in the program became “hungry and thirsty for church.”
Through discipleship we learn how to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit daily. As we live out Jesus’ teachings, we can’t escape the call to walk alongside new Christians in our lives as they learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
And the cycle that Jesus started when he first called Simon Peter and Andrew to follow him, continues.