Discipleship Guides 

Discipleship is first and foremost about relationships. From there, we can dig into our core values and what it looks like to reproduce discipleship. This week’s lesson talks about what discipleship looks like, and makes space to hear each others’ stories. The first two sections should be quick overviews, while the bulk of time should be spent sharing life stories.

Week 1: Casting Vision for Discipleship

  • Share why you’re gathering to do discipleship and the vision you have for this group. 
  • Each week, you’ll take some time to give vision for why you gather in discipleship. For your first meeting, take time to read Matthew 4:18-22. This is a core verse on what discipleship looks like. Emphasize the idea that we are here to help each other FOLLOW after Jesus and FISH for others. Two questions we’ll keep going back to:
  1. What does it mean to follow after Jesus? We follow after Jesus by learning what He commanded in the Bible and where He’s leading us now, and then living it out in our lives. 
2. What does it mean to fish for others? Jesus invites us as disciples of Jesus to make disciples from those who don’t yet know him. We fish by praying for, serving, and loving those in our lives that don’t yet know Jesus and telling them about him. 

Look Back, Look Up, Look Forward

Explain the format you’ll typically follow during your discipleship times. Each week, you’ll roughly spend a 1/3 of each time on these 3 areas:
  • Look Back: We remind ourselves of the vision for our discipleship, and share how we’ve been doing this week (pastoral care). Then, make space to lovingly check in on how we’re obeying and living out following Jesus and fishing for people. 
  • Look Up: This is our time in God’s word through a Discovery Bible Study (DBS). This simple way of studying the bible allows us to engage in God’s word and reflect on how we can obey. We will have a consistent set of questions we’ll ask every week with this time. 
  • Look Forward: We put into practice together what we’ve been studying today (ex: an exercise or activity). Then we’ll share and pray for each other in the ways that God is speaking to us to step out in faith to follow and fish. 

Sharing Life Stories

Establish that discipleship is a safe (and confidential) space for each person to share, knowing that what is said here will not be shared outside of the group. Then, you can tell your story first to model sharing vulnerably in a relatively short amount of time.
  • Give each person 15 minutes (or longer, if you have the time) to share a few key moments or details from their lives that would help others understand who they are. 
  • Then give a few minutes for others to encourage and pray for the person based on what they shared. 

Prayer

  • Invite the group to pray for one another (in pairs or in a circle) for each person to grow in following Jesus. 
  • Take some time to ask God to bring to mind people that we are called to fish for this season.