Deeper Discipleship at TWC: D-Groups & The Way: Apprenticeship with Jesus
Discipleship is a paradox in the local church. Discipleship is central to our calling but one of the hardest things to orchestrate in the life of the church.
In March 2020, our church began a series of adventures and pivots sparked by the coronavirus. American Christianity has learned lots of lessons during the last 18 months: live stream, zoom meetings, endless sermons on fear, and elaborate plans for worship.
Yet the biggest takeaway for most churches regardless of size, denomination, or geographical location has been this: the coronavirus exposed a massive discipleship gap in nearly every church in America.
Thus, there are already intentional efforts underway to incubate discipleship at all levels of our church to meet the various discipleship needs of our church family:
D-Groups will be our backbone (along with Life Groups) for designing a discipleship pathway “for everyone”.
D-Groups will tackle the “BIG 6 Areas” of Discipleship:
1. Dynamic Doctrines – Transformational Knowledge of Biblical Christianity
2. Spiritual Practices – Practicing the Faith with Spiritual Disciplines
3. Biblical Worldview – Interpreting and Applying the Word
4. God-Honoring Family – Marriage/Parenting in the Christian Home
5. Fruitful Ministry – Service & Discipleship in the Church & World
6. Cultural Resistance – Thinking Biblically about Cultural Issues
You can read more about D-Groups here.
The Way: Apprenticeship with Jesus will be the backbone for designing a discipleship pathway which continues to mature and equip our leaders, including elders, deacons, life group leaders, and future lay leaders of our church family.
Every elder will go through The Way at least once during a three-year period on Session. We will also be inviting our Deacons & Life Group Leaders into The Way for this MATURING & EQUIPPING ministry because we recognize that “Nobody graduates from a life of discipleship.” We are all called to continuous growth.
You can read more about The Way: Apprenticeship with Jesus here.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Rev. Dr. Jason Carter
*****For the especially curious, you can read THE WHITE PAPER on Discipleship at TWC.