Refreshing Faith

Refreshing Faith: Why Intentional Discipleship Matters

There is a huge difference between attending something and being intentionally formed by it.

A person can attend church for years, hear hundreds of fantastic sermons, sing countless songs, and even participate in activities without ever learning what it actually means or how to grow as a follower of Jesus. Attendance matters. Gathering with the church is an essential part of the Christian life. Jesus, though, did not invite people to just attend gatherings. He called people to follow Him; He called people to learn from Him, to become like Him, and to participate in His work.

That is what discipleship is all about.

The purpose of Refreshing Faith is to encourage us, to challenge us, to become more intentional about the calling He has given to us. This blog will offer biblical encouragement, practical guidance, stories from ministry, and opportunities for us to consider together what is the next step God may be asking us to take as followers of Christ.

At Fresh Faith Community, we describe the discipleship journey with four simple words:

Gather. Grow. Give. Go.

These words are not intended to create another church program or some complicated system that we are trying to implement. They provide a simple pathway that can help us understand where we are in our walk with the Lord and where He may be leading us next.

When I was in high school, I was introduced to lacrosse. While I immediately fell in love with the game, in the beginning I really knew very little about how to play. I had no understanding of the strategy; I was slow to recognize what was happening around me, and I did not even understand what the coaches were asking me to do. I spent a lot of time in those early games simply standing where the coach told me to stand and trying to get in the way of the other team’s attackmen.

I was on the field, I was wearing the uniform, I was part of the team. However, I did not yet understand how to play the game.

That understanding came gradually. Coaches took time to teach me, and teammates would work with me after practice. I would spend time practicing, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and working hard to develop as a player. Eventually, the game was no longer confusing to me. I began to understand not just where I was supposed to stand, but why I was there and what I was supposed to do as the game shifted around me.

Over time, I grew from someone who barely understood the game into someone who taught new players the game as I served as the head coach of a varsity program. That transformation did not happen simply because I stayed near a lacrosse field for a long time. It did not happen because I kept showing up at practice. It happened through intentional instruction, practice, correction, effort, experience, and relationships with people who helped me grow.

The same principle applies to discipleship.

We can be present in church and still not fully understand how to follow Jesus in our everyday life. We can know where to sit, when to stand, how the songs go, and what to say and when. Yet Jesus calls us to much more than just knowing where to stand on the field.

He calls us to become like Him.

Jesus said in Luke 6:40 that a student who is fully trained will become like the teacher. That statement gives us a clear picture of what Christian discipleship is supposed to look like. The goal is not to accumulate information about Jesus, the goal is to be shaped into the likeness of Him.

We are learning to love as He loves, forgive as he forgives, serve as He serves, obey as He obeys, and live with the same devotion for the Father’s will that He has.

Making the Vision Clear

Habakkuk 2:2 records God’s instruction to write the vision clearly so that it could be understood and carried forward. Clear vision matters because people cannot intentionally pursue what they cannot clearly identify.

The Gather, Grow, Give, and Go pathway is intended to make the vision of discipleship clear.

Gather

We gather to better know, love, and share Christ together.

Christianity was never intended to be lived in isolation. We need to worship, pray, encourage, hold each other accountable, and have relationships with other believers. Gathering includes Sunday worship, but it also reaches beyond the weekly service. It means becoming connected to the life of the church and allowing others to walk alongside us on this journey of faith.

Grow

We grow as we learn the teachings of Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to transform our character in our pursuit of Christlikeness.

Growth happens through Scripture, prayer, worship, accountability groups, and mentoring. It requires more than just listening to someone else talk about their faith. Growth involves practicing what Jesus teaches and allowing Him to point out areas in our lives that we still need to surrender to Him.

Give

We give because God has entrusted every believer with abilities, experiences, time, resources, and gifts that can bless others.

Ministry is not something that is only performed by the pastor or church leaders, it is the work of every believer. Every follower of Jesus has a part to play in His Kingdom. As we mature, we begin to recognize that the church is not simply a place where we receive, it is a community that we contribute to.

Go

We go because the love of Christ was never meant to remain within the walls of the church building.

Jesus sends His followers out into neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, families, and communities to be witnesses of His Grace and to share His love. Going does not always require traveling to distant lands, it often starts by crossing the street, it starts by ministering to the people that God has already surrounded you with. Going is us intentionally sharing the love of Christ with those around us.

What is Your Next Step

No one completes the discipleship journey in a single day. We each have areas in which we are growing and areas that God is calling us to move forward.

Your next step may be to begin gathering consistently with the church. It may be to join a small group or an accountability group, developing a regular time for prayer and Scripture reading, discovering where you can serve in the church, or intentionally building a relationship with someone who does not yet know Jesus.

The most important question is not whether you have completed every part of the pathway.

The question is whether you are taking your next faithful step.

Over the coming weeks, Refreshing Faith will explore Gather, Grow, Give, and Go more deeply. Together we will consider what it means to move beyond just standing on the field and begin to seek to understand how God is forming, using, and sending us.

Take a few moments today and ask God:

Where am I on the pathway, and what is the next step He is asking me to take?

Then when He makes that step clear, trust Him enough to take it.